Introduction

Overview

This catalog attempts to be complete. Note the use of the word attempts. We know that completeness is dependent upon the definition of the field and the moment in time. In defining the field we have tried to track down every known stamp, stamp variety, cancel, meter, stationary, charity seal, Cinderella item, local post label and cachet that relates to the sport of ice hockey. This is our definition of the field and it is admittedly very broad. We have tried to include everything we can think of. If something is not in this catalog it is probably because we were not aware of it, and not because we did not think it fit the field. We have included all the "sand dunes" issues. We make no moral judgments in this catalog, we just try to reflect the reality of the ice hockey philatelic field.

In our attempt to be complete we have also restricted ourselves to the philatelic side of ice hockey. We have not attempted to give an overview of all the contests commemorated. When listing the item we have tried to include a reason for its being issued. But, we have not gone into any details of the contest, i.e., who won, the order of finish, who scored goals, etc. A brief list of the major events and their location is included later for those who want to look for undiscovered ice hockey philatelic items.

We have also taken some liberties and electronically enhanced, altered or adjusted some items, especially the covers. The name and address of the person receiving the cover has been blocked out. Perhaps they would not want their name displayed and this information contributes nothing significant to the study of philatelic ice hockey. The cancels were also electronically enhanced. Some cancels were so poor to begin with that scanning them made them almost unreadable. Stamp details were brushed out to try and highlight the cancel and not the stamp. At times this has left a peculiar looking image.

Numbering System

The format of our numbering scheme is as follows:

country code - date code - type code - sequence number - page number

We decided to go with a catalog number that meant something as opposed to a pure sequential number because the meaningful number is more representative of the other numbers in the cataloging business. For example, the Scott use of C for air mail and B for semi-postal or the Michel use of A and B suffixes to denote perforated and imperforate varieties.

Country Codes

AbkhaziaAdenAfghanistanAitutaki
AjmanAlandAlbaniaAlgeria
AngolaAnguillaAntigua & BarbudaArgentina
ArtsakhAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijan
BashkortostanBelarusBelgiumBelize
BeninBernera IslandsBhutanBohemia & Moravia
Bosnia & HerzegovinaBotswanaBulgariaBulgarian Government in Exile
Burkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroon
CanadaCentral African RepublicChadChina
Comoro IslandsCongoCook IslandsCroatia
CzechoslovakiaCzech RepublicDavaarDenmark
DjiboutiDominicaEcuadorEquatorial Guinea
EsperantoEstoniaEthiopiaFinland
FranceFujeiraGabonGambia
GermanyGermany, BerlinGermany, EastGermany, West
GhanaGreat BritainGreeceGrenada
Grenada (Grenadines)GuineaGuinea-BissauGuyana
HaitiHong KongHungaryIndia
IsraelItalyIvory CoastJapan
Kabard-BalkariaKazakstanKhor FakkanKorea
Korea, NorthKorea, SouthKosovoKrajina
KyrgyzstanLaosLatviaLesotho
LiberiaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourg
MacauMacedoniaMalagasy RepublicMaldive Islands
MaliManamaMarshall IslandsMauritania
MicronesiaMoldovaMonacoMongolia
MontenegroMontserratMozambiqueNetherlands
NevisNicaraguaNigerNorway
Oman, State ofPalauParaguayPoland
PortugalP.R.TongoRas Al KhaimaRedonda
RomaniaRussiaRwandaSt. Pierre & Miquelon
St. VincentSt. Vincent (Grenadines)San MarinoSao Tome & Principe
Serbia & MontenegroSharjahSierra LeoneSlovakia
SloveniaSolomon IslandsSomali RepublicSoviet Union
SpainStaffaSurinameSweden
SwitzerlandTaiwanTajikistanTanzania
TogoTransnistriaTurkeyTurks & Caicos Islands
UgandaUkraineUkraine, ExileUmm Al Qiwain
United NationsUnited StatesUzbekistanViet Nam
Yemen, PDRYemen, RepublicYemen, RoyalYugoslavia
ZaireZambia

First a three-letter country designation, usually the first three letters of the countries name. If there is a repeat here than we take another unused combination of letters that approximate the countries name and keeps the listing alphabetic. Very arbitrary.

Next we have the date code of the item. This can be the first day of issue for a stamp or stationary, the date of a cancel for a postmark or a meter. If part of the date is not known then 0's are substituted. The format of the date code is yyyymmdd where yyyy is the four digits of the year, mm a two-digit month field and dd a two-digit day field. We used the four digits of the year because the year 2000 would be represented by 00 if we used a two-digit format and that would correspond to a no year entry.

The next field is a type code. The type code can be one or more of the letters shown in the Type Code table. A single letter by itself is self explanatory. However, certain items need to be described by combinations of letters, e.g., a bandy stamp would be of type "as", a first day cover on an ice hockey cachet would be "fk."

