Postage stamp design its rule which stated that a country's name had to appear on their postage stamps, so a profile of the reigning monarch was all that was required for identification of Britain's stamps. To this day the UK remains the only country not required to name itself on its stamps. For all other UPU members, the name must appear in Latin letters. The name chosen is typically the country's own name for itself, with a modern trend towards using simpler and shorter forms, or abbreviations. For instance, the Republic of South Africa inscribes with "RSA", while Jordan originally used "The Hashemite
Postage stamps of the French colonies Postage stamps of the French colonies "French Colonies" is the name used by philatelists to refer to the postage stamps issued by France for use in the parts of the French colonial empire that did not have stamps of their own. These were in use from 1859 to 1906, and from 1943 to 1945. The first of these were small square stamps issued in 1859, depicting an eagle and crown in a round frame, with the inscription "COLONIES DE L'EMPIRE FRANCAIS". They were imperforate (as were all Colonies stamps until 1881). A total of six values, 1c to 80c, appeared