POSTER STAMPS AND LABELS OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

INTRODUCTION       STATISTICS       UNSOLVED MYSTERIES         SUMMER GAMES 1894 - Modern Games Founded 1896 - I Olympiad - Athens 1900 - II Olympiad - Paris       - Vignettes of the 1900 Paris Expo 1904 - III Olympiad - St. Louis 1906 - Intercalated Games - Athens 1908 - IV Olympiad - London 1912 - V Olympiad - Stockholm 1913 - Berlin prepares for 1916 games 1914 - 20th Anniversary of Rebirth of Games 1916 - VI Olympiad - Berlin 1920 - VII Olympiad - Antwerp 1924 - VIII Olympiad - Paris       - Post Cards 1928 - IX Olympiad - Amsterdam 1932 - X Olympiad - Los Angeles 1936 - XI Olympiad - Berlin 1940 - XII Olympiad - Tokyo       - XII Olympiad - Helsinki       - New Zealand Centennial Games 1944 - XIII Olympiad - London       - German POW Games 1948 - XIV Olympiad - London 1952 - XV Olympiad - Helsinki 1956 - XVI Olympiad - Melbourne       - XVI Olympiad - Stockholm 1960 - XVII Olympiad - Rome

1944 - XIII Olympiad - London (Cancelled) Poster for the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of re-birth of Olympic Games World War II was at its height in 1944, and although London had been designated to host the Games if the War had ended by then, it had not, and the Games were cancelled. No preparations had been made, as all the UK's resources were consumed in fighting the war. The Olympic Movement was, however, celebrated in the City of Lausanne in June and July. Sponsored by the IOC and the Swiss Olympic Committee, that program honored the 50th anniversary of the International Olympic Committee and included sports and cultural events. The Olympic Jubilee celebrated in Switzerland was spread over 16 June through 3 July 1944 and was commemorated by three postage stamps. The widow, Baroness de Coubertin, was an honored guest at the celebration. Swiss athletes performed and competed at the various events. Interned soldiers from other countries were allowed to attend events. (From THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT REMEMBERED IN THE POLISH PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS OF 1944 by Sherwin Podolsky) There were no poster stamps or labels created for the intended 1944 Games - at least none has surfaced to date. There were no postage stamps created for the 1944 Games. HOWEVER, one of the strangest and most heartening tributes to Olympic spirit took place at two German prisoner-of-war camps in Poland. Separate page on that HERE.

SOLVED MYSTERIES!       STILL MISSING       ACKNOWLEDGMENTS       UPDATE HISTORY        SUMMER GAMES 1964 - XVIII Olympiad - Tokyo 1968 - XIX Olympiad - Mexico City 1972 - XX Olympiad - Munich        WINTER GAMES 1924 - I Winter Games - Chamonix 1928 - II Winter Games - St Moritz 1932 - III Winter Games - Lake Placid 1936 - IV Winter Games - Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1940 - V Winter Games - Sapporo       - V Winter Games - St Moritz       - V Winter Games - Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1944 - V Winter Games - Cortina d'Ampezzo 1948 - V Winter Games - St Moritz 1952 - VI Winter Games - Oslo 1956 - VII Winter Games - Cortina d'Ampezzo 1960 - VIII Winter Games - Squaw Valley 1964 - IX Winter Games - Innsbruck 1968 - X Winter Games - Grenoble 1972 - XI Winter Games - Sapporo        OTHER TOPICS       - U.S. OLYMPIC SHIELD DECALS       - Workers' Olympics

11/18/17 - NEW FIND! The label below was certainly NOT created for the phantom Games of 1944, BUT, by my calculations, based on its Maerkat* number, it was issued in 1944, so I am placing it here. 1944-x1 Advertising label: Olympic rings in background, in proper colors. Text in front: UNISPORT ERIK FALCK HANSEN ORDRUPVEJ 109 CHARLOTTENLUND F E BORDING A/S KBHVN - MAERKAT NR 2971 Colors - blue, black, red, yellow, green Size: 55x35mm I assume UNISPORT was a sporting goods store - there is a modern Danish sporting goods company of the same name, but I was unable to determine whether it descended from this one. The only Danish ERIK FALCK HANSEN I could find was a cyclist who competed from 1943 to 1948, so that fits. He may have owned this store, or let them use his name for publicity. * Maerkat labels were a long-running series of Danish advertising and souvenir labels that started in 1930 and ran through about 1978. Numbers were assigned more or less chronologically, ending with number 15428! BUT, there have been imitators and other incarnations, so labels with higher numbers and later dates do exist. Maerkat expert Ray Petersen (dba maerkat on eBay) says some numbers were used multiple times, and many labels had no numbers, so there could be as many as 30,000 different maerkater out there! 4/20/18 - see the bottom of my 1968 Mexico City page for much more about Maerkater.

03/31/2019 - NEW FIND!   1944-x2 Swiss Soldier's stamp, 1942 6es CHAMPIONNATS d'ARMEE - FRIBOURG - 27-30 AOUT 1942 6th Army Championships (athletic competitions) This one is in a grey area vis-à-vis this catalog, as Swiss Army stamps are a specialized area, and the "rings" are in a non-standard configuration. It's up to you.

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I am indebted to Robert J DuBois for allowing me to use images and information from his Catalog of Olympic Labels on these web pages.

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Created -- 07/27/2013
Revised -- 03/31/2019