Index Postage Stamps of Pakistan: 1947 - 1971

Pakistan surfaced as an independent sovereign country on 14 August 1947 after the division of British India into India and Pakistan. For an initial period of almost one year, Pakistan Post used the stamps of British India with "Pakistan" overprinted on these.

• 1947

On 9th July 1948, the Pakistan Post issued a set of four commemorative stamps with a face value of One and a Half, Two and a Half and 3 Anas and Re.1.

The stamps pictured above bore the photographs of Assembly Building (Karachi), Karachi Airport and Lahore Fort. The fourth stamp (Rupee. 1) bore a Crescent and Star with word “Pakistan” written inside the crescent and the word Long Live Pakistan, written on the lower border. Both inscriptions were in Urdu. This stamp was designed by the famous water colour maestro Abdul Rehman Chughtai.

Sardar Abdur-Rab Nishter and Musarrat Hussain Zuberi showing the set of first postage stamps to Liaquat Ali Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Other than the Re. 1 stamp, the remaining three stamps were designed by two artists: Rasheed-ud-Din and Muhammad Latif.

• 1948
• 1949
• 1950: No new stamps were issued in 1950
• 1951
• 1952: In 1952, Pakistan Post issued a set of two Commemorative Stamps only on the eve of   Commemorating 100 Years of Postal Services in Asia - The Scinde Dawk|

• 1953: No new stamps were issued in 1953
• 1954
• 1955
• 1956
• 1957
• 1958
• 1959

From 1961 a new era in Pakistan Post ushers in - read on !!

1960 was the last year of postage stamps of Pakistan with face value in "Ana." The last stamp in Ana denomination was issued on 24th December 1960, bearing the photo of the Zamzamma or the Kim's Gun or the Bhangian de Tope, on the eve of National Scout Jamboree held at Lahore.

• 1960
• Read more about the Zamzamma

From 1st January 1961, Pakistan switched over to the decimal system and the face value of the stamps change from "Ana" to "Paisa". However, the previous stamps overprinted with "Paisa" continued for sometime.

• 1961
• 1962
• 1963
• 1964
• 1965
• 1966 | Commemorative Stamps | Jinnah – The First Portrait |
• 1967 | Commemorative stamps | Coronation of Reza Shah Pehalvi of Iran - Oct 1967 |
• 1968

1968 was the end of a golden era of development in Pakistan. From 1958 to 1968 when Pakistan was under a military ruler, the country saw a period of real development in all spheres. Pakistan's economic plans were so versatile and progressive that even Korea borrowed the plans and made their country progressive. To commemorate the decade of development a set of four stamps was issued showing development in various segments of economy of Pakistan.

• 1969
• 1970
• 1971

1971 was the last year when Pakistan Post printed stamps for both wings of Pakistan, i.e. the East and West Pakistan. From 1972, there was only one Pakistan after the East Pakistan became Bangladesh. However, the word "Pakistan" written in Bengali continued on Pakistan postage stamps throughout in 1972 and from 1973 the Bengali scripture was done away with, forever. Incidentally, the last stamp of 1971 was issued on the eve of Pakistan winning the World Hockey Championship title at Barcelona, Spain.

Continue seeing Pakistan Postage stamps through our next two indexes:

• Index: Pakistan Postage Stamps issued from 1972-2000
• Index: Pakistan Postage Stamps issued from 2001 till date

Pakistan Postage Stamps since 1947 have been published in our two blogs and website on Pakistan:

• Hobby Shobbys
• My Philatelic World
• Pakistanpaedia (First Stamps: 1947-1960)
• Pakistanpaedia (Stamps issued 1961-1980)
• Pakistanpaedia (Stamps issued 1981-2000)
• Pakistanpaedia (Stamps issued 2000 -2004)

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The first page from my Pakistan Stamps collection - 1947

This is the first page from my stamp album carrying stamps of Pakistan. At the time of independence in 1947, readily no indigenous stamps were available. Therefore the old British India stamps with overprint PAKISTAN were used. It was almost a year later that a set of four indigenous stamps (top right corner) was issued in 1948.

In the bottom right corner are the stamps of the independent state of Bahawalpur. The state later merged into Pakistan in 1954.

Related reading: First stamps - Pakistan

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First Stamps – Pakistan

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Upon independence form the British India on 14 august 1947, Pakistan continued to use the old British Indian stamps with the word “Pakistan” over printed on these stamps. It was not until 9^th July 1948, did the Pakistan Post issued a set of four commemorative stamps with a face value of One and a Half, Two and a Half and 3 Anas and Re.1. 

The stamps pictured above bore the photographs of Assembly Building (Karachi), Karachi Airport and Lahore Fort. The fourth stamp (Rupee. 1) bore a Crescent and Star with word “Pakistan” written inside the crescent and the word Long Live Pakistan, written on the lower border. Both inscriptions were in Urdu. This stamp was designed by the famous water colour maestro Abdul Rehman Chughtai

The stamps were withdrawn from sale with effect from 1^st October 1959.

Related Reading:

The First Stamps

List of Postage Stamps of Pakistan

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First Stamps – Turkey (Ottoman Empire)

The postal history of Turkey can be divided into two part.  Turkey before  and after 1923. Before 1923, the modern day Turkey  was part of the greater Ottoman Empire, which was spread from Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania in the west, to Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the borders of Persia in the east. 