Type Codes

Associated sport, booklet (av)Associated sport, business stationery (ab)Associated sport, cachet (ak)
Associated sport, cancel (ac)Associated sport, cinderella (ai)Associated sport, collective sheet (ag)
Associated sport, error (an)Associated sport, FDC no sport cachet (af)Associated sport, FDC with sport cachet (afk)
Associated sport, label (al)Associated sport, label collective sheet (alg)Associated sport, local post (ao)
Associated sport, maximum card (aq)Associated Sport, meter (am)Associated sport, mint sheet (ac1)
Associated sport, miscellany (az)Associated sport, personalized stamp (ar1)Associated sport, plate block or corner block (ak1)
Associated sport, post card (ah1)Associated sport, postal card (ap)Associated sport, postal stationery (at)
Associated sport, sales variety (ai1)Associated sport, se-tenant (ax)Associated sport, se-tenant, stamp and label (alx)
Associated sport, souvenir sheet (aw)Associated sport, stamp (as)Associated sport, tete-beche (am1)
Autographed (l1)Black Print (p1)Block of 4 (t1)
Booklet (v)Business stationery (b)Cachet (k)
Cancel (c)Charity seal (h)Charity seal, booklet (hv)
Charity seal, mint sheet (hc1)Charity seal, miscellaneous (hz)Charity seal, miscellaneous sheet (hzc1)
Charity seal, se-tenant (hx)Cinderell FDC (if)Cinderella (i)
Cinderella, collective sheet (ig)Cinderella, mint sheet (ic1)Cinderella, se-tenant (ix)
Cinderella, souvenir sheet (iw)Coil stamp roll (f1)Collective sheet (g)
Color Proof (y1)Commemorative cover (r)Commemorative Panel (o1)
Deluxe sheet (d)Die proof (d1)Echo card (e)
Error (n)FDC, maximum card (fq)FDC, mint sheet (fc1)
FDC, no hockey cachet (f)FDC, postal card (fp)FDC, with hockey cachet (fk)
First day of issue program (u)Forgery/Counterfeit (s1)Hockey card stamp (g1)
Hockey card stamp, booklet (g1v)Hockey card stamp, collective sheet (g1g)Hockey card stamp, error (g1n)
Hockey card stamp, mint sheet (g1c1)Hockey card stamp, miscellaneous (g1z)Hockey card, Cartophilium (z2)
Hockey card, Cartophilium postcard (z1)Indicium (v1)Insert (u1)
Label (l)Label collective sheet (lg)Local post (o)
Local post mint sheet (oc1)Matchbook cover (j1)Maximum card (q)
Meter (m)Miniature sheet (y)Mint sheet (c1)
Miscellaneous (z)Personalized Stamp (r1)Personalized Stamp, booklet (vr1)
Personalized Stamp, collective sheet (gr1)Personalized Stamp, mint sheet (r1c1)Plate block or corner block (k1)
Post card (h1)Postal card (p)Postal stationery (t)
Private mail mint sheet (q1c1)Private Mail Stamp (q1)Progressive color proof (j)
Revenue (b2)Sales variety (i1)Se-tenant, stamp and label (lx)
Se-tenant, stamp and stamp (x)Se-tenant, tete beche (xm1)Souvenir page (n1)
Souvenir sheet (w)Specimen (b1)Stamp (s)
Stamp pair (w1)Tete beche (m1)Tete beche pair of labels (lm1)
Trial color (e1)

The second to last field is a sequence field. If the first three fields are identical then this field will break the tie. This field starts at 01 and runs to 999. The three digit sequence number is required to handle some of the hockey card stamps. (Of course, with the stamp issuing policies of some countries, e.g., stamp, imperforate, collective sheet, souvenir sheet, etc., we might need three digits for stamps too.)

The last field is a page number. The page number is used to specify the page of a book or publication. We also use a page number of 2 to specify a view of a cancel on the cover and for the reverse side of a FDC, when relevent.

Ice Hockey Championships

There are two major, world wide events in ice hockey: the Winter Olympic Games and the World Championships. In some years the Olympic Champion has also been the World Champion. There are also various Groups within the Championships. The A Group is the highest and this is the group that we summarize in our tables but philatelic material has been issued for Group B, Group C and junior Hockey events.

Ice hockey was played in the 1920 Olympics and has been played in the Winter Olympics since they were started in 1924. There were no Olympics in 1940 or 1944 because of World War II. In 1994 the Winter Olympics were brought out of synchronization with the Summer Olympics and there was only a two year gap between the XVI Winter Olympics in 1992 and the XVII Olympics in 1994. The Olympics Table below gives a brief overview of the ice hockey contests.

