CEYLON / SRI LANKA STAMPS

Ceylon Stamps - Ceylon’s first stamp was issued on 1st April 1857 and like many of the early imperforate classics printed by Perkins Bacon, it is on blue paper. Until 1866 only 4 basic designs existed for values between ½d and 2s but the range of spectacular colours, different values, imperf or with different perforation gauges and the 3 different types of watermark can keep stamp collectors busy for many years!

An important British colony Ceylon enjoyed many exquisite stamp designs crafted by the great London printers, the Victorian issues enhanced for the philatelist by an unusually large amount of watermark varieties and, during the 1880's a preponderance of surcharges which can often be found inverted and doubled.

The pictorial issues of the 1930s and 1940s are a playground for the specialist stamp collector with plate flaws and many different perforations. The postmarks of Ceylon are attractive and increasingly popular amongst collectors, for these, we would recommend “The Encyclopaedia of Ceylon Postmarks / King George VI” by David Horry.

Ceylon Philately includes many rare and valuable stamps, amongst the classic issues most notably the 1858 4d dull rose which should only be purchased from a reliable source such as us, as it can be cleverly faked by altering a later version of the same stamp. In a list of other rarities we must add the 1925 1000r purple on red, a large magnificent stamp occasionally encountered with a fiscal (non-postal) cancellation but worth in the region of £30,000 in mint condition.

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