Royal wedding stamps and coins to go on sale

Sweden Post and Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank, have unveiled new stamps and coins commemorating the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling on June 19th.

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The three stamps include portraits of both the princess alone and of the royal couple, as well as one with a crown and the royal couple's monogram.

After the couple announced their engagement on February 24th, 2009, Sweden's post office, Posten, sent the Swedish Court a request to design stamps for the wedding, receiving a positive response almost immediately. The stamps have also won the approval of the princess and her husband-to-be.

The stamps were designed by Kristian Möller and are his first stamp designs. The engraver, Lars Sjööblom, has however worked on more than 400 stamps. The monogram was created by heraldic artist Vladimir Sagerlund of Sweden's National Archives.

"The Court had given us free rein, but I strived to make sure the monogram would fit in with the other royal monograms," Sagerlund said in a statement.

Reading from right to left, the monogram reveals first a right-read D and then the V, the right stem segueing into the stem of the D. The combination is vertically symmetrical.

Sagerlund has designed almost 500 heraldic coats of arms for the public sector and many monograms. This is his first royal monogram.

"Victoria and Daniel's monogram is the first royal monogram in Sweden since Princess Madeleine's in the early 1980s," said Henrik Klackenberg, state herald and keeper of Sweden's national coat of arms, the royal monograms and the coats of arms for authorities and municipalities.

The stamps go on sale on Thursday.

Separately, the Riksbank will issue two commemorative coins for the wedding: a 300 kronor ($40) silver coin and a 4,000 kronor gold coin. The designer is Ernst Nordin.

The front of the coin shows a portrait of the bride and groom and the text "KRONPRINSESSAN VICTORIA PRINS DANIEL" (Crown Princess Victoria Prince Daniel) as well as the date of the wedding, June 19th, 2010.

The back carries the princess' coat of arms. Below this appears the text "SVERIGE" (Sweden), the denomination of the coin, the initials of Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves and the first letter of the place of issue, Stockholm. Butterflies are also depicted, an image that represents joy and happiness, as well as the bridal couple's future home, Haga Palace.

The coins are sold at face value and the edition is unlimited. The commemorative coins can be ordered from Myntverket until the end of the year.