Canal Zone Stamps

Finding Collectible and Rare Canal Zone Stamps

If you are a stamp collector who has a wide variety of US stamps in your current collections, you may be interested in adding Canal Zone stamps. Canal Zone stamps were issued by the United States during the time period when the United States Postal System operated in the Panama Canal Zone, from 1904 to 1978. Finding unique and rare Panama Canal Zone postage stamps can be a thrill.

Just as with US stamps issued for usage in the continental United States, there are several notable issue years of collectible US Canal Zone stamps. These range in value and price from affordable Canal Zone stamps to higher-priced. Some of the issues include:

• Initial 1904 issues - These stamps were the first and were actually issued by the country of Columbia, the country from which Panama broke away in 1904 when it established itself as an autonomous country with the help of the United States. The 1904 stamps are Columbia stamps that feature Panama Canal Zone printed over the face of the stamp and a red printed bar blocking out the name Columbia on the top edge of the stamp.
• Second 1904 issues - These stamps were US-printed stamps that were overprinted with Panama Canal Zone on the stamps. Values include the one-cent stamp with Benjamin Franklin on the face and the five-cent stamp with Abraham Lincoln on the face.

There are several issues of Canal Zone airmail stamps. Consider these hallmarks when searching for new and used Canal Zone airmail stamps for your collection:

• First issue 1928 to 1929 - These airmail stamps were not independently issued but used existing Canal Zone stamps with Air Mail and value amount overprinted on the Canal Zone stamp.
• 25th-anniversary 1938 - This was the silver jubilee anniversary of the Panama Canal Zone and the 10th anniversary of airmail postage from the Canal Zone. This issue featured six designs printed using a flat plate printing press method.
• Winged Globe 1951 to 1958 - This highly artistic series of airmail stamps featured a winged airmail symbol in the top left corner over the image of a globe.

One notable example of rare Canal Zone stamps is the error printing of the four-cent Thatcher Ferry Bridge stamp issued in 1962. The error stamps lack the image of the bridge itself because the ink used to print the bridge was missing for this printing, making this stamp highly valuable and very rare.