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first issues > countries > inhambane, kionga, lourenço marques, quelimane, tete, zambezia, mozambique and nyassa companies

Mozambique district and

and chartered company issues

Inhambane, Kionga, Lourenço Marques, Quelimane, Tete and Zambezia

Mozambique Company and Nyassa Company

1894 to 1916

Companies

Portuguese colonies 6a-h  

LoMa1
Zamb1
Inham1
Lourenço Marques
Zambezia
Inhambane
28th May 1895 Sc1 SG1 FI#298 1894 Sc SG FI#300 1st July 1895 Sc1 SG1 FI#316

Quel1
Tete1
Kio1
Quelimane
Tete
Kionga
1913 Sc9 SG1 FI#437 1913 Sc17 SG17 FI#438 29th May 1916 Sc1 SG1 FI#461

Description Scott SG Mi Y&T  
Lourenço Marques, 28th May 1895, perf 11½, 12½, 13½, no wmk, typo
5 reis yellow   1 1      
other values 10r to 300r   2-12 2-18      
Zambezia November 1894, perf 11½, 12½, 13½, no wmk, typo
5r yellow   1 1      
other values 10r to 300r   2-12 2-19      
Inhambane, 1st July 1895, Mozambique overprint
5 reis black   1 1      
other values 10r to 150r   2-14 2-17      
Quelimane, 1913 surcharges
¼ centavo on 2½ reis green   1, 9, 17 9, 1, 17      
other values ½c to 15c        
Tete, 1913 surcharges
¼ centavo on 2½ reis green   1, 9, 17 9, 1, 17      
other values ½c to 15c        
Kionga, 29th May 1916, Lourenço Marques surcharged
½ centavo on 100 reis blue / blue   1 1      
other values 1c to 5c on the same stamp   2-4 2-4      

In addition to the general issues for Mozambique, there were separate issues for six districts and two chartered companies.

LoMaN1
ZamN1
Lourenço Marques
Zambezia
1893 Sc-P1 SG-N1 1893 Sc-P1 SG-N1

Lourenço Marques - The capital of Mozambique (renamed Maputo in 1975). It used Mozambique stamps before 1893 and after 1920. It first issued a newspaper stamp (perf 11½, 12½) in 1893, see right, and its first stamp 1895.

Zambezia - used Mozambique stamps until 1893, but when it was joined with Quelimane and Tete, issued its own stamps. When the three districts separated in 1913, Zambezia continued to use its own stamps until 1920 when it returned to the general issues. Like Lourenço Marques, it issued a newspaper stamp (perf 12½ only) in 1893.

Inhambane - in southern Mozambique, the first stamp was a Mozambique stamp overprinted to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Anthony. It had its own stamps from 1903 to 1920 and then reverted to national stamps.

Quelimane - this area used Mozambique stamps until 1893. It then joined with Tete to form Zambesia and used that district's stamps until 1913 when it had its own stamps. From 1920 it used Mozambique stamps again.
Its first set was overprinted on the Vasco da Gama set from Macao (Sc1-8, SG9-16), Portuguese Africa (Sc9-16, SG1-8) and Timor (Sc17-24, SG17-24): the catalogues list these in different sequences.

Tete - Gibbons [2] states, "the postal history of … Tete … has been exactly similar to that of Quelimane".

Kionga - previously part of German East Africa, it was occupied by Portuguese troops during WW1, awarded to Portugal by the Treaty of Versailles and incorporated into Mozambique.


Mozambique

chartered company issues

1892, 1898

Moz1
Nya1
Mozambique Company
Nyassa Company
1892 Sc1 SG1 FI#272 1898 Sc1 SG2 FI#331

Description Scott § SG Mi Y&T  
Mozambique Company, 1892, Mozambique overprint
5 reis black   1 1      
other values 10r to 300r   2-9 2-14      
Nyassa Company, 1898, Mozambique overprint
5 reis yellow   1 2      
other values 10r to 300r   2-12 3-13      

Mozambique Company - this was authorised to administer the territory of Manica and Sofala in 1891 and to issue stamps in 1892. When the the charter expired in 1942 control of the territory was taken over by Mozambique, whose stamps it used therafter.

Nyassa Company - similary authorised by charter in 1894 to develop north of the River Lurio and to issue stamps. The charter was rescinded in 1929.
Gibbons begins Nyassa with a 2½r grey overprint from the same set.
§ It was noted in the February 2019 edition of the FICC Journal (Vol. 27 no. 1) that Linn's Stamp News , November 19th 2018 stated that Mozambique Company Sc#1-120 have been "completely reorganized by the paper on which the stamps were printed and by perforation gauge". These details will be amended when the information is available.

Sources: ScS [1], SGP9 [2].

Images from colnect.

FI ref: 272, 298, 300, 316, 331, 437, 438, 461 Page credit: NB

Page created 29 Sep 2016 Page updated 06-Feb-2019