Have the Christmas Seal Foundation the same intention as the Foundation the Crownprincess started one or two month ago?
You can see a brief summery of the purpose of the foundation here
::Julemærket: English summary::. The first christmas seal came in 1904 and is said to be the first of its kind in the world - the idea being that if people paid a small amount for an extra stamp when they sent a letter, the amount earned from this voluntary postage should be used on children in need. At first it was used for children with tuberculosis but it has supported many causes through the years.
My mother says that when she was a child undenourished children could be sent to one of the Christmas Seal Foundation's homes for a period. Nowadays, I think that they treat overweight children as well - and that the focus is on children with social and psychological problems.
The foundation (which receives very few public funds) has also supported various causes, for example the fight against tuberculosis amongst children in Greenland.
The stamps are made by various artists; queen Margrethe has been behind it a couple of times.
According to the foundation's website, around 3 billion christmas stamps have been sold since it's beginning.
Recently, they have introduced e-stamps as well since many people have changed from the traditional christmas card to electronic cards.
To me, the Christmas stamp is one of the first sign of Christmas
Here
CHRISTMAS_SEALS-2003 you can see all the Christmas stamps, just click on the relevant year.
Queen Margrethe designed it in 1970 (that generated more money than usual when it was discovered who the artist behind it was) and in 2003.