List of postage stamps
This is a list of postage stamps that are especially notable in some way, often due to antiquity or a postage stamp error. Among the best-known stamps are:
- Penny Black (Great Britain)
- Treskilling Yellow (Sweden)
- Bull's Eye (Brazil)
- British Guiana 1c magenta
- Mauritius "Post Office"
- Inverted Jenny (United States)
- Basel Dove (Switzerland)
Current political entities[]
Austria[]
- Red Mercury – newspaper stamp
Belgium[]
- Leopold with the Epaulettes (1849)
- Inverted Dendermonde (1920)
Bermuda[]
Brazil[]
Canada[]
- Canada 2c Large Queen on laid paper – Rarest Canadian stamp
- Bluenose
- Canada Scott 10 - 6d Deep Reddish Purple Pence 1857
- Canada Scott 13 - 6d Perforated Pence 1859
- Canada Scott 40e - Ten Cent Small Queen Pale Milky Rose Lilac First Montreal Printing 1874
China[]
- Red Revenues – 1897 provisionals, issued by the Qing dynasty
- – the first official Chinese stamps, issued by the Qing dynasty
- The Whole Country is Red – 1968 design error stamp
- Golden Monkey stamp – 1980 Chinese zodiac stamp
Hong Kong[]
- – First overprinted commemorative stamp in the world (Commons Image)
Finland[]
- – Most valuable postal stationery
France[]
- Ceres – France's first stamp
Germany[]
- Baden 9 Kreuzer error – stamp printed on blue-green instead of pink paper
- One kreuzer black – issued 1849 in Bavaria, first German postage stamp
- Sachsen 3 Pfennige red – Saxony was the second German state to issue postage stamps
- Vineta provisional – an unauthorized issue
- Yacht issue – a common design of postage stamps for the German colonies
Greece[]
- "Solferino" - Large Hermes head of 40 lepta, lilac-rose on greenish paper (1871) - image
Honduras[]
- – Black airmail overprint (two currently known)
India[]
- Scinde Dawk – First stamps in Asia
- Inverted Head Four Annas
- Indian 10 Rupee Mahatma Gandhi postage stamp – Mahatma Gandhi 10 rupees stamp overprinted "SERVICE"
- Duttia – 2 annas with red seal (1894?), a possibly unique Indian Feudatory State stamp
Ireland[]
Italy[]
- Tuscany 3-lira ocher
- – Unique error
- Gronchi Rosa
Jamaica[]
- Jamaica 1 shilling inverted-frame stamp error
- Jamaica 6d abolition of slavery postage stamp
- Jamaica 1956-58 £1 chocolate and violet
- Jamaica 1968 human rights stamps
Japan[]
Libya[]
- – Ordinary set of 12 stamps; error in design resulted in its withdraw from circulation hours after being issued on 1 January 1986
- – Minisheet of 16 stamps; errors in design resulted in them not being released and instead substituted with a correct mini sheet on 31 December 1994
Malta[]
- Halfpenny Yellow (1860–84) – Malta's first stamp
- Saint Paul 10s black (1919) – one of Malta's rarest stamps
- Melita issue (1922–26) – stamp issue commemorating Malta's self-government
Mauritius[]
The Netherlands[]
- (1891) – Creation of Carl Gietzelt, an employee of Joh. Enschedé; mentioned in NVPH as 35f.; 24 are known to exist, 10 are used of which 3 on cover
- (1927) – Three-hole, four-sided interrupted perforation
New Zealand[]
- – Miscoloured
- – Withdrawn because it showed an incorrect use of a car child restraint, though a number were still sold[1]
- – Sets of five stamps printed but destroyed before release, after causing public offense (with a very small number sold by mistake)[2]
- 1904 Pictorial 4d Lake Taupo invert – Only one copy known
Romania[]
- Moldavian Bull's Heads – Issued by the principality of Moldavia in 1858
Russia[]
Russian Empire[]
- Tiflis, Georgia; only three specimens known (Tiflis unique) (1857) – One of the rarest Russian stamps issued in
- First stamp of the Russian Empire (1857)
