Definitive postage stamps of Ireland are the regular series of definitive postage stamps issued by the Irish Free State between 1922 and 1937 and by Republic of Ireland since 1937. Nine distinctly different series of designs have been released; additionally the watermark was changed for two issues and the currency was changed on three occasions while the designs remained the same. [a] [1]
The first twelve stamps, the low-values up to 1 shilling, were issued during 1922–23 whilst the three high-values, 2/6, 5/- and 10/- did not appear until 8 September 1937. They were printed by typography by the Government Printers, Dublin on SE watermarked paper. The designs were: Sword of Light (4 values), Map of Ireland (3 values), Celtic Cross (2 values), Arms of the Provinces (3 values) and St. Patrick (3 high values). [2] A small number of coils with either the horizontal or vertical edges imperf (straight) were issued between 1933 and 1935 including the rare coil in 1935.
Starting in 1940 these stamps were replaced by similar ones but printed on "gaelic e" watermarked paper. Two new values 8d (Sword of Light) and 11d (Celtic Cross) were introduced in 1949. In 1967/8 the 3d (Celtic Cross) and 5d (Sword of Light) changed to being printed in photogravure using a slightly smaller image. Two coil stamps, with imperf vertical edges were also issued.
In 1944 the 1/2d and 1s issues were replaced by the corresponding values of the set printed to commemorate the tercentenary of the death of Mícheál Ó Cléirigh designed by Richard J. King [3] effectively becoming the definitive versions of these denominations for twenty years.
Watermarked paper
Known after its German designer, Heinrich Gerl who won the 1966 international design competition, this was the first new design of Irish definitives in 31 years for the high-values and 46 years for the low-values. Sixteen stamps debuted between 1968 and 1969 on four release dates. The graphics were all based on early Irish art motifs: a dog was used in one colour for the low-values, the elk was used for the middle-value, the winged ox and eagle designs were on the high-values.
These stamps used the letter 'p' (Irish pingin) to denote pence rather than the 'd' (Latin denarius) used in the UK, so the three pence stamp bore '3p'. These stamps can be distinguished from the next issue by the presence of the letter 'p' after the numeral.
Decimal currency
With the introduction of decimal currency on 15 February 1971 the Gerl designs were reused in different colours and values and released between 1971 and 1974. A total of 18 single value stamps appeared plus three different multi-value coils; one 5p value and two different 10p se-tenant strips.
Since the previous series had used the letter p to denote pre-decimal pence, the stamps in this series just used a numeral to denote the denomination, so, a three-pence stamp bore the digit 3 with no 'p' after it.
Unwatermarked paper
The last of the Gerl definitives consisted of 14 dog designs, 9 elk designs and 6 winged ox and eagle designs issued on 17 different dates between 1974 and 1980. For the first time a £1 value was put on sale. Some of the values produced were to replace different values as needed because of changing postal rates due to inflation. Unwatermarked paper, that had been introduced with the 1972 Christmas stamp, [4] was used for the first time on definitives.
Between 1981 and 1982, six more values, printed by lithography, were issued on four different dates. A multiple coil stamp based on a se-tenant strip valued 10p also appeared.
Line drawings by Michael Craig with graphics by P. Wildbur were used for a new series based on Irish architecture through the ages. Over six dates between 1982 and 1988 twenty-eight values were released starting with a low-value of 1p and a high-value of £5. The images depicted: Central Pavilion (Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin), Dr Steevens' Hospital (Dublin), St. Mac Dara Church (County Galway), Aughnanure Castle (County Galway), Cormac's Chapel (Cashel, County Tipperary), St Mary's Cathedral Killarney (County Kerry), Casino at Marino (Dublin), Cahir Castle (County Tipperary) and Busáras (Dublin).
