Falkland Islands Post and Stamp History

In the early, home-made, mail delivery period depended on the rare calls of ships forwarding mail through Brazilian packet boats through Montevideo . The earliest known letters date back to January 28, 1827.

Between 1852 and 1880, a schooner (either a government vessel or a contractor vessel) entered the islands approximately every two months.

Until July 17, 1861, letters had to be paid for delivery to the ship; after 1868, prepaid francature was issued by local officials who performed the functions of postmaster .

Beginning in 1861, a postmark began to stamp the correspondence with the text “Falkland Islands. Paid. " Two types of stamps were used ^[1] :

• The rectangular stamp, small in size, was in circulation from 1861 to 1877. Imprints of this stamp were applied in black ink.
• The round stamp, larger, was used from 1877 until June 1878. The stamps for this stamp were red.

In 1880, mail transportation became mandatory for any ship calling at Stanley , and the regular mail service was entrusted to the German company , whose steamers ran on the Hamburg – Callao ( Peru ) route.

The first post office opened in Stanley in 1887.

In 1900, the won the contract for mail delivery until 1914, when the opening of the Panama Canal resulted in ships no longer circling Cape Horn , and regular mail to the Falkland Islands ceased and was resumed. only in 1927.

Postal Code

In 2003, the islands were assigned their own British postal code - FIQQ 1ZZ ^[2] This was done in response to complaints about cases of erroneous sending of correspondence destined for the Falkland Islands to other places - usually either to the city of Falkirk in Scotland , whose zip code has letters "FK" , or to the Faroe Islands . The introduction of a postal code for all addresses on the Falkland Islands has also helped island residents fill out online order forms with mail, many of which have a valid postal code as a required field.

First Marks

The first postage stamps - in denominations of 1 penny , 6 pence and 1 shilling and depicting the usual profile of Queen Victoria ^[3] - appeared in circulation on June 19, 1878 . Stamps were with teeth, but due to the fact that the edges of the vintage sheets were without teeth, sometimes there are marks without perforation on one or two sides ^[1] . The first stamps, which is unusual for the British colony , were printed on paper without watermarks

Subsequent Issues

Classic Period

In addition to the first three stamps in 1879, another one was issued, face value of 4 pence. Watermark stamps appeared in 1883. Until 1896, from time to time, new denominations of the stamps of this figure were printed.

On January 1, 1891, the need for half-penny (½ d ) postage stamps led to permission to cut the stamps diagonally and to the corresponding overprint on existing stamps with one penny denomination. ½ penny stamps arrived in September, but the bisects remained in circulation until January 11, 1892, in order to use their available stock.

In 1904, new postage stamps were issued in general, of the same , but with an image of Edward VII . The same thing happened after 1912, but with respect to George V ^[4] . The lack of paint due to World War I led to significant color variations in the issue of postage stamps depicting George V in wartime.

In 1913, the Falklands postage stamp with a face value of 1 pound first saw the light of day ^[1] .

Until 1930, 58 postage stamps were issued. Together with overprints and new circulations , stamps different in the philatelic sense, issued by 1932, amounted to 126 pieces ^[1] .

Modern Period

In 1928 an overprint of a new face value of 2½ pence was made on a stamp with a face value of 2 pence, which became one of the rarest Falkland brands ^[5] .

In 1929, the first postage stamp with an artistic plot appeared, in which in the background of the portrait of George V were placed small images of a whale and penguins . This issue was followed by a jubilee (dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the formation of the colony) edition of 1933, which caused a lot of enthusiasm: a series of 12 stamps with an expressive image of local landscapes and fauna . A complete set these days is estimated at about 3 thousand US dollars .

Since the 1930s, the Falkland Islands participated in omnibus editions of the British Empire: the 1935, the George VI in 1937, etc. The accession to the throne of the new king also meant the need for the emission of a new standard series , which saw the light in 1938. The stamps of the series depicted species, flora and fauna, and ships. Design of stamps is slightly simpler than the design of stamps of the "pictorial" plot of 1933.

