This is a survey of the

postage stamps 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 fa ...

and

postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is att ...

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

, a 115 island nation spanning an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar. Seychelles was administered as a dependency of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

from 1810 to 1903. Independence was granted in 1976.

First mails

From 1848, stamps of Mauritius were used on mail from Seychelles and are found with the cancel B64 from that year. The first post office in the Seychelles was opened at

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, on Mahe, on 11 December 1861 and stamps of Mauritius were used there until 1890. The next post office in Seychelles was not opened until 1901.''Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Indian Ocean''. 1st edition. London:

Stanley Gibbons The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and philat ...

, 2006, pp. 62-77.

First stamps of Seychelles

The first stamps marked Seychelles were issued on 5 April 1890Stamps Collection
Seychelles National Archives, 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2013
Archived here.
/ref> and were of a Queen Victoria key type design. A number of different issues followed, all of the same design, including surcharges in 1893 and 1901.

King Edward VII & King George V

Further key type stamps were issued for these monarchs from 1906.

King George VI

In 1937, Seychelles participated in the omnibus stamp issue for the coronation of King George VI and three stamps were issued. In 1938 a distinctive series of

definitive stamp A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is part of the regular issue of a country's stamps, available for sale by the post office for an extended period of time and designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. The term is used in ...

s were issued, printed in

photogravure Photogravure (in French ''héliogravure'') is a process for printing photographs, also sometimes used for reproductive intaglio printmaking. It is a photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is grained (adding a pattern to the plate) and ...

Harrison & Sons Harrison and Sons was a major worldwide engraver and printer of postage stamps and banknotes. History The company was established in 1750 by Thomas Harrison in Warwick Lane, London; in 1839 Thomas Richard Harrison entered into partnership with Jo ...

which marked a departure in the design of British colonial stamps. The stamps were reissued in 1952 with a new portrait of the King with a crown over it.

Queen Elizabeth II

In 1953, Seychelles participated in the omnibus stamp issue for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and one stamp was issued. In 1954, the definitive stamps of 1938 were revised to include the head of Queen Elizabeth II. Regular commemorative and definitive stamp issues have followed. The head of Queen Elizabeth II, or the Initials E II R, were dropped from Seychelles stamps on independence in 1976.

Gallery

The same stamp of Seychelles as originally issued in 1938 for King George VI, with revised head 1952, and for Queen Elizabeth II, 1954. All photogravure, Harrison & Sons. File:Seychelles 30c stamp 1938.jpg, 30c, KGVI, 1938. File:Seychelles 25c stamp 1952.jpg, 25c, KGVI, 1952. File:Seychelles 25c stamp 1954.jpg, 25c, QEII, 1954.

''Zil Eloigne Sesel'', ''Zil Elwagne Sesel'' and ''Zil Elwannyen Sesel''

Aldabra white-eye 1985 stamp of Seychelles

Stamps marked ''Zil Eloigne Sesel'' (1980-1982), ''Zil Elwagne Sesel'' (1982-1984) and ''Zil Elwannyen Sesel'' (1985-1992) were issued for the Seychelles outer islands of

Aldabra Aldabra is the world's second-largest coral atoll, lying south-east of the continent of Africa. It is part of the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, with a distance of 1,120 k ...

, Coetivy,

Farquhar Farquhar is a surname of Scotland, Scottish origin, derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''fearchar'', from ''fear'' ("man") and ''car'' ("beloved"). Farquharson is a further derivation of the name, meaning "son of Farquhar". The name originated as a g ...

and Amirante. These islands were served by the

travelling post office A Travelling Post Office (TPO) was a type of mail train used in Great Britain and Ireland where the post was sorted en route. The TPO can be traced back to the earlier days of the railway, the first ever postal movement by rail being performe ...

on the M.V. Cinq-Juin. Issues ceased in 1992.

References

External links

King George VI stamps of Seychelles
{{PostalhistoryAfrica Philately of Seychelles Philately of Mauritius