The Philatelic Database - Stamp Archive

Postal Beginnings in China: Early Rates & Arrangements (1911)

William Cochrane. There is an extraordinary interest in all things philatelic, related to China. In this account taken from The Postage Stamp (Feb 1911), we have valuable information regarding the early postal rates and arrangements from 1834 onwards. Postal historians of ...

The Ichang Post-Office (1895)

The following article comes from The Stamp News (February and March, 1895) and should be of interest to collectors of China. For the following cutting we are indebted to the Chairman of the "Ichang Public Improvements Committee," who has, however, omitted ...

Stamps of Thailand (Siam): The First Issues (1883)

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).

Asia Map (Strand Album 1908)

Tibet: Dull and Shiny Stamps of 1912-14

Richard A. Turton. This article by EA Smythies FRPSL, was originally published in GSM (October 1956). Tibet is coming under a great deal of scrutiny currently and material relating to the stamps of Tibet should be of much interest.

Stamps of Thailand: UNICEF Issue (1964)

The seventeenth anniversary of UNICEF was marked by 50 satangs and 2 baht stamps, issued in January 1964. The stamps reproduced the mother and child emblem of UNICEF and were designed and printed in photogravure by the Japanese Government Printing Bureau, ...

Stamps of the Philippines: The First Issues (1854-74)

Adhesive stamps were adopted by the Phillipine Islands in February 1854. The stamps were printed in Manila from locally engraved plates. All stamps up to 1874 portrayed Queen Isabella II of Spain and, as in the mother country, new designs were ...

China Philatelic Society of London

The China Philatelic Society of London embraces all aspects of Chinese Philately from the Municipal Posts of Treaty Ports of the last century, through to the present day issues of the People's Republic and Taiwan.

The Stamps of China (1908)

William Cochrane. This excellent article was written by the noted philatelist Edward J. Nankivell and first published in The Postage Stamp, February 1908. The Chinese Empire comprises what is termed China Proper, and the Dependencies of Manchuria, Mongolia, Eastern Turkestan, and Tibet. China ...

Asia Map (1892)

Shanghai General Post Office Building

The Shanghai General Post Office Building is situated at the north end of the Sichuan Road Bridge, Shanghai, on the banks of the Suzhou Creek. It was built from 1922 to 1924 and designed by Stewardson & Spence. It is presently ...

The White Lion of the Mountains: A letter from Tibet, the Mysterious Land (c.1913)

William Cochrane. Whilst searching through our philatelic archives, I came across this fascinating letter from Tibet. It is a sad indictment of British Imperialism. Sent from a correspondent to Roessler’s Stamp News, originally published c.1913:

Probable Issue of stamps for Tibet: A Chinese Foreign Post Office? (1909)

Given the worldwide media attention given to Tibet at present, I thought this very curious philatelic article on Tibet (originally published in The Postage Stamp October 9, 1909) might be of interest:

Evidence of China’s Oldest Post Office Unearthed

A letter written about 2000 years ago and never delivered has provided evidence of China’s oldest post office at an historic site near the famous Dun-huang Mogao Grottoes along the ancient Silk Road. The letter written on a piece ...

Turbulent Tibet: Viewed from a Philatelic Standpoint (1910)

William Cochrane. This fascinating article by D.B. Armstrong originally appeared in the British journal, The Postage Stamp (August 20, 1910). It is all the more fascinating, given that it is written in the dying days of the Imperial Chinese Empire. Such ...

Dragons

A popular name for the first issue of Japanese stamps in 1871, which showed a dragon on either side of the value in the centre panel.

Direction Markings: Re-Direction Markings Reconsidered

Charles A. Jones. First published in the Journal of the Hong Kong Study Circle, April 2007 No. 341 Introduction Names of ports, such as Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Singapore, are occasionally found as unframed, straight-line markings on loose stamps, post cards, and ...

Hong Kong Study Circle

The Hong Kong Study Circle was founded in 1951 to record and circulate information on the philatelic and postal history of Hong Kong and the Treaty ports. It is U. K.-based and regular meetings are held in London. Provincial meetings ...

The Postal History of Hong Kong

Bill Lloyd-Smith. The Postal History of Hong Kong by Edward B. Proud is one of the latest on the Proud-Bailey series of books on the postal history of the British Colonies. It is a mammoth volume with well over 1,100 pages ...

Yuraku: The First Philatelic Journal of Japan (1914)

Antiquarian. This article first appeared in an English journal The Postage Stamp at the beginning of the First World War (5 September 1914). It should be of interest to all those interested in Japanese philately. “A Japanese member of the Junior Philatelic ...