The Irish Heritage and Treasures definitives were released between 1990 and 1995. The Michael Craig designs were printed in 22 denominations with 13 different designs comprising; 11th century silver brooch, 18th century funerary pot, 12th century hammered gold armlets, 8th century BC gold dress fastener, 12th century bronze crozier, 6th century BC bronze brooch, 1st century BC gold collar, 8th century BC gold collar, 9th century silver thistle brooch, 1st century BC beaten gold boat, 8th century BC Ardagh Chalice, 7th century Tara Brooch and 12th century Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell.
In 1997 Irish bird illustrations were used for the new issues that spanned the changes of currency from the Irish pound, through dual currency, to the introduction of the euro. Lithographically printed on unwatermarked paper by a number of different printers, the stamps were designed by Killian Mullarney. These were the first definitives where all values were printed in full colour. The initial birds illustrated are: magpie, gannet, corncrake, wood pigeon, kingfisher, lapwing, blue tit, blackbird, robin, stonechat, ringed plover, puffin, song thrush, sparrowhawk, barn owl, white-fronted goose, grey head pintail and shelduck.
These stamps were also released in several booklet and coil formats and different printings.
Irish currency
Eighteen values from 1p to £5 made up the initial set. All values, except the £1 and £5 (being nearly double size at 24 mm x 45 mm) that were printed in sheets of 50, were all sheets of 100 by ISSP, Irish Stamp Security Stamp Printing Ltd. On 2 February 1999, a miniature sheet of fifteen different 30p birds stamps debuted using many of the original birds except that new designs were used for the peregrine falcon, wren and pied wagtail.
Dual currency
On 11 June 2001, six values in dual currency (Irish & euro) appeared using birds from the previous Irish currency issue. Both Irish pound and euro values were printed on each stamp and in most cases this required the designs to be reset in a smaller form to accommodate the additional currency text. This is especially noticeable on the 30p and 32p values.
Euro currency
With the euro introduction on 2 January 2002, 17 new issues in the new single currency in values from 1c to €10 were put on sale. The €10 became the highest ever value postage stamp issued in Ireland. The initial offering used five new bird designs; chaffinch, grey heron, roseate tern, curlew and barnacle goose. [5] Three additional values, 47c, 55c and 60c, appeared in June 2002 with new designs of kestrel, oystercatcher and jay.
An increase in postal rates resulted in two new values on 6 January 2003. Two more were released on 25 August of the same year. The 75c showed a ringed plover and the 95c depicted a sparrowhawk. The August releases were priced at 7c and 48c using the stonechat and peregrine falcon designs. As usual these were printed in sheets of 100.
The last single sheet stamps were released on 5 January 2004; in 60c and 65c denominations depicting the puffin and the song thrush.
Seven stamps, designed by the botanical artist Susan Sex, featuring flowers native to the woodlands and hedgerows of Ireland came on sale on 9 September 2004. They were; 4c dog violet, 5c dandelion, 48c primrose, 60c hawthorn, 65c bluebell, €2 lords and ladies and €5 dog rose. [1] ISSP were the printers and as previously, the low-values were printed in sheets of 100, while the high-values (€2 and €5) appeared in sheets of 50. With another design, the 48c daisy, only available in booklets, self-adhesive booklets or self-adhesive rolls.
