“Toppen og Bolden” – from Denmark to China

The other day I received a request from a fellow Postcrosser from China, whether I could send him a postcard from Denmark because that was the one that was missing in the collection he is making for his four year old daughter. His specific request was to get a postcard with the Danish flag (that’s easy) and the little mermaid (talking about cultural symbols!). That proved a bit more difficult as I don’t live in Copenhagen but I found a stamp with ‘Den Lille Havfrue’ – which brings me to the topic of this blog post.

So that made me look in more detail at the other stamp I put on the card – that was a bit more puzzling. With the help of some Danes I found out that it is another Hans Christian Andersen fairytale that is referenced, namely “Toppen og Bolden” – or ‘The Sweethearts’. The story is about a drawer full of play things where a mahogany top meets a leather ball and falls in love with her, but the ball thinks she deserves a better suitor and it basically goes downhill from there.

That explains the top and the ball on the stamp, but what about the skyline in the background? That looks like New York to me – it doesn’t seem to be a Danish skyline. Or is it a reference to the universal appeal of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales??

If anyone knows, I’d be very glad to hear it!