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Mariana Islands

September and November 1899

Spanish Colony 5
German Colony  

MariSp1
Mar11
Spanish
German
  1899 Sc1 SG1 1899 SC11 SG7  

Description   Scott# SG# Mi# Y&T#  
Spanish rule, Philippines o/p, no wmk, perf 14
2 centavos dark blue-green   1 1      
other values 3c to 15c   2-6 2-6      
German protectorate, German o/p, no wmk, perf 13½x14½
3 pfennigs dark brown   11 7      
other values 5pf to 50pf   12-16 8-12      

There are two versions of the German diagonal overprint with slopes of 48° and 56°. Scott [1] lists the 56° as Sc11-16 and the 48° as Sc11a-16a. Gibbons [2] reverses this with the 48° as SG1-6 and the 56° as SG7-12.

The Mariana islands, in the Western Pacific Ocean, were discovered by Magellan in 1521. Guam, to the south, was acquired by Spain in 1688. Following the Spanish-American War, 1898, the US took Guam. Handstamped Philippine stamps were then used in the remaining Spanish posessions. Germany purchased Mariana Islands as a proctectorate in 1899.

The islands were occupied by Japan in October 1914 and from December 1920 were a Japanese mandated territory. From July 1947 they have been a U.S. trust territory. In June 1975, the populace voted to be in the U.S. Commonwealth with internal autonomy. No local stamps were issued after 1920.

Sources: ScC [1], SGP9, SGP7 [2].

Images from colnect and David Olson.

FI ref: 347, 349 Page credit: NB

Page created 15 Dec 2016 Page updated 16-Jun-2017