The First Free-Form Postage Stamps
The first free-form postage stamps were issued by Sierra Leone on the 10th February 1964 to commemorate the World’s Fair in New York. The set of fourteen stamps was printed in combined intaglio and lithography by the Walsall Lithographic Company and stamped out in the manner of Victorian scraps.
The stamps were shaped like the map of the country which, in fact, formed the background to each design. The stamps were also the world’s first self-adhesive and were issued in sheets of thirty on backing paper which had the butterfly logotype of the paper makers, Samuel Jones, on the reverse.
Later free-form stamps in the same genre from Sierra Leone used the backing paper for advertising. Tonga followed with a set of stamps on the 19th October 1964. These stamps were embossed on metal foil but were in free-form shapes – either heart shaped or in the outline of Tongatapu (irreverently dubbed by collectors as the ‘Hearts and Boots’ issue). Later free-form stamp issues from Tonga followed the same self-adhesive pattern as Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone abandoned the gimmick in 1972 and Tonga in 1980. Several sets from Norfolk Island between 1974 and 1978 were in the free-form, self-adhesive style, all produced by the Walsall company.
Two attempts have been made to produce free form stamps in a more orthodox manner. De La Rue intaglio printed a set of four stamps for the Bahamas in 1968, kidney shaped and depicting obverse and reverse of a set of gold coins. The stamps were perforated round each stamp, but were usually cut square with scissors.
Harrison and Sons produced a set of four stamps for Gibraltar in July 1969 perforated in the shape of the Rock of Gibraltar. Additionally, however, each stamp was perforated in the normal rectangular shape. Neither experiment seemed to warrant being followed up by other printers or nations.
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