NORDIA 2024 took place from May 31 to June 2 at Skjærdgårdshallen in Langesund, Bamble municipality, Telemark county, Norway. It was my first time attending NORDIA and a great excuse to visit my homeland of Norway. Last year NORDIA was hosted in Iceland. This is the first NORDIA hosted in Norway since 2019. Hosted by The Federation of Norwegian Philatelists (Norsk Filatelistforbund) the show was well attended in spite of being slightly off-grid. Langesund is less than a 2-hour drive on E18 south of Oslo. In my youth this drive could easily take 4-6 hours with the the highway going through numerous downtowns, few bridges, and even a ferry-connection near Brevik. Today it is mostly 4-lane highway the entire way and tunnels and bridges avoids any stop lights. Until last year, there was also regular ferry connection between Hirsthals, Denmark and Langesund. At the time NORDIA was scheduled, this ferry connection still existed. A few people suggested that the lack of this connection may have discouraged people from the continent in attending. Yet, I heard numerous languages spoken including Danish, German, Swedish and Finnish. From my perspective, it seemed well attended both by foreign, domestic, and local audiences.
Langesund was first established as a customs center in 1570 and was a major site for the exports of timber. It did not gain town status until 1765. The name Langesund translates directly to “long sound” or perhaps more accurately translated, “long strait” due to Langøya (literally Long Island) forming the roughly 2 km long strait between the island and the mainland.
The Federation had strong administrative support from the local stamp clubs in Porsgrunn, Skien, and Stathelle in putting on this show.
Numerous clubs, societies, dealers, and postal administrations were present. Postal administrations present included Norway, Faroe Islands, and Åland. Posten Norge put on two first day events, one for Friday May 31, a series of two stamps exploring flora and fauna under water (NK 2120-2121) and the second for Saturday June 1, a series of four stamps celebrating the summer festival season in Norway (NK 2122-2125). A variety of NORDIA-specific postmarks and cachets were available for the occasion both from Posten Norge and from the local clubs.
Auction houses Postiljonen of Sweden and Skanfil of Norway were also present. Skanfil held the official live auction on Friday evening.
Societies present included the aforementioned local clubs as well as Oslo Filatelists Klubb, Bergen Filatelist Klubb, Norwegian Postal History Soecity Norwegian Postcard Collectors Society, Norwegian Railroad Mail Society, and Norwegian Ship Mail Society.
Hallvard Slettebø was the Norwegian commissioner, with Ebbe Eldrup representing Denmark, Ari Muhonen, Finland, Gísli Geir Harðarson, Iceland, and Rikard Azelius from Sweden.
The show was officially opened at noon on Friday by Jon Pieter Flølo, mayor of Bamble municipality, Halvor Fasting, Stamp Director for Posten Bring, the Norwegian postal service, and Odd Runar Aslaksen, who chaired the planning committee.
The Federation held their bi-annual meeting with the election of the individuals who will lead the organization for the next two years. Frank Gilberg who has served as President for the past several years handed the baton to incoming President Øistein Bøe. Several other clubs held meetings, including the Royal Philatelic Society London.
There were also several presentations, including a presentation by Georg Størmer and Jonas Hällström on Nordisk Filateli’s new book “Norwegian Classics“.
The exhibition was held in Skjærgårdshallen, an indoor soccer arena, with great lighting conditions and astro-turf, which were friendly on the eyes and knees respectively. Over 500 frames were exhibited. While the majority of exhibits were focused on nordic countries, there were also numerous frames dedicated to philately from other parts of the world. Detailed results can be found on the Nordia web site at nordia2024.no
The Palmares dinner Saturday night was very well attended and took place in the conference center of Skærgården hotel. I was seated between Kristian Aune, President of the Bergen club, and Øyvind Refsnes, editor of Norsk Filatelistisk Tidsskrift. These two gentlemen who I have corresponded with for some time but who I first met in person here are so fascinating to talk to that I honestly did not pay much attention to the food being served. The food and wine were delicious but I failed to register more details, being in such excellent company.
NORDIA wrapped up Sunday afternoon. With HANFIA coming up in Copenhagen this October, we don’t have to wait long for the next Nordic stamp exhibition.