Postage stamps and postal history of the Niger Coast Protectorate

This is a survey of the

postage stamps and postal history of the Niger Coast Protectorate

The Niger Coast Protectorate was a British

Oil Rivers area of present-day Nigeria, originally established as the Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1891 and confirmed at the Berlin Conference the following year, renamed on 12 May 1893, and merged with the chartered territories of the Royal Niger Company

on 1 January 1900 to form the Southern Nigeria Protectorate.

Oil Rivers Protectorate

Old Calabar

in the Oil Rivers Protectorate.

The main

bisected

diagonally to produce two 1/2d stamps.

Niger Coast Protectorate

A name change occurred just as new stamps were being prepared, and so the first issue of the Niger Coast Protectorate, featuring a 3/4 portrait of

Queen Victoria, was inscribed "OIL RIVERS" but obliterated and re-engraved "NIGER COAST" in a way which makes it look like an overprint. Available in November 1893 in six denominations with various colors, they were superseded the following May by stamps in a new design and the correct inscription. This design continued for the remainder of the protectorate's existence, with a change over to use the "Crown & CA" watermark

from 1897 onwards (the paper had previously been unwatermarked) and an additional three denominations.

Stamps of the Niger Coast Protectorate were superseded by those of Southern Nigeria Protectorate from January 1900