Guest Blog by Tom Tarabicos - “The World’s First Christmas Stamp”

Every November the United States Postal Service, along with most Christian nations issue new Christmas stamps. The first United States Christmas stamp was issued on November 1, 1962 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was an attractive stamp featuring a wreath and candles. Most of us would have thought that the post office would have issued stamps back in the 1800’s but are surprised to find out otherwise. The tradition has continued since 1962 and since then other religious holiday events have been commemorated.

The first United States Hanukkah stamp was issued in 1996 in a joint issue and ceremony with Israel. The first United States EID stamp was issued, believe it or not, on September 1, 2009. The stamp commemorates the Muslim holidays. Kwanzaa, a non-religious African-America festival was also commemorated with a stamp in 1997. I don’t know which holiday is next but if the trend continues we will be commemorating all the worlds holiday seasons.

The very first Christmas stamp was issued by our neighbor to the north.  On December 7, 1898 Canada issued the world’s first Christmas stamp featuring a map of the British Empire on Mercator Projection. The stamp shows all of the British Empire’s worldwide possessions colored in red. At the bottom of the stamp it is states “XMAS 1898” The 2 cent black, blue and carmine stamp is interesting and unusual. The fact that they use XMAS rather than Christmas is baffling. This stamp is known as the “Map Stamp” and seems to be more concerned with the British Empire’s power than about Christmas. The stamp was actually used to introduce the Imperial Penny Postage and the addition of “XMAS” was a last minute addition. The story goes that somehow the Queen’s feathers were ruffled when they were attempting to bring attention to the Prince of Wales, whose birthday was on November 9. Queen Victoria did not want any other Royalty honored but herself. She made it clear that the only Prince that was to be honored was the Prince of Peace, the Christ child. Things were changed and the new stamp was released on December 7. The Canadians did not issue another Christmas stamp till 1964.    The stamp is a popular stamp among collectors and is very affordable at around $40 in mint condition.

Well I hope everyone enjoys the holiday season whether it is Christmas, XMAS, Hanukkah, EID or Kwanzaa. And remember don’t mess with the Queen of England.
Tom Tarabicos is an historian and stamp collector and can be reached via email at tarabicos@historythroughstamps.com and can be visited online at www.historythroughstamps.com

12/12/2009