LOCAL STAMPS

 

                          

  Stockholm City post                            Great Barrier Island          

The numerous local stamps that have been issued in so many countries are seldom noted in the big catalogues, but still they would greatly enhance any stamp collection. The Scandinavian countries have all had municipal postal services at various times. The example above was issued in Stockholm 1887. To the right is a stamp issued for carrier pigeon post (!) between Great Barrier Island and the New Zeeland mainland. This mail existed for a few years at the end of the 19th century. 

                                   

                         Wituland                                                  Zemstvopost                                

Another country with extensive issues of local stamps is Russia. During some fifty years mail from the rural areas of the country to the central cities was handled by the so-called zemstvo-post and these zemstvo-stamps were issued for most of the more than 170 regions (above right). 
The left stamp above represents Wituland, formerly a sultanate along the Indian Ocean in present-day Kenya. Wituland was a German protectorate, that was later to be traded to Britain for the island Helgoland in the North Sea.

                                    

Broadway Post-Office                                         Spitsbergen             

The world´s first local stamp was issued in New York in 1842. The stamp above (left) is an example of one of the many that were to follow in USA. To the right is shown a stamp from Spitsbergen issued locally to the annoyance of the Norwegian government. It is now an interesting contribution to any Norwegian collection.