Five more designs were added on 12 April 2005, the 1c bloody crane's-bill, 2c Irish orchid, 7c fly orchid, 10c mountain avens and €10 spring gentian. [1] Another five on 20 February 2006: 12c autumn gorse, 25c common knapweed, 75c navelwort, 90c viper's bugloss and €1 foxglove. [6] With four more on 1 March 2007: 3c yellow flag, 55c large-flowered butterwort, 78c black bog-rush and the 95c purple loosestrife. [7] And a final 3 on 3 March 2008 a 20c thrift, 50c biting stonecrop and 82c sea aster. [8]
N Denomination
On 1 March 2007 the butterwort was reissues with an N denomination together with a new design the blue-eyed-grass, these were only available in self-adhesive booklets or self-adhesive rolls. [7]
Stamps on a Roll
On 22 July 2010 An Post introduced Stamps on a Roll. The stamps are on rolls of 600 and are only given a denomination at the time of purchase. To distinguish these stamps from other stamp products, they are being given the name Stamps on a Roll or SOAR for short. The stamps feature four of the designs from this series: bloody crane's-bill, mountain avens, spring gentian and common knapweed. [9] [10]
On 8 September 2010, eight stamps of the seventh definitive stamp series, entitled "Irish Animals and Marine Life", were issued at launch. They photographically illustrate Ireland's biodiversity. Issued in "Stamps on a Roll" self-adhesive strips, the stamps feature the following wildlife: tompot blenny, green tiger beetle, red squirrel, golden eagle, common octopus, hermit crab, sea slug and bottlenose dolphin. [11]
On 21 July 2011 a further eight designs were added featuring the beadlet anemone, the squat lobster, the cuckoo wrasse, the common frog, the green huntsman, the elephant hawk-moth, the goldfinch and the red deer. A third phase is scheduled for 9 August 2012 featuring green crab, raft spider, pike and the kestrel. [12]
A 10 x 55c stamp national booklet was issued on 22 June 2011 featuring the hermit crab.
A Coil of 100 stamps, featuring 55c versions of the red squirrel and the bottlenose dolphin was issued on 29 September 2011.
For the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising An Post issued an eight series of definitive stamps on 21 January 2016 that will only be on sale for a period of one year. There are sixteen stamps divided into four groups of four categories titled as: Leaders and Icons, Participants, Easter Week and The Aftermath. [13] [14]
Leaders and Icons illustrate photographs of seven of the rising's leaders: Thomas J. Clarke, Seán Mac Diarmada, Éamonn Ceannt, Thomas MacDonagh, Padraic Pearse, Joseph Plunkett and James Connolly plus one stamp showing the flag of the Irish Republic that flew over the General Post Office during the rising. [15]
The Participants group depict pair of portraits of people who were involved in the fighting: Constable James O’Brien and Sean Connolly, Lieutenant Michael Malone and his brother Sergeant William Malone, Kathleen Lynn and Elizabeth O’Farrell and Jack Doyle and Tom McGrath, one of the only extant photos of rebels in the GPO. [15]
The Easter Week stamps are the top portion of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, Seán Foster, one of the youngest children killed, Louisa Nolan, a young woman who tended the wounded at Mount Street Bridge, Sir Francis Fletcher-Vane and the executed Francis Sheehy-Skeffington. [15]
The four Aftermath stamps embody the consequences portraying the destroyed GPO and the undamaged Nelson's Pillar, children with firewood, two unidentified prisoners and Roger Casement who was executed for treason. [15]
The stamps feature an augmented reality code that allows smartphone user with internet access to the GPO Witness History website that provides background information on the Rising. [15]
The basic issue come as variable value stamps in a Stamps on a Roll (SOAR) format self-adhesive labels with the pre-printed designs, the country name, and upright sequential number in the lower right corner and at the point of purchase are printed with the face value, date of purchase, a unique identifier code for each stamp including the number of the post office and the device, and operational control numbers. [16]
Two stamp booklets of 10 narrower stamps that omit the variable value stamp machine features of the SOAR stamps have the rate printed in the picture area; the domestic rate booklet features the ruined GPO on 70¢ stamps and the foreign rate booklet shows Roger Casement on the foreign rate booklet €1.05 stamps.
