1988 New Sweden Joint Issue Covers

In 1988, the 350th anniversary of New Sweden was celebrated with a joint stamp issue involving the US, Sweden and Finland. New Sweden was Sweden's attempt at colonization in the New World. The majority of those that came to start and develop New Sweden traced their roots to Sweden and Finland; it's important to realize that Finland was a part of Sweden at the time Sweden launched its colonization expeditions.

Under the leadership of Peter Minuit, two ships left Sweden in December 1637 bound for the New World to establish New Sweden. The larger of the two ships was the Kalmar Nyckel, with the smaller being the Fogel Grip. The ships arrived in the New World in March 1638, sailing first through Delaware Bay and up the Delaware River, and then up a smaller river that branched off the Delaware River's western shore; the smaller river would be named the Christina River in honor of Queen Christina of Sweden. The colonists landed at a rock outcropping a couple of miles from the mouth of the river in what is today Wilmington, Delaware. From the local Native Americans, the Lenni-Lenape, Peter Minuit purchased the "land from the Christina River down to Bombay Hook" (roughly the northern half of present-day Delaware) and claimed it for Sweden -- it was the start of the colony of New Sweden.

I've presented four FDCs here tonight, one for the US stamp, one for Sweden's issue and one for the Finland stamp, plus one with all three stamps. The first day of issue for the commemorative stamp program was March 29, 1988 - exactly 350 years after the colonists first stepped ashore on "the rocks" along the Christina River and launched their new colony. The three individual covers were each postmarked in the issuing country; the joint FDC was cancelled in all three countries.

I like to use FDCs as educational tools, especially when I do programs for kids. They're easier to handle than stamps and they often have attractive artwork that can help tell a story. I especially like covers that include historical information on the envelope back because they help tell the story of the stamp and, I've found, can help get people interested in stamp collecting. Each of the Fleetwood covers presented here features historical background information on the back of the envelope. I hope you enjoy the stories they present and learn a bit about an often forgotten piece of the US' early colonial history.

Thank you for posting. Love the history and that is one I did not know. Absolutely wonderful covers.

What you need to find is the USA stamp used by itself to a foreign country. The stamp paid the international postage rate for only THREE days! before the postage rates increased.

Thanks for the info, I am a Delaware native and appreciate revisiting this history. I used to live in Wilmington across town from the park where the rocks on the Christina River are located, and have visited them.


I have only the U.S. issue (C117) in my collection as an FDC, it has an Artmaster cachet and is a plate block.

Following are a few additions to my original post about New Sweden covers...

First is the information card that accompanied the four covers I originally presented. The covers and card came in a black vinyl album with clear pocket pages so that both sides of each souvenir cover could be viewed w/o taking it out of the album. The album featured a generic, gold-stamped Fleetwood logo on the front cover vs. anything about New Sweden.

Next up is a "Presentation First Day Cover" (as named by Fleetwood) that includes the US stamp, an individual stamp from Finland and a setenant of all six of the Sweden stamps that were sold in booklet form; the lead stamp of the booklet block is the one that shares its design with the individual stamps of the US and Finland.

The souvenir cover is over-sized at 6" x 9" and came in a album along with a large information card (shown below); the album has the same generic, gold-stamped Fleetwood logo as the album for the set above.








I have a few other related items that I will post soon.

Next up are a pair of covers that were official issues of the Kalmar Nyckel Commemorative Committee, in conjunction with the Delaware Heritage Commission; the two groups had leading roles in planning and preparing for Delaware's 1988 celebrations of the 350th anniversary of New Sweden.

The cachet on the first cover depicts Queen Christina as she appeared at the time of New Sweden's founding in 1638. The cover was postmarked on March 29, 1988, the first day of issue for the joint-issue of New Sweden commemorative stamps from the US, Sweden and Finland. A primary goal of the Commemorative Committee was to ensure the plan for the three-country joint issue of stamps came to fruition.




The second cover features a cachet depicting the logo of the Commemorative Committee. The logo features the Committee's namesake ship - the Kalmar Nyckel - which was the lead ship of the two that brought the colony's original settlers. The cover was postmarked on April 13, 1988, the day the Swedish King (Carl XVI Gustaf) and Queen (Silvia) were in Wilmington, DE as part of their cross-country tour of the US.




