Photographing philatelic items: Stamps, postal history and related topics.

30 years ago I made my hobby a way of living by establishing an auction firm dealing with philately in Oslo. In order to get some variation, I wiped dust from my Nikon F, since long located inactive on a shelf. A new, fascinating hobby was growing to be subject of spending a major part of available time.

Interested in stamps, coins and postcards as collectors items? - Click here!

At the end of the opening hours some years ago, a man entered our office bringing a huge iron chest properly locked by an ancient-looking padlock. The owner had found it when clearing up the house after his fathers death. He had no idea of the content or the value of it. Revealing the content really was an astonishing event; we found a stockbook containing hundreds of Norway # 1,
a range of valuable covers franked by the first stamp issues of Norway, a complete sheet (100 stamps) of the famous 50 øre
V-overprint with watermark, to mention some. We decided to divide the sale over 2 auctions, finally making up a total turnover
exceeding $ 550,000.
Ref: skattekiste-340.

Old picture postcards are subject to an increasingly demand in the market. This is easy to understand, as there are such a rich diversity of motifs. The old postcards from different places all over the country represent an unique historical documentation as well.  A range of famous photographers from this period (approx. 1895-1935) were fully occupied travelling "all over Norway" in order to supplying the card-printers with new images.
Ref: postkortmontasje-340.

Old coins and banknotes are very fascinating indeed. We have had some important items consigned for our auctions in recent years. When the opportunity for making a colorful study is present, the photographer is ready...
Ref: N8D0153.

Some eager collectors from generations long gone produced bundles of stamps. Each bundle most often contained 100 pieces of the same copy, neatly sealed by a sewing thread. Some of these bundles remained untouched in generations, leaving the last owner extremely eager to explore its content. The demand of technical quality of each stamp was often way below this of today. But some of the bundles have avoided sorting and selections and thus could reveal real treasures.
Ref: bunter-oscar-340.


Letters from previous centuries.  Beautiful hand writings, seals and colorful stamps. Ref: gamle-brev-3529.

Over the years there have been a range of good opportunities to make interesting shots. Some of the items are very scarce indeed; some are not to be seen in the market for decenniums thereafter.

In the middle of the 1990'ies we had a request from a man offering to sell a big box containing old engraved Norwegian postmarks in steel. It is very important to secure such items to avoid misuse in order to produce forgeries.

The offering price was reasonable and we finally made a deal. We contacted our friends in Posten Filatelistjeneste who brought the items to the Postal Museum. But prior to this delivery we had a good opportunity to make several stilleben shots in our studio. One is shown above.
Ref: staalstempler-200.

Old letters and covers are often very beautiful, generously flavored by nice seals, beautiful handwritings, and colorful adhesives.
Ref: brevlott-staaende200h.


Maritime philately. A fine range of ship letters, most of them sent to the Caribbean in the early 1900'ies.
Ref:   skipsbrev-kodachr.

Highlights from a range of expensive Norwegian covers, franked by stamps from 1850-60-issues. 
Ref: frim-montasjer-3762.


In 1945 it was discovered a huge amount of Norwegian stamps in the cellar of the royal palace in Oslo, after the surrendering of the German occupants. It was V-overprinted stamps in the hundred of thousands, in whole sheets of 100. We were given the assignment to realize the collection and did so in 2 auctions in 2005, making up a total of approx. $ 500,000.   Ref: M9D1884.


A collector of old postcards has the privilege to deal with a wide range of interesting motives of all kinds.
Ref: scan091110-1479-220.



Norwegian gold coins issued in 1877. Sold at an auction in 2010 for
approx. $ 75,000. Ref: N8D7013.


A collection old Norwegian banknotes realized $ 4,500 at auction in 2010.
Ref: KGN1658.