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Postage stamps and postal history of French Polynesia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The use of Tahiti postage stamps on mail first became valid on 25 October 1862, using the general stamps of the French Colonies. In 1882 a shortage of 25c stamps necessitated a surcharge on less-used values. Some of the surcharges also included the name "TAHITI". This happened again in 1884 with 5c and 10c values.
In 1892, the Navigation and Commerce issue for French Oceania became available, and in 1893, two kinds of overprint were applied to the remaining stocks of regular and postage due French Colonies stamps; one type was a slanted overprint reading "TAHITI" and the other was a horizontal "1893 / TAHITI". For some values of stamps, very few were left to be overprinted, and genuine overprints are quite rare, the rarest being the horizontal overprint on the 25c yellow at around US$20,000. (Most values will cost the collector around US$20 each.)
Thereafter only the stamps of French Polynesia were in regular use. In 1903, there was a shortage of 10 c stamps, and three values were surcharged with "TAHITI / 10 / CENTIMES" or "... centimes". Semi-postal stamps of French Polynesia also received a red cross and "TAHITI" overprint in 1915.
- Stanley Gibbons Ltd: various catalogues
- Encyclopaedia of Postal History
- Stuart Rossiter & John Flower: The Stamp Atlas