Forerunner (stamp)

Last updated April 01, 2019

In philately, a forerunner is a postage stamp used before a region or territory issued stamps of its own.^[1] The term also includes stamps of the political predecessors of a country. For instance stamps of the state of Western Australia are forerunners of Australia today and stamps of the British Mandate for Palestine are forerunners of modern Israel.^[2]

Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. It also refers to the collection, appreciation and research activities on stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps. For instance, the stamps being studied may be very rare, or reside only in museums.

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, who then affix the stamp to the face or address-side of any item of mail—an envelope or other postal cover —that 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. The item is then delivered to its addressee.

Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, and the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of 2,529,875 square kilometres, and the second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's Sakha Republic. The state has about 2.6 million inhabitants – around 11 percent of the national total – of whom the vast majority live in the south-west corner, 79 per cent of the population living in the Perth area, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated.

British colonies

This British stamp is overprinted for use in British Bechuanaland which eventually became part of South Africa. British-Bechuanaland-6d-stamp.jpg — This British stamp is overprinted for use in British Bechuanaland which eventually became part of South Africa.

Many British colonies used British stamps overprinted with the name of the colony, for instance Bechuanaland Protectorate or Cyprus, before those territories had their own stamps and those overprinted stamps are forerunners. Stamps of Britain used abroad but not marked for the specific use in a colony may also be regarded as forerunners if their use in a colony can be identified by the postmark, for example an A25 postmark shows that a stamp was used in Malta.

The Bechuanaland Protectorate was a protectorate established on 31 March 1885, by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in southern Africa. It became the Republic of Botswana on 30 September 1966.

Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean, located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel, north of Egypt, and southeast of Greece.

Propaganda stamps

Although the term 'forerunner' is normally restricted to stamps which are official issues of a territory, some "stamps" issued by political movements such as Sinn Féin (Ireland) or the Jewish National Fund (Israel) have been regarded as forerunners^[1] despite not being valid for postal use.

Sinn Féin is a left-wing Irish republican political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a non-profit organization. By 2007, it owned 13% of the total land in Israel. Since its inception, the JNF says it has planted over 240 million trees in Israel. It has also built 180 dams and reservoirs, developed 250,000 acres (1,000 km²) of land and established more than 1,000 parks.

Provisional stamps

Provisional stamps produced by overprinting are official stamps of a country, even if old stamps are used, and thus are not considered to be forerunners.

Linn's World Stamp Almanac defines a provisional stamp as "a postage stamp issued for temporary use to meet postal demands until new or regular stocks of stamps can be obtained."

An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp, banknote or postal stationery after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail. The most well-recognized varieties are commemorative overprints which are produced for their public appeal and command significant interest in the field of philately.

Related Research Articles

A cancellation is a postal marking applied on a postage stamp or postal stationery to deface the stamp and prevent its re-use. Cancellations come in a huge variety of designs, shapes, sizes and colors. Modern cancellations commonly include the date and post office location where the stamps were mailed, in addition to lines or bars designed to cover the stamp itself. The term "postal marking" sometimes is used to refer specifically to the part that contains the date and posting location, although the term often is used interchangeably with "cancellation." The portion of a cancellation that is designed to deface the stamp and does not contain writing is also called the "obliteration" or killer. Some stamps are issued pre-cancelled with a printed or stamped cancellation and do not need to have a cancellation added. Cancellations can affect the value of stamps to collectors, positively or negatively. The cancellations of some countries have been extensively studied by philatelists and many stamp collectors and postal history collectors collect cancellations in addition to the stamps themselves.

In philately, private overprints or commercial overprints are overprints applied to postage stamps, postal stationery or revenue stamps by anyone other than the official stamp-issuing entity. These overprints have principally been used as a security measure, however, propaganda and commemorative examples are also known. When overprinted for security purposes, they serve a similar function to perfins. It is important to distinguish between private overprints and private cancellations.