Ice Hockey in the Olympics

1920 Olympics
Antwerp,Belgium
1924 Winter Olympics
Chamonix,France
1928 Winter Olympics
St. Moritz,Switzerland
1932 Winter Olympics
Lake Placid,United States
1936 Winter Olympics
Garmisch-Partenkirchen,Germany
1948 Winter Olympics
St. Moritz,Switzerland
1952 Winter Olympics
Oslo,Norway
1956 Winter Olympics
Cortina d'Ampezzo,Italy
1960 Winter Olympics
Squaw Valley,United States
1964 Winter Olympics
Innsbruck,Austria
1968 Winter Olympics
Grenoble,France
1972 Winter Olympics
Sapporo,Japan
1976 Winter Olympics
Innsbruck,Austria
1980 Winter Olympics
Lake Placid,United States
1984 Winter Olympics
Sarejevo,Yugoslavia
1988 Winter Olympics
Calgary,Canada
1992 Winter Olympics
Albertville,France
1994 Winter Olympics
Lillehammer,Norway
1998 Winter Olympics
Nagano,Japan
2002 Winter Olympics
Salt Lake City,United States
2006 Winter Olympics
Turin,Italy
2010 Winter Olympics
Vancouver,Canada
2014 Winter Olympics
Sochi,Russia
2018 Winter Olympics
Pyeongchang,Korea, South
2022 Winter Olympics
Beijing,China
2026 Winter Olympics
Milan/Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

The World Ice Hockey Championships have been held in one form or another, on and off, since 1920. A brief summary of the years and locations is given in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships table.

IIHF World Championships

1920 Belgium1924 France1928 Switzerland1930 France1931 Poland
1932 United States1933 Czechoslovakia1934 Italy1935 Switzerland1936 Germany
1937 England1938 Czechoslovakia1939 SwitzerlandWorld War II
1947 Czechoslovakia1948 Switzerland1949 Sweden1950 England1951 France
1952 Norway1953 Switzerland1954 Sweden1955 Germany, West1956 Italy
1957 Soviet Union1958 Norway1959 Czechoslovakia1960 United States1961 Switzerland
1962 United States1963 Sweden1964 Austria1965 Finland1966 Yugoslavia
1967 Austria1968 France1969 Sweden1970 Sweden1971 Switzerland
1972 Czechoslovakia1973 Soviet Union1974 Finland1975 Germany, West1976 Poland
1977 Austria1978 Czechoslovakia1979 Soviet Union1980 Olympic Year
No championship
1981 Sweden
1982 Finland1983 Germany, West1984 Olympic Year
No championship
1985 Czechoslovakia1986 Soviet Union
1987 Austria1988 Olympic Year
No championship
1989 Sweden1990 Switzerland1991 Finland
1992 Czechoslovakia1993 Germany1994 Italy1995 Sweden1996 Austria
1997 Finland1998 Switzerland1999 Norway2000 Russia2001 Germany
2002 Sweden2003 Finland2004 Czech Republic2005 Austria2006 Latvia
2007 Russia2008 Canada2009 Switzerland2010 Germany2011 Slovakia
2012 Finland/Sweden2013 Sweden/Finland2014 Belarus2015 Czech Republic2016 Russia
2017 Germany/France2018 Denmark2019 Slovakia2020 Switzerland2021 Latvia
2022 Finland 2023 Finland/Latvia 2024 Czech Republic 2025 Sweden/Denmark 2026 Switzerland
2027 Germany    

References

Catalogs

1. "2014 Scott Standard Catalogue Countries C-F", 2014
2. "2014 Scott Standard Catalogue Countries G-I", 2014
3. "2014 Scott Standard Catalogue Countries J-M", 2014
4. "2014 Scott Standard Catalogue Countries N-Samoa", 2014
5. "2014 Scott Standard Catalogue Countries San-Z", 2014
6. "2014 Scott Standard Catalogue of US & Countries A-B", 2014
7. "2015 Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps & Covers", 2015
8. "Beckett Hockey Card Price Guide", 1994
9. "Catalog of Olympic Labels 1894-1985", 1986, by Robert J. DuBois
10. "Catalogue des Aerogrammes du Monde Entier 1950", 1950, by Frank Muller
11. "Field Guide to the Cinderella Stamps of Canada", 2015, by R. G. Lafrenière
12. "Michel Nordeuropa 2016/2017", 2016
13. "Michel, Asien II 1989/90 Übersee-Katalog - Band 5/II", 1989
14. "Minkus Trucial States Stamp Catalog", 1974
15. "Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 1, British Commonwealth 2000, Volume 1 Great Britain and Countries A to I", 2000
16. "Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 1, British Commonwealth 2000, Volume 2 Countries J to Z", 2000
17. "Unitrade Specialized Catalogue of Canadian Stamps",2016,
18. "Vintage Hockey Collector", 2015, by Bobby Burrell
19. "Yvert & Tellier Timbres Des Pays D'Outre-Mer de Abou Dhabi - Burundi", 2005

Web Sites

1. Pavel Nikiforovitch's Ice Hockey on Stamps
2. Pavel Nikiforovitch's The History of Ice Hockey

Contributors

Before there was this web site there was a book by the name of "Philatelic Handbook of Ice Hockey". In that book we said the following

We are always open to input from anyone. To encourage input from our readers we make the following offer. Anyone submitting a new item for inclusion, correcting a matter of fact or expanding data on an existing item will be listed as a contributor in all subsequent updates and re-issues of this catalog. Comments on appearance are welcome but will not be acknowledged.

We now extend that offer to readers of this web site. Below are the names of the contributors to the book and to the web site. We thank each and every one of you for your help.



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