•  

  1929: 2½ pence mark Whale and Penguins ( Sc # 57)

•  

  1933: 2 pence stamp ( Sc # 68)

•  

  1933: 4 pence stamp dedicated to South Georgia ( Sc # 70)

•  

  1937: stamp in honor of the coronation of George VI , 1 penny ( Sc # 82)

The last standard series of George VI was released in 1952. Of the 14 stamps in the series, six were reissued between 1955 and 1957 with a portrait of Elizabeth II . The next series of standard brands appeared only in 1960. On 15 stamps of the series various local bird species were depicted.

Commemorative postage stamps began to be issued regularly in the 1960s. In 1974, the first postal block appeared . Some brands appeared in small sheets ^[5] .

In 1964, thanks to the Glasgow error , when a number of stamps with a face value of 6 pence printed the image of the wrong ship, a series of four stamps dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the battle of the Falkland Islands gained fame.

In connection with the introduction of the decimal monetary system in the Falkland Islands on February 15, 1971, new denominations in the decimal system were printed on the standard issue ^[1] .

The long-standing confrontation between Argentina and Great Britain around the Falkland Islands, accompanied by “ vintage wars ” ^{[7] [8] [9] [10] [11]} , led to the 1982 armed conflict.

The capture of the Falkland Islands during the Falkland War by Argentina and the campaign undertaken by Great Britain to return them to their jurisdiction left a noticeable mark in the history of the mail of the islands.

The post office in the city of Port Stanley came under the control of the Argentine post on April 6, 1982, after which for some time the Falkland stamps on the sent correspondence were extinguished with a new calendar stamp with the text: sp. "9409 Islas Malvinas, Republica Argentina" ("Malvinas, Republic of Argentina"), then on the occupied islands were stamps of Argentina , which were canceled with a stamp with the text "Islas Malvinas" ("Malvinas").

To conduct an operation to free the islands, a tactical group was sent, which included warships of the British Navy , auxiliary vessels and merchant navy vessels requisitioned during the hostilities. The crews of all these ships and vessels, as well as the military personnel transported on them, received and sent mail , on which special notes and stamps were put ^[12] .

Initially, from May 25 to June 9, 1982, the British Army post station was located in ( , in the vicinity of San Carlos on West Falkland Island. Then, as troops advanced, it moved to The mail correspondence was canceled with a double-calendar stamp with the text “Field Post Office No. 141” (“ Field Post No. 141”) ^[12] .

The Argentinean army personnel stationed in the occupied islands were not provided with envelopes and used Falkland Islands service envelopes with the inscription: “On Her Majesty's Service” , on which an Argentine stamp was stamped with the text Spanish. “Correspondencia del Soldado / Sin Cargo” (“Serviceman's Letter / Free”).

By April 16, 1982, the old aerial programs of the 1950s entered the Argentine forces. Three types of such aerograms are known: greenish with the Argentina mark in denominations of 11 pesos , pink in denominations of 13 pesos and blue in denominations of 18 pesos. At the end of May, soldiers received specially issued numbered blue aerograms of two drawings with the text “Servicio Extraordinario” . In the place of the postage stamp in the rectangle is written “ Correo Argentino . Franqueo pagado " (" Argentina Post . Collection paid "). Envelopes are sometimes stamped with naval or military censorship , for example: “Censura Naval Argentina” (“Naval censorship. Argentina”), “Censura Militar” (“Military censorship”). On the correspondence, which could not be delivered to the serviceman in connection with his capture, the stamp “Al remitente” (“ Sender ”) was put ^[12] .

The philatelists, collecting a collection on the history of the Falkland War Post, distinguish four sections in it ^[12] :

• Falkland Islands Postage
• postal items of Argentinean military personnel who participated in the invasion, and postal items addressed to them;
• mail of British troops who participated in the liberation of the islands, and mail addressed to them;
• Envelopes of ships and ships of the tactical group of the British Navy.

After the war, a British garrison was located on the island. Although the letters of the military are sent home for free, their correspondence sent to other countries requires payment of the postage , which is why postal items are franked with United Kingdom postage stamps. As of 2003, the mail was extinguished by a postmark with two bound circles with the inscription “Falkland Islands BFPO 655 Post Office” (“Falkland Islands, British Postal Service 655, Post Office”).

