Postage stamps and postal history of Macau
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This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Macau (or Macao).


Early colonial history

The first
stamps Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents to ...
issued for
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
, appearing in 1884, used the common "Portuguese crown" design for nine values ranging from 5 to 300
reis Reis may refer to : *Reis (surname), a Portuguese and German surname *Reis (military rank), an Ottoman military rank and obscure Lebanese/Syrian noble title Currency *Portuguese Indian rupia (subdivided into ''réis''), the currency of Portugues ...
. Later in 1884, an 80-reis value was produced as a surcharge on the 100-reis value; in 1885 an 80-reis value of the crown design went on sale. Also in 1885, five values were re-issued in new colors. Shortages of values continued through 1887, resulting in a variety of surcharges on both postage stamps and
revenue stamp A revenue stamp, tax stamp, duty stamp or fiscal stamp is a (usually) adhesive label used to designate collected taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, ...
s. New stamps in 1888 depicted
Luis I Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...
with an embossed profile. Luis died soon after, and in 1894 a new series of 12 values featured a portrait of
Carlos I Carlos I may refer to: *Carlos I of Spain (1500–1558), also Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire *Carlos I of Portugal (1863–1908), King of Portugal *Juan Carlos I of Spain Juan Carlos I (;, * ca, Joan Carles I, * gl, Xoán Carlos I, ...
. Also in 1894 the currency was changed to
avos MixBit was a video sharing service created by Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, two of the co-founders of YouTube. It was released on August 8, 2013. MixBit let users create dynamic shared videos, and competed with Vine (owned by Twitter) and Instag ...
and
rupee Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...
s, 78 avos to the rupee (this would change to 100 avos to the pataca in 1913). In response leftover Luis stamps were surcharged in various avos values, in both Latin and Chinese characters, along with the word "PROVISORIO". In 1898 both the Vasco da Gama issue of commemoratives, and a new series of Carlos designs, were all denominated in avos. Shortages of particular values were a regular occurrence from 1900 through 1910, resulting in nearly 40 types of surcharges, as well as
postage due Postage due is the term used for mail sent with insufficient postage. A postage due stamp is a stamp added to an underpaid piece of mail to indicate the extra postage due. Background While the problem of what to do about letters not paying the ...
stamps pressed into regular service by overprinting obliterating bars on the "PORTEADO" and "RECEBER" text of those stamps.


Post-revolution history

In the wake of the revolution of 1910, the government overprinted stocks of the Carlos stamps with "REPUBLICA" and shipped those out to Macau. The turbulent situation required some creativity on the part of local officials, and in 1911, they produced 2a and 5a values by overprinting the new value diagonally in upper right and lower left corners of 4a and 10a stamps, then bisecting them on the diagonal. In 1913, they also applied a Republica overprint to a variety of older stamps going back to 1898. The Ceres series of 1913 was a fresh start for all the Portuguese territories, ultimately adding up to 29 value/color combinations (up to 5 patacas) through 1924. Even so, in 1915 additional Republica overprints were needed on the surcharges of 1902 (themselves overprinted on 1888 and 1894 issues. Between 1931 and 1933, nine lesser-used values of the Ceres stamps were surcharged. On 1 February 1934, a new
definitive series 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 ...
used a design with an allegorical figure representing "Portugal" and Vasco da Gama's flagship ''São Gabriel''. They were surcharged in 1941, and eight values were reprinted in 1942. The reprints were
lithographed Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
(instead of typographed as were the 1934 printings) on a thin
paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...
, roughly perforated. Macau participated in the
Empire issue An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
of 1938, with 17 values. In 1948, a new definitive series consisted of 12 values with different pictorial designs depicting local scenery. Subsequent issues included many of the
common design type Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...
s issued for all the Portuguese territories, with some commemoratives for anniversaries in Macau. Macau's 1976 acquisition of "special territory" status gave it more autonomy in its handling of the post, and starting in 1981 it issued a variety of more-appealing designs relating to local geography and culture, generally in sets of 4-6 related designs.


Post-transfer of sovereignty history

The main effect of the 1999 transition to special administrative region status was a change in the inscription on the stamps: from "MACAU" along with "REPÚBLICA PORTUGUESA" in smaller print somewhere on the stamp, to "MACAU, CHINA".


References


Sources

*
Scott catalog The Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Company, now a subsidiary of Amos Media, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the world that its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in fo ...
* ''Yang's Catalog of the Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery of Macau'' (1998) *
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 ...
Ltd: various catalogues
Encyclopaedia of Postal Authorities
* Rossiter, Stuart & John Flower. ''The Stamp Atlas''. London: Macdonald, 1986. {{DEFAULTSORT:Postage Stamps And Postal History Of Macau Communications in Macau History of Macau
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
Postal history of China