All 16 designs in a different format which have the country name, 70¢ postage and augmented reality code above the image, are issued in a miniature sheet of gummed stamps. [17]
Coil stamps in rolls of 100 70¢ self-adhesive stamps alternating the two designs of the portion of Proclamation of the Irish Republic and the flag of the Irish Republic. [15]
The first phase of twelve designs of the ninth definitive series were available on 13 January 2017 and are based on A History of Ireland in 100 Objects , a book by Fintan O'Toole in association with the National Museum of Ireland, the Royal Irish Academy and the Irish Times newspaper. The "objects" were defined as a single, man-made entity (not buildings), and generally freely accessible in public institutions or spaces. The complete series, being a selection of the 100 objects, are to be released over the subsequent five or six years. [18]
The initially issued stamps were eight different SOAR stamps (Stamps on a Roll), a range coil stamps, and a domestic and a foreign rate stamp booklet that each illustrate different objects. [19] The designs show a Mesolithic Fish Trap, Ceremonial Axehead, Flint Macehead, Bronze Age Funerary Pots, Neolithic Bowl, Tara Torcs, Coggalbeg Gold Hoard, Broighter Boat, Old Croghan Man Armlet, Pair of Gold Discs, Castlederg Bronze Cauldron and Gleninsheen gorget. [20]
The stamps feature augmented reality that can be accessed with a smartphone app [18] and a special website has been set up to showcase the objects where visitors can explore their historical details in Ireland's long history from circa 5,000 BC to the 21st century. [21]
Definitive stamp booklets were first put on sale on 21 August 1931. Booklet construction was a lightweight cardboard cover stitched on the left-hand side with panes of stamps (usually four panes), advertising panes and interleaving bound in. Until 1956 most booklets had half of the front cover devoted to advertising, and until 1963 booklets also had serial numbers on the front cover: two numbers indicated the year of issue and serial number (in that order on the early issues but with the order reversed for later issues), until 1963 when the serial numbers ceased. [22] Since 1983, most booklets are no longer stitched; the stamp pane, or panes, are glued into a folded card cover. [23]
Until 1988, when the Dublin Millennium booklet containing commemorative stamps was issued, all booklets contained only definitive stamps. [24] Since then, An Post has issued both commemorative and definitive booklets, with three times as many commemorative booklets issued. [23] In 1990 An Post issued the first booklet mixing definitive and commemorative stamps in one booklet and also on a single pane.
Many booklet stamps can be identified by one non-perforated edge, though a few are perforated on all edges. On booklets up to 1977, the printing plate construction enabled both upright and inverted watermarks in equal quantities owing to a gutter dividing vertical rows 6 and 7 in the sheets of 12 x 22 stamps. The gutter was used for stitching during assembly, requiring rows 4–6 and 10–12 to be turned through 180 degrees so those panes could be stitched on the left of the booklet. [22]
Notes
References
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Sources
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage. Then the stamp is affixed to the face or address-side of any item of mail—an envelope or other postal cover —which they wish to send. The item is then processed by the postal system, where a postmark or cancellation mark—in modern usage indicating date and point of origin of mailing—is applied to the stamp and its left and right sides to prevent its reuse. Next the item is delivered to its address.
Postal service in the United States began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a system of universal prepayment that required all letters to bear nationally issued adhesive postage stamps.
A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is part of the regular issue of a country's stamps, available for sale by the post office for an extended period of time and designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. The term is used in contrast to a "provisional stamp", one that is issued for a temporary period until regular stamps are available, or a "commemorative stamp", a stamp "issued to honor a person or mark a special event" available only for a limited time. Commonly, a definitive issue or series includes stamps in a range of denominations sufficient to cover current postal rates. An "issue" generally means a set that is put on sale all at the same time, while a "series" is spread out over several years, but the terms are not precise. Additional stamps in a series may be produced as needed by changes in postal rates; nevertheless some values may be permanently available, regardless of prevailing rates; examples include 1c or 1p and $1 or £1.
Posten, the Swedish mail service, was established in 1636 by Axel Oxenstierna, and by the 18th century it had been extended throughout the country.
The history of postage stamps and postal history of Malaysia, a state in Southeast Asia that occupies the south of the Malay Peninsula and Sarawak and Sabah in the north Borneo, includes the development of postal services in these periods:
The Machin series of postage stamps was the main definitive stamp series in the United Kingdom for most of the reign of Elizabeth II, from 1967 until her death in 2022. Introduced on 5 June 1967, it was the second series of her reign, replacing the Wilding series. The last issue was on 4 April 2022, four months before the Queen's death on 8 September.
