A page from my stamp album - England (Great Britain)

The postal history of the Great Britain is the oldest in the world of philately, dating back to 1840. It also established one of the most efficient postal system ever laid out in the world. The Great Britain also introduced the same system in all its colonies and protectorates, where it is still functioning as efficiently as it is in the Great Britain today. It may be mentioned here that the first ever stamp of the South Asia was printed in 1852 from Karachi, Pakistan (then part of the British Empire) and was known as Scinde (Sind) Dak.

Four major eras of the British postal system can be best described as the Victorian, King George V, King Edward VIII and the present Queen Elizabeth II. The Penny Black series of the Victorian times is the most famous that also includes the world’s first postage stamp in the shape as we know it.

My album starts from the King George V era and the stamps in the left lower column bear the portrait of King George V, issued in 1912s onward  These are followed by stamps bearing portrait of King Edward VIII, issued in 1930s (stamps in the left column over the King George V stamps and the second column from the left).

The bulk of my stamps are of the King Elizabeth II era, starting from her coronation in 1952 till date.

I will continue to share pages from my stamp album of British stamps in days to come.

Postage stamps and postal history of Great Britain (Wikipedia)

The First Stamps

The Scinde Dak

Read More

A page from my stamp album - Lundy (UK)

Lundy is the largest island in the Bristol Channel, lying 12 miles (19 km) off the coast of Devon, England, approximately one third of the distance across the channel between England and Wales. It measures about 3 miles (5 km) by 0.75 miles (1.2 km). Lundy gives its name to a British sea area and is one of the islands of England. As of 2007, the population of the Island was only 28.

Owing to a decline in population and lack of interest in the mail contract, the GPO ended its presence at the end of 1927. For the next couple of years "King" Harman handled the mail to and from the island without charge. On 1 November 1929 he decided to offset the expense by issuing a series of private postage stamps, with a value expressed in "Puffins". The printing of Puffin stamps continues to this day. They have to be put on the bottom left hand corner of the envelope, so that the mainland sorting offices can process them: their cost includes the standard Royal Mail charges for onward delivery. Puffins are a type of stamp known to philatelists as a "local carriage label". 

Issues of increasing value were made over the years, including air mail, featuring a variety of people. Many are now highly sought-after by collectors.

Lundy Island continues to issue stamps with the latest issues being in 2006 (100th anniversary of the wreck HMS Montagu) and 2008 (50th birthday of MS Oldenburg). The value of the early issues has risen substantially over the years. The stamps of Lundy Island serve to cover the postage of letters and cards from the island to the nearest GPO post box on the mainland for the many thousands of annual visitors, and have become part of the collection of the many British Local Posts collectors. These stamps appeared in 1970s in the Rosen Catalogue of British Local Stamps, and in the Phillips Modern British Locals CD Catalogue, published since 2003.

The stamps from my album were issued in 1962 as part of an anti Malaria campaign.

Text Source: Wikipedia

Read More

New Stamps for 2010

The New Year 2010 brings with it many new stamps being issued by countries all over the world. Pakistan Post issued two stamps. Both stamps published on 11 January 2010 are about 7TH National Finance Commission Award 2009 signed at Gwadar and the Balochistan Package announced by the government for the uplift of the Balochistan province.

The USPS has chartered out an elaborate plan for the issuance of stamps throughout 2010. The portraits include that of Mother Teresa, Katharine Hepburn, cowboys, baseball players, distinguished sailors, flags besides celebrating the new Lunar Year and the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

-->
Likewise the British postal service has also published its list of the stamps. Some of the new stamps include Olympic / Paralympics Games, 350th Anniversary of the Royal Society, Centenary of the Girl Guides, Castles of Wales and many more. T

he British postal service has also issued ten new stamps on 7th January 2010.  Pink Floyd, Blur, The Clash and Led Zeppelin are among those to be featured. China and neighbouring countries are celebrating the Year of the Tiger and all their stamps bear the caricature, images and photos of tigers. 

The United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) has also issued new stamps based on the human trafficking theme on 4 February 2010.

Related Sites:
Pakistan Post – Stamps 2010
Postal News - United States Postal Service
Pink Floyd and Other Royal Mail Stamps for 2010
New United Nations stamps feature human trafficking theme

Read More

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.

-->

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)

Read More