This has to be something for Argyll to investigate.
The Summer Isles off Achiltibuie, north of Loch Broom, print their own postage stamps – very popular with tourists.
We are enquiring from Argyll’s MSP and Tourism Minister, Jim Mather, as to how permission to do this can be gained.
This has to be a good move for Argyll, with so much of Scotland’s history – from Dunadd Fort where the early Kings were crowned, to the archaeology of Kilmartin Gen, to the seat of the Lords of the Isles at Finlaggan on Islay, to castles, to Stevenson lighthouses like the beautiful Skerryvore and Dubh Artach – major sporting events, and fabulous wildlife and scenic resources.
The practice of offshore islands printing postagestamps for sale is a harmless means of raising revenue for a locality or an individual.The problem is that the stamps have no official function or validity.
I visited the Summer Isles from Ullapool last year and saw the local stamps that they sell at the island “Post Office” but if you wish your letter to be delivered to any mainland or overseas address you also require to use the normal UK Post Office stamps to get there.
The owners of many islands have issued such stamps in the past and I have seen stamps from Lundy and from Staffa previously. The Staffa stamps seemed to be to be particularly bizarre as nobody lives on that island!
As they have no genuine postal use such labels are not normally listed in catalogues.
As long as it is made clear that these issues are not in any way official there is no need for any permission to be granted for their issue or for their sale.
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For Colin MacKenzie: Thank you for this. So these are effectively stickers rather than what we think of as ‘stamps’.
With the now certain privatisation of the Royal Mail, might ‘commercial’ developments in postage stamps themselves be opened up?
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Hi
I save Summer Isles Stamps
I have all but the early overprints
1970 Fish on map (decimal conversion overprints)
1971 Fish on map(europa overprints )
1977 Fish on map(second definitive overprints)
Can anyone help me to find the stamp I cannot find please.
Thank you
Brian
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Pingback: Argyll News: Reader looking for Summer Isles stamps | For Argyll
These stamps are know as Cinderella Stamps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella_stamp
I think the Staffa stamps were made by Stampdile which is the company created by the former owner of Easdale Island, Clive Feigenbaum, and now run by his son. Stampdile produce ‘stamps’ with the name of countless parts of the world on them including Easdale Island. I have some of his Easdale ‘stamps’ including a sheet where each stamp is a former governor of Hong Kong and, my favourite, Princess Diana with Mother Theresa.
I know nothing of philately and am only aware of this as Clive Feigenbaum was keen for us to sell his stamps when we owned The Puffer Bar and Restaurant on Easdale Island.
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This is very interesting information, Stephen, Thank you.
How well did they sell at The Puffer?
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We didn’t put them on sale as we were never quite sure what to make of the whole thing.
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It’s one of these affinity gestures that enable people to identify with and share with friends an unusual token of a place they’ve been really taken with.
It’s probably got value in small highly individualist places (like Easdale, like the Summer Isles) maybe like Gigha, Colonsay, Jura, Port Appin, Tarbert, Kilberry, Iona, Arrochar … maybe for events like MOKrun, Feis Ile, EatBute, Cowalfest, the McGruer Regatta …
These things are the tourist industry’s equivalent of the gastronomic bon bouche – a little delight, of no great moment but an irresistible grace note.
And its addition to a holiday postcard gives you something to say on it.
Marketed well, these have a part to play in establishing identity.
There might be a role for Argyll and the Isles ‘stamps’ for use on postal communications by tourism industry businesses – a neat identifier.
On second thoughts – a fabulous set of area specific e-cards will make more impact.
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As far as I can gather, the ‘stamps’ produced by Stampdile and other companies are not really intended for sale at the places they are ‘issued from’ but are sold to collectors around the world. I’m not sure if the Easdale ‘stamps’ were ever sold locally.
You can read a bit about the former owner of Easdale Island here, colourful and controversial indeed! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Feigenbaum
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These island issued “stamps” have no postal currency or value and are simply a means of producing expensive labels that should be viewed as poor value souvenirs. As explained above they are of little interest to genuine philatelists or dealers.
The Post Office themselves now issue so many different stamps each year that there are genuine fears that they have over reached the market and discouraged collectors.
There would be some irony that at the same time as UK postal services are at risk from privatisation that the market for stamps should have been marketed to extinction
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I operate the Lundy postal service and if you want to send a letter or postcard to the mainland from Lundy, without a lundy stamp to cover the conveyance to the mainland, it won’t get shipped. Island stamps are a vital tool to help keep the mail flowing from places which the royal mail don’t support due to the logistics involved.
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After the post services of the small Channel Islands were closed down in 1969 only the stamps of lundy and the Summer Isles are really used for postal transport. Thus they ought to be regarded as stamps. Labels of all other islands are no stamps, but really only labels.
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Stamps of Staffa are British Locals up until 1986 when the island was given to the national trust of Scotland. All the island issues that were and still are used to deliver mailings from remote islands to the mainland and required as such for said mailings to be transported to said mainland are in the same class as Lundy Island British locals as they serve the same purpose.
Given issues made and sold after the given dates of ending of said mailing systems are NOT British Locals and should be considered cinderella’s or labels.
The contraversy of naming certain island issues one thing and other island issues another when they are used to do the same thing…even when the island is uninhabited…is rediculous and only stems from bias against afore mentioned producers of the locals at the time. For your information the afore mentioned producers also made many of the British Locals of Lundy Island. So should we call those “labels” also because of who produced them?
Despite objections by certain societies influenced by ego and being stubborn, the fact is that earlier issues of locals from Staffa, Bernera etc; are just that. Locals.
They were produced under contracts between owners of the islands and the producers and the funds paid for transport and in some cases maintenance and such of the island and of course part went to the producers. Nothing is made for free.
And nobody is going to pick up your letter from an island not supported by the general mail system and carry it to that general mail system, affix their stamps on it and post it for free.
So if you don’t know for sure all the facts surrounding the issues of a certain island…do some real research and find out. And that does not mean taking word of mouth from someone with just words. Get solid evidence. Letters with usage, documents, direct contact. To generalize all other island stamps as labels is lazy and a totally uninformed view.
This is one big reason why there is a problem with status.
Nobody wants to get to the bottom of it.
My 2 cents.
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