The Liberty issue was a definitive series of postage stamps issued by the United States between 1954 and 1965. It offered twenty-four denominations, ranging from a half-cent issue showing Benjamin Franklin to a five dollar issue depicting Alexander Hamilton. However, in a notable departure from all definitive series since 1870, the stamp for a normal first-class letter—the 3-cent value—did not present the portrait of a president, but instead offered a monocolor image of the Statue of Liberty. Moreover, two-color renderings of the Statue of Liberty appeared on both the 8 cent and 11 cent stamps; and it is from these three denominations that the Liberty issue takes its name. Pictures of other national landmarks, such as Bunker Hill and Mount Vernon, are found on several values, while the rest of the stamps follow tradition, containing portraits of well-known historic Americans. The six denominations in the set that illustrate buildings were all designed in landscape format, resulting in a free intermixture of landscape and portrait orientation for the first time in a definitive U.S. issue.
The postage stamps of Ireland are issued by the postal operator of the independent Irish state. Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland when the world's first postage stamps were issued in 1840. These stamps, and all subsequent British issues, were used throughout Ireland until the new Irish Government assumed power in 1922. Beginning on 17 February 1922, existing British stamps were overprinted with Irish text to provide some definitives until separate Irish issues became available within the new Irish Free State. Following the overprints, a regular series of definitive stamps was produced by the new Department of Posts and Telegraphs, using domestic designs. These definitives were issued on 6 December 1922, the day that the Irish Free State officially came into existence; the first was a 2d stamp, depicting a map of Ireland. Since then new images, and additional values as needed, have produced nine definitive series of different designs.
The Presidential Issue, nicknamed the Prexies by collectors, is the series of definitive postage stamps issued in the United States in 1938, featuring all 29 U.S. presidents who were in office between 1789 and 1928, from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge. The presidents appear as small profile busts printed in solid-color designs through 50¢, and then as black on white images surrounded by colored lettering and ornamentation for $1, $2, and $5 values. Additional stamps in fractional-cent denominations offer busts of Benjamin Franklin and Martha Washington, as well as an engraving of the White House. With its total of 32 stamps, this was the largest definitive series yet issued by the U. S. Post Office.
The Rare 2d Coil was an experimental vertical coil stamp, denominated 2d, issued by the Irish Post Office in 1935 and is one of the scarcest, and most valuable, Irish stamps. It is often referred to by stamp collectors simply as "Scott 68b" or "SG 74b", being the Scott and Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogue numbers respectively.
The postal history of Malta began in the early modern period, when pre-adhesive mail was delivered to foreign destinations by privately owned ships for a fee. The earliest known letter from Malta, sent during the rule of the Order of St John, is dated 1532. The first formal postal service on the islands was established by the Order in 1708, with the post office being located at the Casa del Commun Tesoro in Valletta. The first postal markings on mail appeared later on in the 18th century.
The Wildings were a series of definitive postage and revenue stamps featuring the Dorothy Wilding photographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II that were in use between 1952 and 1971. The Wildings were the first and only British stamps to feature graphite lines on the back, and the first to feature phosphor bands on the face – both aids to automation. The stamps were also the first British pictorial high value stamps and the first to include regional emblems.
Postage stamps of Pakistan are those issued since Pakistan's independence in 1947. Pakistan Post has issued more than 600 sets and singles totalling more than 1300 stamps. Immediately after the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the new Pakistan government was preoccupied with setting up the government so British Indian stamps continued in use without an overprint as was the practice in other countries.
Admirals are a series of definitive stamps issued by three countries of the British Commonwealth that show King George V of Great Britain and the British Dominions. The stamps are referred to as the Admirals because King George is depicted in his Admiral of the Fleet uniform. The stamps were issued by Canada in 1911–1928, New Zealand in 1926, and Rhodesia in 1913–24.
