Nigerian Stamps and Postal History

My apologies for the tardiness of today's post, which was supposed to be written last week. I have been very busy listing Canadian material in my e-bay store and unfortunately I just didn't get around to writing this post until today. Today's post will hopefully provide some insights that will help you identify the different printings that were made of this first issue of Lagos between May 1874 and May 1875. I find that the best way to proceed with these is to try and sort used stamps first, and then to match the mint stamps to the used stamps that you have classified, since there are very few clues that will definitively allow you to correctly classify the mint stamps. In attempting to assign individual stamps to the six printings, I find it useful to look at three things: 1. Cancellations 2. Colours - particularly the colour of the value tablet, or duty plate in relation to the head plate. 3. Paper I will briefly discuss how each of these characteristics can ...

Today's post will deal with the very first issue of Nigerian postage stamps: the Queen Victoria surface printed issue produced by De La Rue and first released in 1874. It will surprise many collectors to learn that there were no fewer than seven printings of these stamps issued between May 12, 1874 and May 13, 1875. With careful study and attention to colours, paper differences and cancellations, it is possible, I believe to distinguish them all. Despite this relatively high number of printings, the print quantities themselves were very small, with the result, that overall, these are by all accounts, very scarce stamps, especially mint with full original gum. Gibbons prices mint stamps with gum in fine condition, but in my experience, most mint stamps I encounter either have no gum at all, are sweated gum, or re-gummed. When the stamps are found with original gum, it is often very heavily hinged, or have pencil markings. Given the circumstances of the overall scarcity of the stamp...

Today's post will discuss the various coloured papers that are found on some of the stamps of Nigeria, both in the period after 1914 and in the pre-1914 period. Starting in 1904 with the Edward VII issues of Lagos, certain  stamps having a face value above 2d were printed on a coloured paper. There were four basic colours found, with the denominations most commonly associated with them indicated: Blue - used either for the 2.5d or later for 2/6 stamps. Yellow - used either for 3d, & 4d stamps, and later for 5/- stamps. Green - used either for the 1/- or 10/- stamps. Red - used either for the 1d Lagos stamps or the one pound stamps. For the pre-1914 issues, the stamp catalogues only list one paper for each stamp. While the paper is generally coloured through and appears the same colour on both the front and back of the stamp, careful study of multiple examples of the stamps will reveal that there are differences in the colours of the paper, which can be generalized...