South Georgia

In 1923, due to the shortage of single-pence stamps on South Georgia Island, diagonal stamp bisects with a face value of 2½ pence of the 1912 issue ^[1] were in postage.

Port Foster

During the whaling season of 1912-1913, half-penny and one penny postage stamps were used in , on which the text “Port Foster” was imprinted manually ^[1] .

Administratively, the Falkland Islands subordinated a group of islands off the coast of Antarctica and the English sector of Antarctica. From 1944 to 1962, special postage stamps were issued for these territories, known as the Dependent Territories of the Falkland Islands . At the same time, in 1944, stamps for Graham Land , South Georgia Island, South Orkney Islands and South Shetland Islands also appeared separately.

In 1962, an independent administrative unit, the British Antarctic Territory , was separated from the ZTFO and continued to issue its own brands. In 1963, special postage stamps began to be issued for the island of South Georgia ^[1] .

The description of the stamps of the Falkland Islands can be found in all major catalogs of the world, such as, for example, " Scott " ^[6] . In the English Stanley Gibbons catalogs, Falkland Islands postal issues are featured in red volumes for stamps of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations :

In addition, for the brands of the Falkland Islands and Stanley Gibbons publishes a separate (yellow) volume, the seventh edition of which was released in 2016 ^[13] . In 2000, the same company published another catalog - in the "violet" series, in which extended information about the brands of the Falkland Islands and its dependent territories was given ^[14] .

• Falkland Islands (Malvinas) // Philatelic geography (foreign countries): Reference book / L. L. Lepeshinsky. - M .: Communication, 1967. - S. 411. - 480 p.
• Poole BWH The Postage Stamps of the Falkland Islands. - L .: D. Field, 1909. - 44 p. - (The "WEP" Series of Philatelic Handbooks). (eng.)
• Rossiter S. , Fowler J. World History Stamp Atlas. - L .: Macdonald (Black Cat), 1991 .-- ISBN 0-7481-0309-0 . [Reprint.]

• Rossiter S., Fowler J., Wellsted R. Falkland Islands . Stamp Collecting Resources: Stamp Atlas . Knutsford , UK : Sandafayre Stamp Auctions; Sandafayre (Holdings) Ltd. - Falkland Islands. Date of treatment September 14, 2017. Archived on September 14, 2017.
• Falkland Islands Stamps Stamps: Stamps By Country . Knutsford, UK: Sandafayre Stamp Auctions; Sandafayre (Holdings) Ltd. - Stamps of the Falkland Islands. Date of treatment September 14, 2017. Archived on September 14, 2017.
• Falkland Islands Country List . All World Stamps Catalog sponsored by Stanley Gibbons. - Stamps of the Falkland Islands in the Stanley Gibbons online catalog. Date of treatment January 28, 2010. Archived April 15, 2012.
• Falkland Islands Stanley Gibbons Shop . Stanley Gibbons Ltd. - Philatelic materials of the Falkland Islands on the website of the company "Stanley Gibbons." Date of treatment January 28, 2010. Archived April 15, 2012.
• Falkland Islands A — Z of postal authorities. Encyclopaedia of Postal History . Stampsite: The Encyclopaedia of Postal Authorities. - Information on the stamps of the Falkland Islands in the database “Encyclopedia of the history of mail. Encyclopedia of Post Offices. " Date of treatment January 28, 2010. Archived January 8, 2009.
• Falkland Islands Postal History Resources . Country and Topical Resources . Worldwide postal history website - Postalhistory.org. - Links to Internet resources and literature on the history of mail and stamps of the Falkland Islands on the website Postalhistory.org (Australia). Date of treatment January 31, 2010. Archived April 15, 2012.
• Falkland Islands: Falkland Islands. George VI. Varieties, shades, circulations (neopr.) . Postage stamps of the British colonies. Postage stamps of the British colonies . Colony.ru - Moscow Internet portal of colonial philately. Date of treatment May 26, 2011. Archived May 31, 2009.