The Washington–Franklin Issues are a series of definitive U.S. Postage stamps depicting George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, issued by the U.S. Post Office between 1908 and 1922. The distinctive feature of this issue is that it employs only two engraved heads set in ovals—Washington and Franklin in full profile—and replicates one or another of these portraits on every stamp denomination in the series. This is a significant departure from previous definitive issues, which had featured pantheons of famous Americans, with each portrait-image confined to a single denomination. At the same time, this break with the recent past represented a return to origins. Washington and Franklin, after all, had appeared on the first two American stamps, issued in 1847, and during the next fifteen years, each of the eight stamp denominations available featured either Washington or Franklin.
The Regular Issues of 1922–1931 were a series of 27 U.S. postage stamps issued for general everyday use by the U.S. Post Office. Unlike the definitives previously in use, which presented only a Washington or Franklin image, each of these definitive stamps depicted a different president or other subject, with Washington and Franklin each confined to a single denomination. The series not only restored the historical tradition of honoring multiple presidents on U.S. Postage but extended it. Offering the customary presidential portraits of the martyred Lincoln and Garfield, the war hero Grant, and the founding fathers Washington and Jefferson, the series also memorialized some of the more recently deceased presidents, beginning with Hayes, McKinley, Cleveland and Roosevelt. Later, the deaths of Harding, Wilson and Taft all prompted additions to the presidential roster of Regular Issue stamps, and Benjamin Harrison's demise (1901) was belatedly deemed recent enough to be acknowledged as well, even though it had already been recognized in the Series of 1902. The Regular Issues also included other notable Americans, such as Martha Washington and Nathan Hale—and, moreover, was the first definitive series since 1869 to offer iconic American pictorial images: these included the Statue of Liberty, the Capitol Building and others. The first time (1869) that images other than portraits of statesmen had been featured on U.S. postage, the general public disapproved, complaining that the scenes were no substitute for images of presidents and Franklin. However, with the release of these 1922 regular issues, the various scenes—which included the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial and even an engraving of an American Buffalo—prompted no objections. To be sure, this series presented pictorial images only on the higher-value stamps; the more commonly used denominations, of 12 cents and lower, still offered the traditional portraits.
The Series of 1902, also known as the Second Bureau Issue, is a set of definitive postage stamps in fourteen denominations ranging between one cent and five dollars, produced by the U. S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing and issued by the United States Post Office. Two denominations appeared in November and December 1902 and the other twelve were released between January and June 1903. These stamps were assigned the Scott Catalogue numbers 300 through 313. Also considered part of the series is a fifteenth stamp which appeared in November 1903—a second version of the 2¢ value, the original having faced severe criticism. This series, particularly noted for its exceptional ornateness and opulence of design, remained in circulation until late 1908, when it was superseded by the Washington-Franklin Issues.
The U.S. Parcel Post stamps of 1912–13 were the first such stamps issued by the U.S. Post Office Department and consisted of twelve denominations to pay the postage on parcels weighing 16 ounces and more, with each denomination printed in the same color of "carmine-rose". Their border design was similar while each denomination of stamp bore its own distinctive image in the center (vignette). Unlike regular postage items, whose rates were determined by weight in ounces, Parcel Post rates were determined and measured by increments in pounds. The new stamps were soon widely used by industry, farmers and others who lived in rural areas. Partly owing to some confusion involving their usage, their exclusive use as Parcel Post stamps proved short lived, as regular postage stamps were soon allowed to be used to pay parcel postage rates.
The Melita issue is a series of dual-purpose postage and revenue stamps issued by the Crown Colony of Malta between 1922 and 1926, depicting the national personification Melita. They were commemorative stamps since they celebrated the islands' new status as a self-governing colony following a new constitution in 1921, but also a definitive issue intended for regular use over an extended period of time.