The Ottoman Empire installed its postal organization in 1840 and issued its first adhesive on 1^st January 1863.  The horizontal pair of two stamps shown above is one of two recorded unused items.

Related Reading:

Postage stamps and postal history of Turkey

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First Stamps – India

The British India came to an end in August 1947 and from it, Pakistan and emerged as two independent countries on 14^th and 15^th august respectively.  A set of three stamps was issued by the Indian Post on 21^st November 1947 as shown above.  

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The stamp on the left top was priced at 12 Ana and showed a Douglas DC-4 aircraft and was meant for foreign air mail. The second on lower left, valued at Three and a Half Ana depicted the flag of India on a sky blue background. The Hindi inscription on the top right corner reads “Long Live India”. The stamp was also meant for mail outside India. 

The third stamp on the right, valued at One and a Half Ana, depicted the national emblem of India and was to be used for domestic mail only.

Related Reading:

Postage stamps and postal history of India

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First Stamps – Bangladesh

Although, a set of 8 stamps was issued on 29 July 1971 in anticipation of the creation of the newly independent country, a set of three stamps by the sovereign Bangladesh were issued on 20^th December 1971 with the overprint “Bangladesh Liberated” both in English and Bengali. 

One of the three stamps with the map of Bangladesh is shown above, while the other two stamps bore the portrait of Sheikh Mujib ur Rehman and the Support Bangladesh theme.

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The First Postage Stamps of China

The history of postage stamps issued by China dates back to 1878. The Post Office of the then Qing Dynasty issued a set of three stamps. 

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The stamps issued from a copper plate bore the drawing of a dragon. This set of stamps was issued thrice, i.e. in 1878, 1882 and then 1883.

Related Reading:

History of China Stamps
Postage Stamps and Postal History of China

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World’s First Multimedia Postage Stamp

I was surfing the postage stamps news the other day when a news halted me in my search. The news were both  interesting,  and digital never heard before. And coming from a small country amazed me more. Bhutan, a tiny Himalayan Kingdom sandwiched between China and India, has a a unique history of issuing amazing and innovative stamps. 

And this time, it has issued what is called the world's first "Multimedia Postage Stamp." Amazing - isn't it? Well for those who are avid stamp collectors, this may not. But for others who do not know, let me add more for their surprise. Bhutan has already issued a scented stamp (it smelled like a rose), a 3-D stamp, a steel stamp, and a silk stamp. They even issued a vinyl record stamp (in 1973), which is still treasured by collectors today - it played the Bhutan national anthem.

So do look for stamps of Bhutan to find use of yet another technology.

Relevant Reading:

World’s First Multimedia Postage Stamp

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Scinde Dawk

When going towards Clifton from Sadar, just opposite to the US Consulate building is a colonial era structure beautifully nested among high rising palm trees. The building is called Frere Hall after Sir Bartle Frere who was the Chief Commissioner of Scinde (present day Sind province of Pakistan). Beside his many achievements, he is also considered the pioneer of postal services in this part of the world as far back as in 1852. His postal service was known as “Dawk”. His newly introduced stamps became the first in Asia and the first round stamps of the world. 

The red ½ anna Scinde Dawk was issued first, on July 1, 1852. The red sealing wax wafer stamps, embossed with a backing of paper, were so fragile that they easily cracked and disintegrated. Since they were often used as a seal on a letter, many were destroyed when the letter was opened. The next attempt was a colourless embossing on whitish or bluish paper. Light blue lines were added between the stamps in the second printing. 

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This version had its own problems. It was very difficult for the postal clerks to see at night by candlelight, especially when they were attached to white envelopes. Finally, the blue stamps, made by simultaneous printing and embossing, were tried. These stamps are found in several shades of blue and they too are found with blue dividing lines between the stamps. This last version was issued shortly before the Scinde Dawk were withdrawn from use on September 30, 1854, and replaced by the East India Company stamps. 

In 1952, Pakistan issued a set of two stamps to commemorate the 100 years of the postal services in Asia.

Related Reference (for details): Stamps of Pakistan (1947-60)

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The First Stamps

The famous Penny Black of the UK, published in 1840, became the first regular postage stamp of the world (above centre). The first US stamps were the 5-cent Franklin and ten-cent Washington of 1847 (above right). Unlike the Penny Black, the interest in stamps in USA was rather slow in the beginning, but picked up pace slowly and gradually in following years. 

Like most early stamps, they were issued imperforate, and had to be separated with scissors, or torn; moreover, they were printed with relatively small separation between the images, making it difficult today to find a good used copy, i.e. one that does not have a part of the design cut off.

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As for Pakistan, after the partition of united India into two sovereign states of India and Pakistan in August 1947, the first indigenous Pakistani stamp was issued almost a year later in July 1948, printed for Pakistan (above left). 

Prior to this, the British Indian stamps with the overprint "Pakistan" in English had been in use. The 1 Re stamp was engraved with Urdu inscription reading "Long Live Pakistan" . The stamp was designed by famous water colour maestro Abdul Rehman Chughtai 

Related Reading:

World's First Postage Stamp

First US Postage Stamps - 1847

Stamps of Pakistan (1947-1960)

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