Postage stamps and postal history of Gabon

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Gabon is a country in west central Africa sharing borders with the Gulf of Guinea to the west, Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, and Cameroon to the north, with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. Its size is almost 270,000 km² with an estimated population of 1,500,000. The capital and largest city is Libreville.^[1]

First posts

The earliest

general issue, cancelled with a "GAB" inside a lozenge of dots.

First stamps

On 31 July 1886 Gabon issued its first stamps, which were

; they were inscribed "Gabon-Congo / POSTES" in one corner, the value in the opposite corner, and a diagonal "Republique Française" across the middle. All of these early issues were produced in small numbers, and not often seen.

Navigation & Commerce

10-centime value, cancelled at Libreville in 1910.

French colonial stamps

timber raft on the Ogooué River

, was in use for only a short time.

From 1891 to 1904, Gabon was administered as part of the

This was followed in 1910 by a set using designs specific to Gabon; a

Fang

warrior, a view of Libreville, and a Fang woman, all printed in two colors. A first version included "CONGO FRANÇAIS" along with "GABON" in the inscription, but was soon supplanted by a redesign saying "AFRIQUE EQUATORIALE" instead.

As with many other colonies, leftover stamps of the Navigation & Commerce issue were surcharged "5" and "10" in 1912.

From 1924 on, the 1910-series stamps were overprinted "AFRIQUE EQUATORIALE FRANÇAISE", and from 1927 some of these were additionally surcharged with new values.

A new

and used its stamps thereafter.

Independence

Although the Republic was proclaimed in November 1958, the people continued to use the stamps of French Equatorial Africa, and the first issue of the Republic came on its 1st anniversary, 28 November 1959, with two values depicting different views of Prime Minister Léon M'ba.

During the 1960s, issues followed a pattern generally common to France and the former French colonies; multicolored engraved stamps in an oblong format, either horizontal or vertical. Some were conscious imitations of French designs, such as the small-format coat of arms stamps that began appearing in 1969 and continuing into the 1980s (long after France itself had stopped using the design). The 1970s saw the gradual appearance of stamps designed primarily to appeal to American and European collectors, such as an issue featuring motorcycles in 1978, and Nobel laureates in 1995, but these have been the exception rather than the rule. In 1965 Gabon issued one of the first gold foil stamps, one honoring Albert Schweitzer.

References

Further reading

Stone, Robert G. The diverse world of postal markings of Gabon/Congo/A.E.F. New York: France and Colonies Philatelic Society, 1987.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stamps of Gabon.

External links

• France and Colonies Philatelic Society