List of postage stamps explained

This is a list of postage stamps that are especially notable in some way, often due to antiquity or a postage stamp error. Among the best-known stamps are:

• Penny Black (Great Britain)
• Treskilling Yellow (Sweden)
• Bull's Eye (Brazil)
• British Guiana 1c magenta
• Mauritius "Post Office"
• Inverted Jenny (United States)
• Basel Dove (Switzerland)

Current political entities

Austria

• Red Mercury – newspaper stamp

Belgium

• Leopold with the Epaulettes (1849)
• Inverted Dendermonde (1920)

Brazil

• Bull's Eye

Canada

• Canada 12d black
• Canada 2c Large Queen on laid paper – Rarest Canadian stamp
• Bluenose

China

• Red Revenues – 1897 provisionals, issued by the Qing dynasty
• The Whole Country is Red – 1968 design error stamp
• Golden Monkey stamp – 1980 Chinese zodiac stamp

France

• Ceres – France's first stamp

Germany

• Baden 9 Kreuzer error – stamp printed on blue-green instead of pink paper
• One kreuzer black – issued 1849 in Bavaria, first German postage stamp
• Sachsen 3 Pfennige red – Saxony was the second German state to issue postage stamps
• Vineta provisional – an unauthorized issue
• Yacht issue – a common design of postage stamps for the German colonies

India

• Scinde Dawk – First stamps in Asia
• Inverted Head Four Annas
• Indian 10 Rupee Mahatma Gandhi postage stamp – Mahatma Gandhi 10 rupees stamp overprinted "SERVICE"

Ireland

• 1935 Irish 2d coil stamp

Italy

• Gronchi Rosa

Jamaica

• Jamaica 1 shilling inverted-frame stamp error
• Jamaica 6d abolition of slavery postage stamp
• Jamaica 1956-58 £1 chocolate and violet
• Jamaica 1968 human rights stamps

Malta

• Halfpenny Yellow (1860–84) – Malta's first stamp
• Saint Paul 10s black (1919) – one of Malta's rarest stamps
• Melita issue (1922–26) – stamp issue commemorating Malta's self-government

Mauritius

• Mauritius "Post Office" stamps

New Zealand

See also: Postage stamps and postal history of New Zealand.

• 1904 Pictorial 4d Lake Taupo invert – Only one copy known

Romania

• Moldavian Bull's Heads – Issued by the principality of Moldavia in 1858

Russia

• First stamp of the Russian Empire (1857)
• 70r Red Army Soldier error (1922) – 70-ruble perforated 12.5 or imperforate orange red error; position 72 in part of the issue; 4 imperforate specimens known

Sweden

• Treskilling Yellow – Unique error, world's record auction sales price for a postage stamp

Switzerland

• Basel Dove
• Double Geneva
• Zürich 4 and 6

Trinidad

• Lady McLeod private local post

Uganda

• Uganda Cowries – The first stamps of Uganda, typewritten

United Kingdom

See main article: List of British postage stamps.

• Penny Black – World's first postage stamp
• Penny Blue – Trial printings from a penny black plate
• Two pence blue – Issued for second rate step, at the same time as Penny Black
• VR official – First official stamp
  • Prince Consort Essay Penny Red – Improved follow-ons to the Penny Black
• Archer Roulette – Experimental separation of stamps
• Edward VII 2d Tyrian plum – Withdrawn before issue, but one used
• Postal Union Congress £1 stamp

Falkland Islands

• HMS Glasgow error

United States

See main article: List of United States airmail stamps.

• St. Louis Bears
• Alexandria "Blue Boy" Postmaster's Provisional – Unique, entire
• New York Postmaster's Provisional
• 1c Z grill – Rarest US stamp
• Black Bull – Dollar value of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Issue
• Pan-American invert
• Inverted Jenny – The "upside-down airplane"
• Dag Hammarskjöld invert – Error deliberately mass-produced
• CIA invert – Modern error
• Statue of Liberty Forever stamp (2011) – Largest run of an error on a US postage stamp (10.5 billion)
• Lost Continental – 1875 24c Winfield Scott
• Pagsanjan Falls stamp – A postage stamp issued on 3 May 1932, noted for its printing error

Uruguay

• 1856, 80c. green, Ferrer block of 15 – Unique

Former political entities

British Guiana

• British Guiana 1c magenta

Ceylon

• Dull Rose – A 4 pence denomination issued on 23 April 1859, considered the most valuable stamp of Ceylon

Kingdom of Hawaii

• Hawaiian Missionaries – First stamps of Hawaii

State of Buenos Aires

• Buenos Aires 1859 1p "In Ps" tete-beche pair

Western Australia (British colony)

• Black Swan
• Inverted Swan

See also

• List of most expensive philatelic items

External links

• Stamp Magazine online World's rarest stamps (archived 9 August 2010)