This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Palau .
The Republic of Palau is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, 500 miles east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles south of Tokyo, forming the westernmost part of the Caroline Islands.
The islands first used German colonial issues for the Caroline Islands, and then stamps of Japan from 1914 to 1944. Palau became part of the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific in 1947 and used U.S. stamps until 1983.
The first of Palau's stamps was issued in 1983 after gaining postal independence.
The inspiration for these unusual bicentenary stamps came from George Keate's 18th-century book, Account of the Pelew Islands. Polly Cianciolo's research led to George Keate's rare book which pictured many Palau scenes dating back to the time when the islands were discovered. The stamp concept tells the story of the August 9, 1783, accidental discovery of the Islands when the English Captain Wilson shipwrecked the East India Company's packet, Antelope.
The Antelope wreck off the coast of Palau, led to the first recorded encounter, both extended and harmonious, between Palauans and Europeans. This discovery is the theme of Palau's first postage stamp set. This se-tenant set of two blocks of four stamps, issued in 1983 were designed by New York City designer, Rosemary De Figlio and printed by House of Questa, a security printer in Great Britain. She used a selection of engravings from Keate's 18th-century book, Account of the Pelew Islands. De Figlio also illustrated the cameo of the Antelope that appears on every one of the 8 unique stamps. The Palau discovery story is detailed in a December 15, 1983, article found in Great Britain's Weekly Stamp Paper, “STAMP COLLECTING”, titled, “Captain Wilson’s Voyage”, by Barbara Last. That same publication's front cover featured an image of some of the stamps in color. The se-tenant stamp set received positive reviews from around the world.
In addition, there are two original cancellation marks shown here - KOROR 12 June 1984 and Republic of Palau 19 June 1984 with a drawing of the Antelope. Both cancellation marks were designed and illustrated by Rosemary De Figlio. [1] [2]
Palau was initially settled around 1000 BC.
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Henry Wilson (1740–1810) was an English naval captain of the British East India Company, from Rotherhithe. He was in command of the British East India Company packet ship Antelope, when it shipwrecked off Ulong Island, near Koror Island in Palau in 1783, and the East Indiaman Warley at the Battle of Pulo Aura.
Antelope was a packet ship built for the British East India Company (EIC) in 1781. She made one voyage for the company that ended when she was wrecked on 10 August 1783 off Ulong, near Koror Island in Palau. This resulted in the first sustained European contact with those islands.
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The first postal service took place using mail sent with captains of packet ships, using agents in the England and in the islands for the end delivery. The cost was normally 3d. The first pillar boxes in Britain were introduced in the Channel Islands as an experiment in 1852, to collect mail for the Royal Mail packet boats. The oldest pillar box in use in the British Isles is in Guernsey.
Territories of the United States on stamps discusses commemorative postal issues devoted to lands that have been ceded to the nation or purchased by treaty in conjunction with both war and peace. Thirteen states have been created from colonial territories, two from independent republics, four from previous states in the Union, and an additional thirty-one from United States territories.
Prince Lee Boo or Lebu was the second son of Abba Thulle (Ibedul), the ruler of Koror in the Pelew Islands, now called Palau. Prince Lee Boo was one of the first people from the Pacific Islands to visit Great Britain. When the China trader Antelope, on a voyage to China for the East India Company, was wrecked on the island of Oroolong in Western Palau in 1783, its survivors, including Captain Henry Wilson, spent three months on Palau. When the survivors were finally rescued, Captain Wilson agreed to take Lee Boo to London to acquire more knowledge about Europe. He arrived about a decade after the Tahitian Omai, on 14 July 1784, in Portsmouth, aboard the Morse, and was quickly dubbed "The Black Prince" by London society, who were charmed by his poise and intelligence. The Wilson family took him into their home in London, where he attended church ceremonies, dinner parties and European school for several months. However, he died of smallpox on 27 December 1784, some six months after his arrival in London. He was 20 years old.
