Postage stamp stamps did not need to show the issuing country, so no country name was included on them. The UK remains the only country to omit its name on postage stamps, using the reigning monarch’s head as country identification. Following the introduction of the postage stamp in the UK, prepaid postage considerably increased the number of letters mailed. Before 1839, the number of letters sent in the UK was typically 76 million. By 1850 this increased five-fold to 350 million, continuing to grow rapidly until the end of the 20th century when newer methods of indicating the payment of postage reduced
Postage stamps and postal history of Guinea-Bissau Postage stamps and postal history of Guinea-Bissau This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Guinea-Bissau, formerly known as Portuguese Guinea. Guinea-Bissau is located in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west. Stamps of Cape Verde were used in what is now Guinea-Bissau from 1877. The first stamps of Portuguese Guinea were issued 1881, overprinting stamps of Cape Verde. The first series of definitives was issued in 1886. In 1913, the Vasco da Gama commemorative series of Macau, Timor