The Philatelic Database – Archive of Stamp Collecting Articles

This article was originally published in 1955 and contains valuable information about the engravers of early American stamps.

Adhesive stamps were introduced in Nova Scotia in September 1851, in denominations of 3d., 6d. and 1s. They were recess-printed by Perkins Bacon in a diamond-format featuring the heraldic flowers of the United Kingdom and the mayflower of Nova Scotia, with the imperial crown in the centre.

Following the establishment of the German-Austrian Postal Union of 1850, Austria introduced stamps in denominations of 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9 kreuzers for use throughout the Habsburg dominions.

This is a contemporary report of the popular Dante Centenary stamps, issued by Italy in 1921, originally published in Stamp Collectors’ Fortnightly, October 1, 1921.

The Duchy of Modena introduced adhesive stamps in June 1852 (pictured above).

Adhesive stamps were adopted by the Philippine Islands in February 1854. The stamps were printed in Manila from locally engraved plates…

The Horta district of the Azores had its own stamps from 1892 until 1905, and subsequently used the stamps of the Azores until 1931.

Those who read the Canadian Philatelist’s series on French cancellations saw a lot of information on cancellations, many of which carried no noticeable value premium. But printing varieties usually do sell for more than the basic stamp.

A single example of the elusive ‘plate 77 Penny Red’ has been sold by rare stamp and collectibles dealer, Stanley Gibbons.

The first pictorial definitive series from a major British colony, issued by New Zealand in 1898, had two different printers, three different platemakers and four different papers, not to mention famous errors and perforation varieties. Was this the ultimate turn-of-the-century collectable?

Spink is very pleased to announce the sale of Hong Kong’s most important philatelic item, the 96c. olive-bistre block of four. This great rarity will come up for sale at Spink’s Hong Kong Auction on the 23rd January 2011.

Stanley Gibbons are proud to announce their recent acquisition of the mythological 1904 6d Pale Dull Purple (I.R. Official) which is on display on their stand (Number 79) at the London 2010 International Stamp Exhibition at the Business Design Centre, London until Saturday 15th May.

[Published by kind permission of the author.] South Australia was effectively the last of the Australian colonies to introduce stamps for the prepayment of postage. This happened at the beginning of 1855, five months after Western Australia, 14 months after Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and five years after New South Wales and Victoria had followed [...]

Published by kind permission of the author. The first uniform Australian Commonwealth stamp issue made its appearance amid controversy. Probably no other Australian stamp design created more discussion and debate in the community and in political circles as the Kangaroo and Map design.

Thailand’s first postage stamps appeared in August 1883, Waterlow and Sons recess-printing printing different designs and using different colours to denote the values: solot (½ att), att, sio (2 atts), sik (4 atts) and salung (6 atts).

Adhesive stamps were not introduced in Romagna until September 1859, when a series from ½ to 20 bajocchi were issued. The stamps were typographed by Volpi and del Sassi of Bologna from electroypes by Amoretti Brothers. These stamps were suppressed in February 1860 when the issues of Sardinia were introduced. Consequently, used examples comparatively rare.

The first stamps of the united kingdom of Italy consisted of the series of Sardinia with perforations added.

Adhesive stamps were adopted by Venezuela in 1859. The first issue, with the coat of arms, being lithographed by an unidentified American printer.

Haiti’s first stamps, depicting the head of Liberty, were typographed from electrotypes, made from a die engraved on wood. They were in use from 1881 to 1887, when they were replaced by a series, recess- printed by Skipper and East of London, portraying President Salomon (below).

The French ‘Penny Black’ made its début on New Year’s Day 1849. Although French postal administration closely observed the working of Uniform Penny Postage in Britain and the efficacy of adhesive stamps, eight years passed before the necessary legislation passed.

Moheli, the fourth island of the Comoros, did not adopt its own stamps until 1906 and therefore avoided many of the permutations, which characterised the other islands’ issues. Like the others, however, it had a rash of provisional 5 and 10c. surcharges in November 1912. The two sets can be made of these provisionals, with [...]