This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Martinique .
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados. It is an overseas region of France.
Stamps of France were used in Martinique from 1851, and the French colonies general issues from 1859.
The first stamp of Martinique was issued on 18 July 1886, overprinting "Martinique" on the French colonies general issues. [1] [2] In 1892, the first definitive set, the French colonial series, was issued. A series of pictorial stamps issued in 1908 featured local themes.
Martinique has used the stamps of France since becoming an overseas region in 1974.
A cancellation is a postal marking applied on a postage stamp or postal stationery to deface the stamp and to prevent its reuse. 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 "postmark" refers specifically to the part that contains the date and posting location, but the term is often used interchangeably with "cancellation" as it may serve that purpose. 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. 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.
The postal and philatelic history of Canada concerns postage of the territories which have formed Canada. Before Canadian confederation, the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland issued stamps in their own names. The postal history falls into four major periods: French control (1604–1763), British control (1763–1841), colonial government control (1841–1867), and Canada, since 1867.
Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika (KUT) is the name on British postage stamps made for use in the British colonies of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika. The stamps were circulated between 1935 and 1963 by the joint postal service of the three colonies, the East African Posts and Telecommunications Administration, reconstituted as part of the East African High Commission from 1948 to 1961, the East African Common Services Organization from 1961 to 1967, and the East African Community from 1967 to 1977. Even after independence, the new separate nations continued to use the KUT stamps, and they remained valid for postage until 1977.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.
Gabon is a country in west central Africa sharing borders with the Gulf of Guinea to the west, Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, and Cameroon to the north, with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. Its size is almost 270,000 km² with an estimated population of 1,500,000. The capital and largest city is Libreville.
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 postage stamps and postal history of the Comoro Islands is an overview of the postage stamps and postal history of the Comoro Islands, an Indian Ocean archipelago located on the south-east side of Africa.
This is an overview of the postage stamps and postal history of the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, one of the Comoros Archipelago islands located on the south-east side of Africa.
Mauritius, a small island in the southwest Indian Ocean, is important to the world of philately for a number of reasons. Its first two postage stamps issued in 1847, called the "Post Office" stamps, are of legendary rarity and value. They were the first stamps issued in any part of the British Empire outside of Great Britain. The unique cover bearing both “Post Office” stamps has been called "la pièce de résistance de toute la philatélie" or "the greatest item in all philately". The cover was sold at auction, in Zurich, on 3 November 1993, for 5.75 million Swiss francs, the equivalent of about $4 million – the highest price ever paid for a single philatelic item up to that time. In addition, Mauritius is well known for the subsequent locally produced issues known as "primitives," also prized by collectors.
A specimen stamp is a postage stamp or postal stationery indicium sent to postmasters and postal administrations so that they are able to identify valid stamps and to avoid forgeries. The usual method of invalidating the stamps is either overprinting in ink or perforating the word Specimen across the stamp and where English is not the common language, the words Muestra (Spanish), Monster (Dutch), Muster (German) or Образец have been used instead.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Benin, formerly Dahomey.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Laos.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Fezzan and Ghadames, both now part of Libya.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Senegal.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of South Africa.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Sierra Leone.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Nigeria.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Réunion.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Niger, a former French colony that obtained independence in 1960.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Grenada.
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