116-year-old Postcard from the Managing Director of the "Odin" Brewery

The well-known Danish brewery Odin was founded in 1832 in Store Sct. Mikkels Gade in Viborg by the brewmaster Chresten Olesen. After a number of changes in ownership, the brewery was reorganized in 1899 into a limited company with Managing Director C.E. Pehrsson at the helm, and he remained on the post until his death in 1923. In 1978, the FAXE Brewery took over the company, and in 1988 the production of beer was halted completely in Viborg. After having supplied beer to the Danes for 156 years, Denmark's oldest brewery house had closed its doors for good.

The offered postcard was written in Viborg in 1904, and the picture is of Viborg Cathedral. This is a so-called mechanical postcard – when opened an unfolding series of other pictures from Viborg pops up. Behind the last picture is an example of Denmark’s (and the world’s!) first Christmas stamp cancellation with a violet oval stamp with the text “C.E. Petersen – "ODIN" – Viborg”. One has to assume that the name is a Danish version of Managing Director C.E. Pehrsson's name and that the card was therefore sent by the Managing Director of Odin at the time to a brewery colleague in Perhsson's homeland of Sweden.

The card is stamped with the correct international rate of 10 øre, but as a result of the card's many pictures, it should instead have been stamped as a letter with the 20 øre rate. Therefore, the card is stamped “Utilstrækkeligt Frankeret” (Insufficient Postage) and given added postage of an additional 20 øre – corresponding to the missing 10 øre + 10 øre in surcharge.