Prior to 1960, when Greenlandic postal services were extended to offer post giro and money orders, such payments were made through the Royal Greenland Trading Company [KGH]. Starting January 1, 1944, senders of money order payments to Denmark had to pay a special 5 øre fee, for the service provided by the KGH office in Denmark to transfer the money into the Danish postal system. The fee was paid by the 5 øre First Issue stamp (Scott #2). From September 28, 1945, these 5 øre stamps were to be canceled with a normal postal canceler. However, from January 1, 1944, to that date, straight-line and oval "office handstamps", in black or violet, were used; these have been recorded from more than 10 locations. These cancellations are avidly collected; they are scarce.
On July 1, 1955, the fee was raised to 25 øre and a purpose-specific "gebyrmærke" stamp was issued. Only one design (with no variations) has been recorded in the literature. However, I have recorded two colors: Brownish Olive Green (seems to be the more common) and a very bright Light Olive Green (seems to be the much scarcer). They were printed in sheets of 25 with margins all around and a serial number in the upper right corner. The fee was discontinued December 31, 1959.
1945-1955 Special Fee Stamp created using a special cancellation on postage stamp Scott #2 [5 øre King]. Only this postage stamp was used for this purpose, with a straight-line cancellation or an oval cancellation. Of straight-line cancellations, I have only recorded "GODTHAAB", though perhaps other towns exist. An extremely nice example, Stamp Type I, F-VF+ centered stamp, with nearly complete "GODTHAA(B)" well-placed on the stamp. Examples of this "special stamp" are seldom offered. Because the stamps were applied to payment transfer forms (similar to postal money orders), when the forms were redeemed for cash, the forms, with the stamps attached, were normally retained by the post office as their receipt for the completed transaction... thus examples of these specially canceled stamps are quite scarce.
ACTUAL item.