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Local Stamps and Private Post
In some countries of the world, local authorities started to issue stamps sooner than the national authorities. In Switzerland, the first stamps were issued in 1843 by the canton Zurich, and later in 1843 by the canton Geneva, and in 1845 by Basle. The Federal Post of Switzerland undertook this task as late as 1848. Something similar happened in the United States of America, where the first local stamps were issued in 1846. They are called “postmasters’ stamps” and are very rare. The first general issues of stamps came into use in 1847. Postmasters’ stamps made their appearance again in 1861, after the beginning of the Civil War, in the Confederate States, but they were soon replaced by general issues for the whole territory of the Confederate States.
In many cases, local stamps were issued later in other countries if there was a shortage of stamps. Quickly printed provisional stamps, substitutes, fiscal stamps and overprints were used: stamps were sometimes bisected or quartered.
By a decree of the Russian Minister of Home Affairs, issued in 1860, local administrative offices were established and were called zemstvos. These offices had the right to print stamps for their own use. They are official postage stamps with franking value and are of interest to specialist collectors. During the First World War, local stamps were issued in many Polish towns.
When the State Postal Service was unable to cover the entire territory or country or was unable to cope with the quantity of mail in large cities, this gap was covered by private posts. They took care of the delivery of mail, collected charges for their services and printed their own stamps. Between 1861 and 1900, many private postal services were operating in Germany. In 1865, a private post of the firm ‘Lianos & Cie’ was opened in Istanbul. All these private posts used their own stamps. Stamps of private posts are found in Norway and Denmark, where they are called Bypost.
The stamps of private posts are frequently ignored by stamp collectors. They are stamps which really served postal needs and have all the attributes of stamps. The difference is that they were not issued by the official postal authorities.
The owners of some islands around the British coast produced adhesives for the prepayment of the ferrying if letters and parcels to the nearest point on the mainland. They are not valid for national or international postage and the British Postal Service does not recognise them as postage stamps. Islands like Herm and Lundy have been producing locals for well over thirty years and they seem to remain of interest to visitors who like to keep souvenirs. In 1966, a committee formed by the British Philatelic Society considered these island issues and their character. The adhesives are now referred to as the British Private Local Issues.
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