*** Happy St. Ursula Day *** THE EARLY STAMPS OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS DEPICT ST. URSULA The first adhesive stamps of the British Virgin Islands were issued in late 1866, and were of two denominations: a One penny green, and a Six pence rose. Both stamps depict the Virgin Islands patron Staint Ursula, crowned by a nimbus, with a lamp in her right hand, and with eleven other lamps in the surround. Messrs. Nissen and Parker, stationers and printers in London, were commissioned to provide the first postage stamps for the Virgin Islands. In the One penny design a central figure occupies an oval frame, and in the Six pence a rectangle. The first two Virgin Islands adhesive postage stamps arrived in Tortola in December 1866 and were issued shortly afterwards. Both stamps were lithographed and John Rapkin, a cartographer, designed them. The same design was used in later years for new stamps but in different colours: a rose-red for the 1 penny and a dull violet for the Six pence. For many years collectors believed that the early stamps of the Virgin Islands from 1866 to 1899 depicted the Blessed Virgin and stamps issued in later years were strongly influenced by this misconception since they depicted what appeared to be a Madonna. However, the Virgin depicted on those stamps is invariably St. Ursula as corroborated by printer’s printing proofs and essays. [Giorgio Migliavacca – copyright]
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 23:22:41 +0000
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