- (1908) – A very rare Russian stamp with "Three pears" design; 15–20 specimens may exist
RSFSR[]
- (1922) – A rare 50-kopeck Russian consular tax stamp with Air Post and 1,200m overprint; estimated 50–75 specimens in existence; overprint type IV occurs only twice per setting of 25, hence only four can exist
- (1922) – 7,500-ruble blue, horizontal watermark, gutter tête-bêche block of four; possibly unique
- 70r Red Army Soldier error (1922) – 70-ruble perforated 12.5 or imperforate orange red error; position 72 in part of the issue; 4 imperforate specimens known
Soviet Union[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Soviet_Union_miniature_sheet_All-Soviet_Philatelic_Exhibition_1932_Personalised_Kartonka.jpg/170px-Soviet_Union_miniature_sheet_All-Soviet_Philatelic_Exhibition_1932_Personalised_Kartonka.jpg)
The 1932 Personalised Kartonka
- (1924) – A surcharge of 10 kopecks on 5-ruble green type II, basic stamp wide "5", complete pane of 25; unique
- Gold Standard issue, if in mint condition (1925) – 15-kopeck yellow, "Peasant",
- (1931) – A very rare Soviet stamp, especially if imperforate; 24 imperforate specimens known
- (1932) – "All-Soviet Philatelic Exhibition" in Moscow, souvenir sheet of four on thick card, with three line overprint "To the best shock worker of the All Russian Philatelic Society – President of the Moscow Philatelic Organization E.M. Nurk"; 25 were issued
- Overprint#Commemorative overprints) (1935) – San Francisco inverted surcharge with small Cyrillic "f"; possibly unique (see also
- (1964) – Plate error (asymmetric star) of the first Soviet numbered Tokyo Olympic souvenir sheet
South Africa[]
Sweden[]
- Treskilling Yellow – Unique error, world's record auction sales price for a postage stamp
Switzerland[]
Trinidad[]
- Lady McLeod private local post
Uganda[]
- Uganda Cowries – The first stamps of Uganda, typewritten
United Kingdom[]
- Penny Black – World's first postage stamp
- Penny Blue – Trial printings from a penny black plate
- Two pence blue – Issued for second rate step, at the same time as Penny Black
- VR official – First official stamp
- Prince Consort Essay
- Penny Red – Improved follow-ons to the Penny Black
- Archer Roulette – Experimental separation of stamps
- Edward VII 2d Tyrian plum – Withdrawn before issue, but one used
- Postal Union Congress £1 stamp
Falkland Islands[]
Gibraltar[]
United States[]
- St. Louis Bears
- Alexandria "Blue Boy" Postmaster's Provisional – Unique, entire
- New York Postmaster's Provisional
- 1c Z grill – Rarest US stamp
- Black Bull – Dollar value of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Issue
- Pan-American invert
- Inverted Jenny – The "upside-down airplane"
- Dag Hammarskjöld invert – Error deliberately mass-produced
- CIA invert – Modern error
- Statue of Liberty Forever stamp (2011) – Largest run of an error on a US postage stamp (10.5 billion)
- Lost Continental – 1875 24c Winfield Scott
- Pagsanjan Falls stamp – A postage stamp issued on 3 May 1932, noted for its printing error
Uruguay[]
- 1856, 80c. green, Ferrer block of 15 – Unique
- – Unique
- – Unique
- – Unique on cover
Former political entities[]
British Guiana[]
Ceylon[]
- Dull Rose – A 4 pence denomination issued on 23 April 1859, considered the most valuable stamp of Ceylon
Confederate States of America[]
- CSA #10 – Rarest Confederate stamp
Kingdom of Hawaii[]
- Hawaiian Missionaries – First stamps of Hawaii
State of Buenos Aires[]
Western Australia (British colony)[]
See also[]
Philately portal
References[]
External links[]
- Stamp Magazine online World's rarest stamps (archived version)
Categories:
- Lists of postage stamps