Each of the covers features the US New Sweden 44-cent airmail stamp. I have not seen covers from the Committee / Commission that include stamps from Sweden or Finland; I believe only covers with the US stamp were issued.

When sold by the Commemorative Committee in 1988, each of the covers included an information card inserted into it. The text on each is identical, only the ink color was changed: brown for the Queen Christina cover and dark blue for the Royal Visit cover. I have included images of both for completeness.

The covers could be purchased at the time for $2.50 each or $4.50 for the pair. As the covers were sold unaddressed, those purchasing them had to enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope with their order and payment (sent to the Commemorative Committee).

Hope you enjoyed the read!

Today's installment of the 1988 New Sweden joint stamp issue story features a philatelic-numismatic cover that includes the US, Finland and Sweden stamps cancelled on their first day of issue plus Sweden's 1938 New Sweden silver commemorative 2 kronor.

The Swedish coin features a portrait of King Gustav V on its obverse and a depiction of the Kalmar Nyckel, the larger of the two ships that sailed from Sweden in 1638 with settlers who would found the New Sweden colony in what is now Delaware. The reverse also features the Swedish Crown flanked by the commemorative dates '1638 -- 1938'. The inscription on the reverse translates as "New Sweden in Memory of Sweden." The coin is 31 mm in diameter (nearly the same size as a US half-dollar which is 31.6 mm), and was struck in 0.800 fine silver. Just over 500,000 of the coins were struck. The coin was issued at the same time as the US commemorative half dollar for the 300th anniversary of the Delaware colony.

The coin selected for the PNC shown here is a very nice mint state example with terrific cartwheel luster on the obverse and reverse. I realize that the luster doesn't come through on my scans, but the coin has a strong luster cartwheel when viewed in hand.

I am a little surprised that Fleetwood chose to go with the 1938 coin rather than using the then-current 1988 silver 100 kronor coin that Sweden issued to commemorate the 350th anniversary -- it would have been a more chronological match to the stamps. As it is, the PNC nicely links the two big New Sweden anniversary celebrations -- the 300th of 1938 and the 350th of 1988. I like it!

(I am planning one more Fleetwood-related post for the 1988 New Sweden stamp - stay tuned!)











US 1938 Delaware/New Sweden Commemorative Half Dollar





Sweden 1988 New Sweden Commemorative 100 Kronor

Very informative posts!

A final Fleetwood-inspired installment for my story on the 1988 New Sweden stamp issue...

When it came to joint issues, Fleetwood typically created a cachet for a standalone US Stamp FDC and three or more cachets (depending on the number of countries involved in the joint issue) to be used on its Joint Issue Series covers. Such was the case for the 1988 New Sweden issue. I have already presented the four different covers of the Joint Issue Series FDCs, tonight I present the standalone US stamp cachet/FDC.


1988 New Sweden US Standalone FDC

A front-facing, three-quarter portrait of Peter Minuit dominates the cachet artwork; behind him is seen a male colonist (left), a Swedish flag/ensign, a three-masted sailing ship (of the type that brought the original colonists to present-day Delaware) and Fort Christina (far background). It definitely has a different look-and-feel vs. the cachets for the Joint Issue Series. Howard Koslow prepared the artwork for the Series, Shannon Stirnweiss created the Minuit portrait for the dedicated US FDC.





1988 New Sweden Maximum Card

A Stirnweiss painting was also used on the Fleetwood Maximum Card (essentially a 4" x 6" postcard). A rotund Peter Minuit is again the dominant figure in the artwork, along with the Swedish flag. The front of the card incorporates a blank area for the US New Sweden commemorative stamp -- the stamp was cancelled on its first day of issue - March 29, 1988. I like the Max Cards for the simple reason that they typically feature unique artwork (vs. the FDC cachets) that enhances the overall story of the stamp issue.






And with this post, I conclude my look at the 1988 New Sweden FDCs in my collection. There are many other covers available to collectors, but my collection is focused on the Fleetwood issues plus the official covers of the Kalmar Nyckel Commemorative Committee / Delaware Heritage Commission - I believe I've posted all of this particular subset.

(Note: There is also a Fleetwood Proofcard that features the Stirnweiss design seen on the US standalone FDC. I have not added the proofcard to my collection at this point - it does not feature a unique cachet design - but who knows what the future will bring?!)

I hope folks found the posts interesting and educational!

Very nice thread, made me also look in another way at this kind of commercial covers.
Thanks for posting!

Peter