Monday, 24 July 2006
Lundy Stamps
Following on from my recent posts about Lundy Island and its history, here is a post about the island's stamps:
In October 1924 Martin Coles Harman bought Lundy Island. In the vast tradition of Lundy owners/squatters, he was quite eccentric! He proclaimed himself King of the island, designed a 'national' flag and even got into trouble for minting his own coins! His most indelible mark on the island, however, is in the form of stamps.
The General Post Office left Lundy in 1927, possibly due to lack of interest, possibly following some coercion, perhaps even a bit of both. Mr Harman then took over the post to and from the island as a free service. This continued for two years, until November 1st, 1929. On this day, Mr Harman introduced some private postage stamps. The stamps were known as half Puffin Pink and 1 Puffin Blue (being how much they cost in the island's shortlived currency as well as describing the stamps themselves), and half a million of each were printed at this time.
The stamps have continued to this day, with varying prices and images, including puffins, the Lundy Pony, the lighthouses and the local flora. All are now collectors' items, and commemorative sets are issued on an annual basis.
To read more of the history and see examples of the Lundy Stamps online, try the following:
I hope you found the above interesting, and hope you enjoy the posts during the next few days about Lundy's pirates and smugglers...!
