Guernsey

Guernsey stamps

P=have O=don’t have it

The Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown Dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.

The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet possessions. The Bailiwick of Guernsey also administers some aspects of two nearby crown dependencies (Alderney and Sark), and the island of Brecqhou.

Although its defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom, the Bailiwick of Guernsey is not part of the UK; and while it participates in the Common Travel Area, it is not part of the European Union.

See: Great Britain

Scott: #56-9P

Issued: 1.6.1971

Thomas de la Rue, Founder of Security Printers

Inside #56: Hong Kong #1O

Inside #57: GB #22O

Inside #58: Italy #26P

US Conferate States #6 for # 59 Inside #59: US Conferate States #6O

Scott: #198aPP

Issued: 01.10.1979

The 10th Anniversary of the Guernsey Post Office

Inside #198: Philately

I'm still trying to find the stamps on stamps in this one, but I have it and I like it so it is in my collectionJ

Scott: #426P,#427P,#428P,#429P,#430P

Issued: 3.5.1990

150th Anniversary, Penny Black

Inside #426: GB #1 [T-A]

Visit: The Penny Black Plate project http://www.arcieriminerva.it/SOS/homeSOS.htm

Inside #427: GB #3 P

Inside #428: GB #255 P

Inside #429: Guernsey #2 P

#10 Inside #430: Guernsey #10 P

Scott: #430aP

Scott: #430bO

Issued to promote Guernsey participation at the New Zealand 1990 exhibition

Thanks to Lou for scan and info

#446-8

Scott: #446-8P

Issued: 8.2.1991

50th Anniversary, Occupation Stamps

Inside #446-8: Guernsey #N1-#N3O

guernsey 448a prestige bklt 1991 $ 8 00 (2)

Guernsey Prestige Booklet #448aP 3 panes: 448a IP, 448a IIP, 448a IIIP

Scott: #425O

Issued: 27.02.1990

Europa 1990

sos guernsey 297 1984 Inside #425: Guernsey #297O

Lou wrote: Last night, I was trolling the internet, not looking for anything in particular, when a stamp from Guernsey caught my eye. Part of a set issued for Europa 1990, Guernsey #425 showed a postal clerk and customer, but on the wall behind them there appeared to be a vague stamp. I scanned the issue, and on enlarging it, I felt it was possibly an identifiable stamp showing an actual place. It occurred to me that the designer probably created his art using an actual post office photograph, and since the stamp filled a background space, he kept it in his work.

I went to Delcampe and entered a search for "Guernsey views". A very few minutes later, I found the stamp-- Guernsey #297, issued in 1984 as part of a long set showing various tourist sites around Guernsey. Pictured is a view of La Coupée, a one hundred mile roadway on the isthmus between Big Sark and Little Sark Islands.

This Sos may not be for everyone, but I thought it was a bit exciting to find it thirty-one years after its issue, so I decided to share my find. I've already found both stamps and a first day cover to add to my collection.

Thanks to Lou Guadagno

Scott: #452P

Issued: 1.4.1991

Europa 1991

guernsey 452

sos guernsey 13 1969 Inside #452: Guernsey #13O

sos guernsey 12 1969 Inside #452: Guernsey #12P

sos guernsey 15 1969 Inside #452: Guernsey #15P

sos guernsey 14 1969 Inside #452: Guernsey #14O

guernsey 452

sos guernsey fdc 1969

Guernsey FCD 1969

Thanks to Lou Guadagno

#523

Scott: #520-4P

Issued: 27.7.1993

Birth Bicentennial, Thomas de la Rue, Printer

Inside #523: GB #22O

Scott: #523aP

Scott: #597-602O

Issued: 21.8.1997

Communications

Flowers 2x2v from booklets Inside #601: Guernsey #584aO

Scott: #680-3O

Issued: 27.4.1999

Herm, Our Island Jewel

Inside #680-3: Herm Island Local Carriage Labels

sos herm is BF 27 P imperf proof 1954

Herm Island Local Carriage Labels – 1954

(Thanks to Lou for the scans)

Herm is an island off Guernsey's east coast, just one and a half miles long by half a mile wide, and 15 minutes away by boat. It makes an admirable subject for this year's Europa issue, Nature Reserves and Parks. When the States of Guernsey bought the island from the British Government in 1946 and set about

finding a tenant to run it, the following proviso was imposed: "That the governing principle... shall be to ensure that the natural attractions and peacefulness of that island are preserved and are made available to all who visit it".

When Peter and Jenny Wood took over the tenancy in 1949 Herm was derelict and overgrown. They gradually enhanced the countryside, repaired the buildings, made the island fit for visitors and the Bailiwick of Guernsey gained a wonderful new attraction which has captured the hearts of thousands over the years. The stamps combine new designs with detail from some of Herm's carriage labels, on the 50th anniversary of their introduction. The labels (not strictly speaking stamps) were used until 1969, when the Guernsey Post Office took over control of its own affairs from the British Post Office and opened a sub-post office in Herm.

The larger part of the stamp design features the Burnet Rose on dunes behind Shell Beach, while the four-doubles (the Bailiwick's old unit of currency equivalent to one old penny) carriage label shows the Yellow Horned Poppy, Yellow Flag Iris and Wallflower. Here we see Puffins on the cliffs with Belvoir Bay in the distance, while the 5d. (five pre-decimal pence) carriage label shows

the Kentish Plover, Oystercatcher and Common Tern.

The Small Heath butterfly is a common sight around the island; the 6d. (six pre-decimal pence) carriage label shows a Red Admiral and a Painted Lady.

Shell Beach, named for the amazing variety of shells washed up by the Gulf Stream, is one of Herm's most famous features.

