1959 150th Anniversary of the Australian Post Office

This stamp celebrates the 1809 establishment of the Post Office in Australia. Isaac Nichols (1770-1819) became the first postmaster in Sydney New South Wales in 1809. As with most Australians, he was a convicted felon and sentenced to 14 years detention in the new land and rose to prominence through his trust of the public and ability to adapt to conditions. The stamp shows Isaac Nichols boardin the ship The Experiment in 1809. It has a face value of 4d.

The stamp itself is a bluish grey and white wash paying homage to the early years of stamps with its engraved image. The ones that have come across my desk are more of a dark blue rather than grey. There were 41,661,200 of these stamps printed and as such do not carry a high value in and of themselves. As with all stamps, this is not to say that are not valuable.

As of January 2022 they are listed as being worth about 70c used and unused and on cover around $3.00.

For collectors of postal history, a cover posted in New South Wales at the very post office it is celebrating could be worth a great deal more for example. A souvenir first day cover was recently listed on ebay for $10.00 so as my theory goes, there is value in almost every cover for some collector. A first day cover stamped with George Street Sydney Post Office would be a nice item.

Design

The stamp was based on a poster design for the Post Officer which was not used created by R. Shackel. Frank D Manley created the stamp design itself and and also engraved the stamp. It was printed by W.C.G. McCracken.

Flaws

I’m positive there will be some with this stamp but I was not able to easily find any information regarding them online. If you know of any please share so we can all learn.

My Opinion

I have this stamp stuck to my computer as a reminder of all that I am learning, all that has come before me and to enjoy how beautiful these works of art are.