This is a survey of the

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s and postal history of

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. Samoa, formerly known as ''Western Samoa'', is a country encompassing the western part of the

Samoan Islands The Samoan Islands ( sm, Motu o Sāmoa) are an archipelago covering in the central South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and of the wider region of Oceania. Administratively, the archipelago comprises all of the Independent State of Samoa an ...

in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are

Upolu Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long and in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximate ...

and Savai'i.

First stamps - The Samoa Express

Five shilling Samoa Express stamp 1877-81 genuine

The first stamps of Samoa were issued in 1877.Samoa.
Sandafayre Stamp Atlas. Retrieved 14 January 2012. The Samoa Express private post was set up in 1877 and ended in 1881. The stamps were remaindered, reprinted and forged. D-Samoa 1900 12

Five shilling Samoa Express stamp-forged

Private issues

A private service was set up by J. Davis In 1886. Stamps designated "Samoa Postage" were issued between 1886 and 1899.

German issues

German stamps were first used in

German Samoa German Samoa (german: Deutsch-Samoa) was a German protectorate from 1900 to 1920, consisting of the islands of Upolu, Savai'i, Apolima and Manono, now wholly within the independent state of Samoa, formerly ''Western Samoa''. Samoa was the las ...

on September 21, 1886, in the form of vorläufer stamps that can be recognized by the "

Apia Apia () is the capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga. ...

" cancellation mark. Michel 1997: p. 408. In April 1900 German stamps with "Samoa" overprint became available. In December 1900, the

yacht issue The Yacht issue was a series of postage stamps, bearing the image of German Kaiser's yacht, '' SMY Hohenzollern II'', that were used in all of Germany's overseas colonies. Millions of stamps were produced and they were the principal means of po ...

was introduced. Samoa25pf1914hohenzollern-gri3dovpt

New Zealand issues

After New Zealand forces occupied German Samoa in 1914, stamps of German Samoa were overprinted "G.R.I." (short for ''Georgius Rex Imperator'', referring to the incumbent British King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

). These were followed by stamp of New Zealand overprinted "Samoa". The first stamps of the mandated territory of Western Samoa were issued in 1921.

Independence

Samoa issued stamps as an independent state on 2 July 1962.

References

External links

Fellowship of Samoa SpecialistsThe Pacific Islands Study Circle.
Philately of Samoa {{Samoa-stub