Postage stamps and postal history of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate
Encyclopedia
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history
of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate
.
Postage stamps were issued specifically for the Northern Nigeria Protectorate beginning in March 1890. All stamps of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate are definitive
issues of a Key Plate
design, differing in the sovereign depicted, type of paper, watermark
s, and choice of colored or colorless numerals for the denomination.
The first series consisted of nine stamps with values ranging from 1/2 pence to 10 shillings, depicting Queen Victoria
. The second series, consisting of identical denominations, but in slightly different colors was issued on July 1, 1902, depicting King Edward VII
. Unusually, a £25 stamp was issued in April 1904. This was really intended as a revenue stamp
, it being nearly impossible to invent a piece of mail needing so much postage. It was used to pay for imported liquor licences. It is the great rarity of philately with copies commanding a high price. The King Edward series was reissued in 1905 in eight denominations, and again in 1910-11 in eleven denominations.
The final series of stamps for the Northern Nigeria Protectorate was a series of thirteen denominations depicting King George V
.
Stamps of Northern Nigeria were replaced by those of Nigeria in 1914.
Postal history
Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of postage stamps and covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems...
of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate
Northern Nigeria Protectorate
Northern Nigeria was a British protectorate formed in 1900. The basis of the protectorate was the 1885 Treaty of Berlin which broadly granted Northern Nigeria to Britain, on the basis of their protectorates in Southern Nigeria...
.
Postage stamps were issued specifically for the Northern Nigeria Protectorate beginning in March 1890. All stamps of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate are definitive
Definitive stamp
A definitive stamp is a postage stamp, that is part of a regular issue of a country's stamps available for sale by the postal service for an extended period of time...
issues of a Key Plate
Key plate
In printing, a key plate is the plate which prints the detail in an image.When printing color images by combining multiple colors of inks, the colored inks usually do not contain much image detail...
design, differing in the sovereign depicted, type of paper, watermark
Watermark
A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light , caused by thickness or density variations in the paper...
s, and choice of colored or colorless numerals for the denomination.
The first series consisted of nine stamps with values ranging from 1/2 pence to 10 shillings, depicting Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
. The second series, consisting of identical denominations, but in slightly different colors was issued on July 1, 1902, depicting King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
. Unusually, a £25 stamp was issued in April 1904. This was really intended as a revenue stamp
Revenue stamp
A revenue stamp, tax stamp or fiscal stamp is a adhesive label used to collect taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, and many other things...
, it being nearly impossible to invent a piece of mail needing so much postage. It was used to pay for imported liquor licences. It is the great rarity of philately with copies commanding a high price. The King Edward series was reissued in 1905 in eight denominations, and again in 1910-11 in eleven denominations.
The final series of stamps for the Northern Nigeria Protectorate was a series of thirteen denominations depicting King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
.
Stamps of Northern Nigeria were replaced by those of Nigeria in 1914.
See also
- Postage stamps and postal history of NigeriaPostage stamps and postal history of NigeriaThis is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Nigeria.-First stamps:The first stamps for the modern state of Nigeria were issued on 1 June 1914 following the amalgamation of all of the British colonies in the area...
- Postage stamps and postal history of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate
Further reading
- Proud, Ted.Ted ProudEdward Wilfrid Baxby Proud is a pioneering British postal historian and philatelic writer who in 2008 was invited to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists....
The Postal History of Nigeria. Heathfield, Sussex: Proud Bailey, 1995. ISBN 187246517X