The history of postal and postage stamps of the Danish West Indies includes an overview of the development of postal services in the former Danish colony of the Danish West Indies with the administrative center in the city of Charlotte Amalie (until 1917), which since 1917 became the possession of the United States under the name Virgin Islands .
| Danish West Indies † | |
|---|---|
| Dates Dansk vestidien | |
 Postage stamp Danish West Indies at 3 cents, 1866 ( Sc #?) | |
| Mail History | |
| Mail exists | since 1851 |
| Money system | |
| 1849-1905 | 1 daler (dollar) = 100 cents |
| 1905-1917 | 1 daler = 5 francs = 100 cents = 500 bits , 1 franc = 100 bits |
| First postage stamps | |
| Standard | 1856 |
| Surcharge | 1902 |
Mail Development
St. Thomas was the center of the postal service with the help of packet boats in the West Indies from 1851 to 1885. At first, the mail was transported by and from the Spanish packet boat to Puerto Rico , but in July 1867 the contract for the transportation of mail passed to the British and the mail delivered by the packet boats in 1879 with UK postage stamps was known.
Stamp Issues
First Marks
The first Danish West Indies postage stamp was issued in 1856. Her drawing had the same square coat of arms as Denmark's modern postage stamps, but the face value of the stamp was 3 cents and it was dark carmine in yellow paper. Yellow guilloche from wavy lines covered the brand. (In the figure, it is easy to notice along the lower edge of the enlarged version.)
Subsequent Issues
The 1866 edition was printed on white paper, while the direction of the guilloche changed, and in 1872 the stamps became serrated . In 1873, a postage stamp with a face value of 4 cents of pale blue came out.
In 1874, the first "numerical" issues of the same type appeared that were in circulation in Denmark. Denominations ranged from 1 cent to 50 cents: they were all two-tone. For stamps of a number of low denominations, inverted frames are common.
As usual for distant small colonies, in the Danish West Indies periodically the brands of popular denominations came to an end, and the colonial administration had to improvise. In 1887, an overprint of 1 cent was made on postage stamps with a face value of 7 cents, and in 1895 at 50 cents - 10 cents. In 1896-1901, stamps of "numerical" design in a new color were additionally issued.
One-color single-cent and five-cent postage stamps were issued in 1900 in order to comply with the requirements of the UPU rules. The lack of denominations of 2 cents and 8 cents led to the appearance of new overprints in 1902. The situation was corrected the following year by issuing stamps of the indicated denominations using the drawing of the coat of arms of 1900.
As a result of the monetary reform in 1905, new brands were issued. On stamps with a face value of 5 bits to 50 bits the silhouette of King Christian IX was depicted, while on stamps of 1, 2 and 5 francs a sailing ship Ingolf in the harbor of St. Thomas was depicted. Also, new surcharge brands were needed. Additional stamps with a face value of 5 bits were made by overprinting a new face value on old stamps.
The standard 1907 series depicting Frederick VIII in 1915 was followed by a series depicting King Christian X.
On the postage stamps of the Danish West Indies there are inscriptions: dates. "KGL post" (royal mail), dates. "Fr. M " (postage stamp), dates. "Dansk - Vestindiske OER" (Danish possessions of the West Indies), dates. Dansk Vestindien (Danish West Indies), dates “Post” (mail) [1] .
After the transfer of control over the islands in 1917 to the United States, US postage stamps are located there [1] .
Other Stamps
Paid
In 1902, the Danish West Indies surcharge stamps first appeared. For such stamps the inscription is characteristic: dates. "Porto maerke" (surcharge mark) [1] . In total, up to 1917, eight surcharge stamps were issued [1] .
UK Post Office
In the years 1860-1877 on the island of St. Thomas of the Danish West Indies, there was a post office in the United Kingdom, where a postmark with the index “C51” was used for cancellation of postal items [2] .
Collecting
Today, several types of stamps can be inexpensively purchased, such as stamps of low denomination in 1907, but the cost of most postage stamps is in the range of 10-20 US dollars. Since there were very few people writing letters, perhaps only a few hundred people who passed mail are often valued by collectors above, while both fakes and fictitious cancellations are known.
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Virgin Islands // Philatelic Geography (Foreign Countries): Reference Book / L. L. Lepeshinsky. - M .: Communication, 1967. - S. 352. - 480 p. (Retrieved January 14, 2019) Archived copy . Date of treatment January 14, 2019. Archived on November 20, 2016.
- ↑ Danish West Indies // Large Philatelic Dictionary / N. I. Vladinets, L. I. Ilyichev, I. Ya. Levitas ... [and others ]; under the general. ed. N.I. Vladinets and V.A. Jacobs. - M .: Radio and communications, 1988. - S. 71. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-256-00175-2 . (Retrieved January 14, 2019) Archived copy . Date of treatment January 14, 2019. Archived on November 20, 2016.
Links
- The stamp atlas
- Scott catalog
Literature
- Engstrom, Victor E. & Norby, Reidar, Danish West Indies Mails 1754–1917, vols. 1-3 (1979-1982 ed.), Washington DC: Scandinavian Printing and Publishing Company, ISBN 978-0-934984-00-3
Links
- Danish West Indies. Encyclopaedia of Postal History (inaccessible link) . Stampsite: The Encyclopaedia of Postal Authorities . J. Leach. - Information on stamps of the Danish West Indies in the database “Encyclopedia of the History of Mail. Encyclopedia of Post Offices. " Date of treatment August 15, 2006. Archived October 10, 2012.