Postage stamps and postal history of Great Britain surveys postal history from the United Kingdom and the postage stamps issued by that country and its various historical territories until the present day.

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Zululand under British rule.

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 in 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. 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 first was a 2d stamp, depicting a map of Ireland. Since then new images, and additional values as needed, have produced of nine definitive series of different designs.

The postage stamps and postal history of Armenia describes the history of postage stamps and postal systems in Armenia. Czarist Russian postmarks and stamps were in used in the territory of Armenia from 1858. The early postmarks were composed of dots in different shapes. Dated postmarks with city names soon followed. Many counterfeit postmarks are known. From 1909 until 1918 a few Russian stamps were overprinted identifying the Armenian Post. The Armenian letters H & P are intertwined, representing the initials of hai post, the Armenian Post Office.

The postage stamps and postal history of Israel is a survey of the postage stamps issued by the state of Israel, and its postal history, since independence was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. The first postage stamps were issued two days later on May 16, 1948. Pre-1948 postal history is discussed in postage stamps and postal history of Palestine.

The postage stamps and postal history of Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, was linked to its original economic situation until 1993. Mainly ruled by a phosphate production commission, the island was part of the British Straits Settlements colony from 1901 to 1942, then of Singapore from 1946 to 1958. Although it was placed under Australian control in 1958, the island remained postally and philatelically independent until 1993 when Australia Post became the island's postal operator.

The postage stamps and postal history of Papua New Guinea were linked to the Australian administration on the eastern part of the island of New Guinea until its independence in 1975.

The postage stamps and postal history of Norfolk Island depended on Australia until 1947, when the island, an Australian territory since 1914, received its own stamps and postal autonomy.

The postage stamps and postal history of Azerbaijan describes the history of postage stamps and postal systems in Azerbaijan, which closely follows the political history of Azerbaijan, from its incorporation to the Russian Empire in 1806, to its briefly obtained independence in 1918, which it lost to the Soviet Union in 1920 and re-acquired it in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union.

This is a survey of postage stamps and postal history of the German colonies and part of the postage stamps and postal history of Germany, as well as those of the individual countries and territories concerned.

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of British Bechuanaland.

Key type stamps are stamps of a uniform design that were widely used by colonial territories in the 19th and 20th centuries.

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Lebanon, formerly known as Liban.

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Ghana, known as the Gold Coast before independence.

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Nyassa Company.

In philately a parcel stamp is a stamp specifically issued to pay the fee for the transport of a parcel through the postal system and usually marked as such. It is to be distinguished from a postage stamp used to pay the cost of posting a parcel, although there may no practical distinction as far as the sender is concerned. Parcel stamps issued by governments have the same status in philately as postage stamps, but parcel stamps issued by private railway companies or road carriers are regarded as cinderella stamps and many parcel stamps are also railway stamps.

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Griqualand West, a former British colony that is now part of South Africa.

An underprint is anything printed underneath the main design of a stamp, banknote or similar item. Underprinting is used as a security measure to prevent forgery, or the cleaning of a postmark from a used stamp. The most common form of underprinting is burelage which takes the form of a faint pattern of lines or dots. Underprinting may also take the form of single or repeating words, for instance the word CUSTOMS at one time appeared underprinted on British revenue stamps.

References

1 2 Mackay, James (2003). Stamp collecting: Philatelic terms illustrated. London: Stanley Gibbons. p. 59. ISBN 0-85259-557-3.
↑ Sutton, R.J. & K.W. Anthony. The Stamp Collector's Encyclopaedia. 6th edition. London: Stanley Paul, 1966, p.116.

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[mackay-1] 1 2 Mackay, James (2003). Stamp collecting: Philatelic terms illustrated. London: Stanley Gibbons. p. 59. ISBN 0-85259-557-3.

[2] Sutton, R.J. & K.W. Anthony. The Stamp Collector's Encyclopaedia. 6th edition. London: Stanley Paul, 1966, p.116.