Worldwide Stamps

Go Around the Globe by Collecting Worldwide Stamps

If you are looking for an intriguing hobby that will not take up much space, consider collecting stamps from around the world. Regardless of how you would like to assemble your foreign stamp collection, you can find world stamps to interest you on eBay.

When you start to amass your world postage stamps collection, you may want at least one example from each continent. Throughout history, almost 800 countries — many of which no longer exist — as well as private companies have issued postage stamps. Sources include:

• Africa - One of the most unusual examples was released by the Congo in 1895, and the waterfall picture in the middle was accidentally inverted.
• Asia - You may find an ichibubaban stamp from Japan, also referred to as the boo. This stamp showing a man racing on a horse may be available in pink or yellow. These were used to pay for postage on a stagecoach line that carried mail from Tokyo (Yedo) to Yokohama in the 1870s.
• Americas - Another example of foreign stamps for sale that you may see is the joint issue between the United States and Canada celebrating the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Making this stamp even rarer, some were inverted during printing.
• Israel - When Israel became a country in 1948, the government wanted to be ready, so they issued stamps before the country had a name. These stamps are called Doar Ivri stamps.
• Switzerland - The Basel stamp from Switzerland was the first multicoloured stamp printed in the world, and you may want to watch for it so that you can add it to your world postage stamp collection.

When you look for cheap world stamps for sale, you may notice some recurring themes, including:

• Animals - Almost every county has issued a stamp with an animal on it. You may choose to specialise in collecting foreign stamps with native animals, or you may specialise in finding stamps with your favourite animal on them. For example, you can find cow stamps from Mongolia, Poland, Laos, and Afghanistan.
• Floral - Flowers are a theme seen on many postage stamps, including those from Taiwan, Colombia, Peru, and Uzbekistan.
• Art - Many famous artists have had their works of art depicted on world stamps, including the French Polynesia stamp featuring artwork by Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin, Germany's Raphael Sistine Madonna stamp, and the Central African Republic's stamp featureing Rembrandt van Rijn's Christ in the Storm in the Sea of Galilee.
• Christmas - You can find Christmas celebrated on many cheap foreign stamps from the early to mid-20th century examples, including 1939 three kings and a star stamps, 1943 Hungary nativity stamps, and 1951 Cuban poinsettia stamps.

You may choose to focus on collecting first day release stamps from places that no longer go by the names of the countries they once were, such as the Deutsche Post of the German Democratic Republic and the government-printed East Germany stamps from 1949 to 1989. From 1916 to 1924, Hejaz printed complex stamps before Saudi Arabia overtook the country. Western Thrace, near Greece, was only a country for 55 days in 1913, but it printed four postage stamps.