First Issues

The idea for these pages came from the excellent Guinness Book of Stamps by James Mackay. Out of print, but well worth pursuing (mine was 10p from the local library), the centre pages contain a listing of first issues by type - the date of each country's first stamp, and its first commemorative, official, charity, airmail and postage due stamp. My plan is to reproduce that online, gradually gathering the necessary data and accumulating each stamp for display.
To the list of stamp types, I will add an "others" category which may include the last stamp (where appropriate), First Issue Stamps on Stamps, Express/Special delivery (so that I can include a couple of my favourites from Egypt and Russia) and anything else that takes my fancy - notably the only Blackburn stamp I know, from Canal Zone (there is another quasi Blackburn stamp from the Congo People's Republic; September 2004 another Blackburn pseudo stamp from Hawaii discovered). I have also included what I have termed the "first real stamp" and the "first sensibly priced stamp", explained in more detail here and here. December 2006, another Blackburn from Brunei.

I will aim to show the Scott and SG catalogue numbers (plus Michel where I have the catalogue) and the stamp details for each issue with an image of the stamps. Guinness takes the story up to 1986, and I have brought it up to date with the aid of information from FICC. Any corrections will be noted as research progresses. Where prices are shown, this is largely to help me with my own acquisitions, mostly from a 2004 copy of Gibbons Simplified and shown in pounds for mint/used see note.

Where there is a realistic prospect of me acquiring the stamp, the image can wait until I get one. In those cases where I will not be getting one (to take the obvious examples, Hawaii and Mauritius, but in reality most first issues costing more than £100 or other stamps more than £10), I will show the image from one of several sources. cont overleaf.
A good source for stamps is a founder of FICC, David Olson.
A good source for background information is Linns.

Later additions to this resource (both still works in progress) include Timelines and Alternative Views.
Then, First Firsts added July 2003, Booklets October 2004 and Penny Stamps, January 2005. First Issues Display, February 2007. Miniature Sheets, October 2007. There is also a varied section on texttopical stamps. The next subject will probably be centenary celebrations of first stamps: these are featured on the main pages where I have spotted them but have not been researched. New for 2011 is a large page surveying GB definitives.

First	Country	Commemorative	Airmail	Post Due	Official	Charity	Other
1840 SC1 SG2 Penny Black £3,400 / £200 FDC see note 1.12	Great Britain	1924 Sc203 SG430 1 d red British Empire Exhibition £10 / £11	1928 private airmail issue see note 1.2 2003 Sc-C1 SG2358 NVI Europe new blue and rosine Sc-C2 SG2359 NVI Worldwide rosine and new blue	1914 SC-J1 SG-D1 ½ d green 50p / 25p	1882 Sc-O2 SG-O1 ½ d green £50 / £20 see note 1.1 Image source 2 1840 Sc-O1 £8,500, £15,000	1975 Sc-B1 SG970 4½p + 1½p azure and blue Health and Handicap Funds 20p / 20p	Stamps on Stamps 1970 Sc642 SG835 10p 1990 SG949a £5 image size reduced
Image source 2 1843 Sc-1L1 SG-Z1 4 rappen black £10,000 / £12,000 see note 1.9	Zurich	-	-	-	-	-	Stamps on Stamps 1943 SG430 10p
Image source 2 1843 Sc-1L1 SG-Z1 4 rappen black £10,000 / £12,000 see note 1.9	Zurich	-	-	-	-	-	Stamps on Stamps 1943 SG430 10p
Image source 2 1843 Sc-2L1 SG-G1 10 centimes black and green £35,000 / £26,000 see note 1.9	Geneva	-	-	-	-	-	Stamps on Stamps 1968 SG764 30p
1843 SC1 SG4 Mi1 30 reis black £2,250 / £375	Brazil	1900 Sc162 SG226 Mi138 100 r red 400th anniversary of the discovery of Brazil £7 / £3.50	1928 Sc-C1 SG441 Mi273 50 r surcharge on 1913 10r grey 35p / 35p 1929 ScC17 SG469 Mi318 50r green 15p / 10p see note 1.3	1889 Sc-J1 SG-D88 Mi1 10 r red £3.50 / £1.25	1906 Sc-O1 SG-O282 Mi1 10 r orange and green 90p / 10p	1931 Sc342 SG490 Mi338 10r+10r blue 15p / £12 see note 1.4 1934 Sc-B1 SG555 Mi409 200r + 100r purple National Philatelic Exhibition £1.25 / £3	Stamps on Stamps 1943 SG680-82 £1-£2 each 1993 SG2581-2583 90p each
Image source 3 1845 Sc-3L1 SG-B1 2½ rappen carmine, black and blue £7,000 / £6,500 see note 1.9	Basel	-	-	-	-	-	Stamps on Stamps 1943 miniature sheet here
1847 Sc1 SG1 5 c brown Benjamin Franklin £3,750 / £375	USA	1893 Sc230 SG235 1 c blue Columbian Exposition, Chicago £15 / 15p	1918 Sc-C1 SG-A546 6 c orange Curtiss Jenny £70 / £26	1879 Sc-J1 SG-D207 1 c brown £25 / £3.50	1873 Sc-O1 SG-O180 1 c yellow £55 / £35	1998 Sc-B1 SG3454 32c + 8c multicoloured Breast Cancer Awareness 50p / 10p 2002 Sc-B2 SG4110 34c + 11c Heroes of 2001, Firemen atop World Trade Centre Rubble [90c / 65c]	1885 Sc-E1 SG-E217 Special Delivery 10c blue £120 / £25 Stamps on Stamps 1947 Sc948a from a miniature sheet Sc948
Image source 3 1847 Sc1 SG1 1 d red £450,000 see note 1.10 1860 Sc24 SG46 1 d purple-brown £170 / £19	Mauritius	1898 Sc112 SG133 36 cents orange and blue Diamond Jubilee £9 / £13 1899 Sc115 SG136 15 c blue Admiral Mahe de Labourdonnais, Governor, 1735-46 £11 / £3.25	-	1933 Sc-J1 SG-D1 2 c black 50p / 50p	-	-	Stamps on Stamps 1948 SG266 10p 1999
1848 see note 1.5	Bermuda
Image source 2 1849 Sc1 SG2 1 1 kreuzer black £550 / £1,600 1849 Sc2 SG3 3 k blue £38 / £2.75	Bavaria German State	1911 Sc92 SG169 5 pfennig yellow, green and black 25th anniversary of the regency of Prince Luitpold 50p / 75p	1912 see note 1.6	Image source 2 1862 Sc-J1 SG-D34 3 kr black £120 / £350	1916 Sc-O1 SG-O195 3 pf brown 20p / 75p	1919 Sc-B1 SG250 10pf + 5pf lake War Wounded surcharge 30p / £1.75	Stamps on Stamps 1949 Sc-B309 SG1035 10pf + 2pf green and black Centenary of first German stamps £13 / £21
1849 Sc1 SG1 10 centimes brown £1,700 / £70	Belgium	1894 Sc76 SG93 5 c green on red Antwerp Exhibition £3.25 / £2.25	1930 Sc-C1 SG560 50 c blue 25p / 20p	1870 Sc-J1 SG-D63 10 c green £3 / £1.50	1929 Sc-O1 SG-O481 5 c slate 10p / 10p	1910 Sc-B1 SG117 1 c + 1 c grey £1 / £1	Stamps on Stamps 1972 SG2277 20p
1849 Sc3 SG6 20 centimes black £375 / £32 see note 1.7	France	Image source 2 1923 Sc197 SG400e (Sc125 SG306 overprint) 1 franc red and green Congres Philatelique de Bordeaux £350 / £425 1924 Sc198 SG401 10c green and light green Paris Olympic Games £2 / £1 see note 1.11	1927 Sc-C1 SG455 2 f red and green (o/p SG387) £140 / £140 see note 1.8 1930 Sc-C5 SG483 1f50 red £20 / £2.50	1859 Sc-J1 SG-D87 10 c black £20 / £16	-	1914 Sc-B1 SG351 10c+5c red £5.25 / £5.25	Stamps on Stamps 1970 SG665 50p Centenary of Bordeaux Ceres Issue