Here we depict the Variegated Scallop, Dogwhelk, European Cowrie and Painted Topshell, while the one shilling (equivalent to five new pence) carriage label shows the Garfish and the Ballan Wrasse.

********

Lou wrote: I really like this set design wise, and I found it interesting that it gave some legitimacy to the Herm Island carriage labels that were so disparaged during the time they were being issued. Also, I liked the fact that the designer used the imperf proofs instead of the regular perfed stamps. Originally, I thought the sos were shown imperf because they looked neater, but it turns out that when the Herm Island shop was asked for stamps to use for the designs, they were sold out of the perfed stamps and could only supply the imperf proofs. I was able to pick up a set of the proofs very cheaply at a local show - from Gt Britain they sell for £ 6.00.

What I had not been aware of when the stamps were issued, is that they were printed in decorated sheetlets of 10 stamps, with background info and enlargements of the label and stamp artwork without inscriptions.

puffs%20sheet%20copy sheet%202%20butterfly

sheet%203%20shells%2037 sheet 4 burnet 20

The designer, Colleen Corlett, was very kind and sent us "in progress plates" of the full set.

Thanks to Colleen Corlett: www.colleencorlett.com

Thanks to Martin Hirschbühl

Scott: #1214-9O

Issued: 31.7.2013

The 200th Anniversary of the Guernsey Press and Star

Inside #1216: Guernsey #N1O

Thanks to Prof. Plinio Richelmi and Martin Hirschbühl

guernsey ss 5 1 15

Scott: #1300O

Issued: 01.05.2015

175th Anniversary of The Penny Black

gt britain 1 Q-B 1840 Inside #1300: G.B. #1 [Q-B]

Thanks to Lou Guadagno and Prof. Plinio Richelmi

guernsey sos 11 11 15

Scott: #1328O

Issued: 11.11.2015

Stories From the Great War, Part 2

sos gt britain 128c- rose 1911 Inside #1328: G.B. #128c (rose ink printing 1911) P

guernsey fdc

The stamp is reproduced from a letter from a Guernsey soldier to his sweetheart; the purposely angled

placement on the envelope has a secret meaning: "Longing to see you again"

Thanks to Lou Guadagno

Scott: #1359O

Issued: 17.07.2016

500 years of Postal History

Inside #1359: Stamp on envelope

Lou wrote: If we assume that is a tiny portion of a stamp on the envelope in the boy's hand and the time of the mailing is soon after the pillar box was erected in 1853, then the stamp has to be a Penny Red, either the Sc #3 imperf of 1841-1854 or the Sc #8 perforated from 1854-55.

Thanks to Michael Merritt

guernsey 6 v--10 1 19

Scott: #????-?P

Issued: 01.10.2019

50th Anniversary of Postal Independence

Inside #????a:


Guernsey #145P	Guernsey #8PP	Guernsey #38O	Guernsey #34O	Guernsey #J3O

Inside #????b:


Guernsey #194O	Guernsey #182O	Guernsey #251O	Guernsey #283P	Guernsey #305O

Inside #????c:


Guernsey #410P	Guernsey #429P	Guernsey #502O	Guernsey #419O	Guernsey #488O

Inside #????d:


Guernsey #544O	Guernsey #703O	Guernsey #663O	Guernsey #538O	Guernsey #679O

Inside #????e:


Guernsey #991O	Guernsey #859O	Guernsey #809O	Guernsey #950O	Guernsey #795O

Inside #????f:


Guernsey #1220O	Guernsey #1250O	Guernsey #1132O	Guernsey #1145O	Guernsey #???? (2019) O

Thanks to Lou Guadagno

Scott: #????-?O

Issued: 10.06.2021

Postcrossing

Inside #????-?: Guernsey #????-? (Self SOS)

Scott: #????-?O

Issued: 19.07.2023

Guernsey Regional Stamps

Inside #????: G.B. #269O

Inside #????: G.B. #270O

Inside #????: Guernsey Regional #1O

Inside #????: Guernsey Regional #2P

Inside #????: Guernsey Regional #3O

Guernsey, on July 19, 2023 issued four stamps noting Guernsey Regional Stamps.

On the first two values are Gt Britain #269-270, issued in 1948 to commemorate the third anniversary of the liberation of the Channel Islands from German Occupation at the end of WWII. This is not noted on either stamp as the British government did not want any reference to remind the people of the hardships suffered during the war. The designs of both stamps showed vraiking, a word in the local old language for the collection of winter seaweed on the beaches, which was stored for use as fuel or fertilizer. The issue was sold in Gt Britain and all the Channel Islands, but was not popular anywhere. British collectors thought the stamps were ugly and had no idea what was being depicted on them, on Jersey they complained the stamp subject did not relate to them, and on Guernsey they were insulted that the old use of carts was shown when they were using trucks. In any case, tho they are British stamps, they are considered by many (and the Guernsey Post) to be the first Guernsey regional stamps.

The other two stamps depict the three stamps actually produced to be Guernsey regionals. When issued in 1958 thru 1966 they were listed in Scott's as such, but after Guernsey became postally independent in 1969 and began issuing stamps, Scott's moved them to the beginning of the Guernsey listings as #s 1-2-3. What is interesting is that Guernsey is not named on the stamps, but in addition to the bust of QEII, the crown of William the Conqueror or William of Normandy and the Guernsey lily, symbolic of Guernsey are shown. The stamps were sold in Gt Britain as well as Guernsey, and valid for postage in both.

On all four stamps are first day cancels for the five stamps depicted.

In addition to a fdc, the issue will be available in a very good looking, but expensive prestige booklet, even more expensive, but beautiful sheetlets of 10 with margins showing enlarged stamps and a presentation pack.