REPUBLIC of PORT MARIA
REPUBLIC of PORT MARIA
|
| THE
POSTAGE STAMPS OF PORT MARIA The Republic of Port Maria was built during 1980, and became independent the same year. As it was necessary for the isolated reef dwellers to have a full postal service, various stamps in very limited editions were printed by various different methods, mostly in Port Maria. From both a design and production perspective, those early stamps have been described as “crude”, “primitive”, and most scary of all to the Post Office, “easily forged”. To get away from such primitivism, the President in 1989, Mrs Joanne Carré, asked her fellow-ruler and close personal friend, Sultan Michael Ismail, of Occussi-Ambeno, for assistance in the area of stamp production. The Sultan was happy to help, and ordered his State press, the Imperial Government Printing Office (KDPN) to produce stamps for Port Maria in the required denominations. So 1989 and 1990 saw many attractive new stamps appear in Port Maria. Those stamps kept the Port Maria Post Office functional for many years, and it was not until ten years later, in 1999, that a further new stamp was issued: this time in full colour. Of course, many serious collectors like to obtain covers (envelopes bearing stamps, datestamped, and that have gone through the mailstreams), and as the volume of mail leaving Port Maria is quite low, such covers are quite desirable. To help collectors, the Post Office can send you an envelope bearing up to three Port Maria stamps, for a token donation of at least US$10 to the Sailors' Assistance Fund. Please click here for more remarks and illustrations of other Port Maria stamps. To contact the Port Maria Post Office, it is best to send your letters and payments to the Port Maria Shipping Agency in New Zealand: Port Maria Shipping Agency, P.O. Box 78-104, Grey Lynn, New Zealand 1032. e-mail: PortMaria2@gmail.com Checks and cheques should be made payable to the shipping agents: Port Maria Shipping Agency. |
|