Table 1

Notes:
1.1 The first Great Britain Official in Mackay and in Stanley Gibbons is the O1 1882 ½d green. My 1976 Scott specifies O1 as a Penny Black, 1840 regular issue with "V.R." in upper corners. I gather that this was intended and produced to be GB O1, but never released - some found their way into circulation as normal postage.
1.2 Neither Scott nor Gibbons show Mackay's 1928 GB airmail. The first airmails in Scott, as in the June 2003 Scott monthly mag, is this rather ordinary pair.
1.3 For the date of the first Brazilian airmail, Scott states 28th Dec 1927, Gibbons states 1928. The first 'real' airmail, designed for the purpose was the 1929 50r green C17, SG469 (15p / 10p).
1.4 Gibbons lists the first Brazilian charity stamp as the 1931 SG490 - Revolution of 3rd October, Scott #342. Scott offers as B1 the 1934 200r + 100r, first in a set of four to commemorate and support the National Philatelic Exhibition, SG555 (£1.25 / £3).
1.5 Mackay lists Bermuda's first issue as 1848. According to the Scott Classic, they started in 1845 with pre-stamp postal markings and progressed to postmaster stamps in 1848. The first little bits of sticky paper, i.e. what I would call a stamp, were in 1865 and so I will list Bermuda in a subsequent table.
1.6 I cannot find a Bavaria airmail in Scott or Gibbons, however, a fellow FICC member has provided the following, it is listed in [the] 1976 Michel Germany specialised cat ...after the 1911 set of 2 and before the 1914 heads definitives. It was issued by the BAYERISCHE AEROKLUB. The cat no is F1,and it shows a lion over a large letter A in a circle. Thanks Howard.
1.7 Scott #3 is the first French stamp issued.
1.8 The first 'real' French airmail, designed for the purpose was the 1930 1f50 red C5, SG483 (£20 / £2.50).
1.9 There is no sensibly-priced FSP for Zurich, Geneva or Basel. The best alternative is miniature sheets (still expensive but not in the same order of magnitude) or stamps on stamps.
1.10 The 1847 and 48 issues of Mauritius, none of which are affordable, were followed by some prosaic Britannia issues and then some more primitivist efforts, again out of my price range. With little agreement between Scott and Gibbons on the nature, dates and prices of the Britannias (other than the unissued Sc7 and 8, SG30 and 31), my FSP is the 1860 1d (used). If I find an inexpensive Britannia, I will include that in the pages.
1.11 France's first real and sensibly priced commemorative is from the 1924 Olympic Games set.
1.12 The Penny Black FDC is the 'Kirkcudbright cover', with ten Penny Blacks. More than 70 first-day Penny Black covers are known, but only this one has more than two Penny Blacks. From the Royal collection, image from the US National Postal Museum.

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page rewritten November 2011