First Issue Anniversaries Page 1

This is an idea started as a web page in April 2010, prompted by finding a Nicaragua centenary miniature sheet in a stamp club box, but which has been at the back of my mind for years. I have shown some stamps on stamps on the main first issues page where I find them and have used some in displays where I cannot afford the originals (for example the Swiss cantons see also here).

It would be possible (and perhaps sensible) to concentrate on centenary editions, but my inclination is to show all celebrations of first stamps, but only by the country of origin (you could paper a wall with celebrations of the Penny Black from round the world but I have no interest in doing so). I have gained the impression that many countries have celebrated their first issues, some many times and not all on 'round number' anniversaries. One of the problems will be that many of the celebrations are on miniature sheets and catalogues tended to ignore these until recently, nevertheless, there will be plenty of material to work with.

My approach will probably be to research in approximately the sequence of issue of the original stamps (GB, Switzerland, Brazil and so on). I may include other stamps, for example celebrations of first airmails (as in Belgium).

Some important links are the Stamps on Stamps Collectors Club, SOSCC (I was once a member, but lapsed as my interest in first issues only was too specialised). This site has links to those of Plinio Richelmi and Rammy Molcho.

[14th April] Most of my early research has been done using eBay and the PostBeeld stamp sales website rather than my Gibbons catalogues. This has revealed that many of the issues, even the early ones, have been as both stamps and miniature sheets and Gibbons is very patchy on the sheets. I am inclined to show both the sheet and the stamp, but also to be selective and discerning rather than completist amongst what is available

GB has been commendably restrained in its celebrations, at least as far as my Gibbons catalogues go, that is to 2004. More recently, every stamp magazine you read has letters of complaint about the volumes and cost of pointless commemmoratives, but I will spare these pages most of that misery by stopping at around 2000.
Switzerland was always going to be awkward to display as its first issues were from the Cantons and also because there have been so many miniature sheets.
Curiously, Brazil's first celebration was in 1934 when it chose the relatively nondescript 1844 series rather than the remarkable Bullseyes.
Germany is going to be worse than Switzerland to organise and might need a rethink. [17th April] The rethink has resuted in a horizontal display for the states. If this works out, I will use the same layout for Italian and Australian states and any other such cases.
Belgium provides a fine panoply of stamp celebrations including a 50th anniversary airmail and, in 1990, possibly the daftest (yet curiously splendid) miniature sheet there has ever been.
France was clearly excited by the 1949 centenary of its first stamp and went to town with representations for the 1949 CITEX exhibition. Shown are a stamp, three with the standard cancellation from a minisheet, two of the available sheets and an FDC.

	Great Britain see note 1
1840 SC1 SG2 Penny Black	-	1940 SG480 (and 479, 481-484)	1970 Sc642 SG835	1990 SGMS1501 (and SG1467-1474)	2000 SG2133	2000 SG2133 booklet pane	-

	Switzerland see note 2
1850 Sc1 SG1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	Zurich
1843 Sc-1L1 SG-Z1		1943 SG MS430a Sc B130	1943 SG MS430b SC B131	1943 SG430	-	-	-
	Geneva
1843 Sc-2L1 SG-G1		1943 SG MS433a Sc B132	1968 SG764	-	-	-	-
	Basel
1845 Sc-3L1 SG-B1		1945 SG MS446b Sc B144	-	-	-	-	-

	Brazil see note 3
1843 SC1 SG4 Bullseye		1943 SG680 (and 681-82	1943 Sc612	1983 SG2029 (and 2030-31	1983 Sc1874	1993 SG2583 (and SG2581-82)	-

	USA
1847 Sc1 SG1		1947 Sc948	1947 Sc948a	1972 Sc1474	-	-	-

	Mauritius
1847 Sc1 SG1		1948 SG266	1999	-	-	-	-

First Issue Anniversaries - Page 1

Yet to come

	Germany and states - originals see note 4
Germany 1872 Sc1 SG1		Bavaria 1849 Sc1 SG2	Hanover 1850 Sc1 SG1	Prussia 1850 c2 SG4	Saxony 1850 Sc1 SG1	Schleswig-Holstein 1850 Sc1 SG2	Baden 1851 Sc1 SG1

	Germany and states - anniversaries
-		West Germany 1949 Sc-B309 SG1035	-	-	West Germany 1978 SG1872	-	-


Württemberg 1851 Sc1 SG1	Brunswick 1852 Sc1 SG1	Oldenburg 1852 Sc1 SG2	Thurn and Taxis Northern District 1852 Sc1 SG1 and Southern District 1852 Sc42 SG51	Bremen 1855 Sc1 SG1	Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1856 Sc1 SG1a	Hamburg 1859 Sc1 SG1	Lübeck 1859 Sc


-		-	West Germany 1965 Sc933 SG1403	-	2006 150th anniversary commemorative postmark	West Germany 1959 SG1227	West Germany 1959 SG1229


Bergedorf 1861 Sc1 SG2	Holstein 1864 Sc15 SG51	Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1864 Sc1 SG2	Schleswig 1864 Sc8 SG21	North German Confederation 1868 Sc1 SG1	-	- -	-

	Belgium see note 5
1849 Sc1 SG1		1972 SG2277	-	-	1990	first airmail 1930 Sc-C1 SG560	1980 SG

	France see note 6
1849 Sc3 SG6	-	1949 CITEX	1949 CITEX	-	-	-	-

	Austria
1850 Sc1 SG6a		1950	1975	2000	-	-	-

	British Guiana
-		-	-	-	-	-	-

	Canada
-		-	-	-	-	-	-