Samoa

1st October 1877

↓

New Zealand Territory

Oceania


	Sc1c	Sc1b	Sc1	Sc1d	Sc1e

† Images from the Journal articles.

Description	Scott	SG	Y&T
Type I 1877, perf 12½
1 penny sky blue	1c	1	1
3d vermilion	3c	2	2
6d bright violet	4b	3	3
6d pale lilac	4c	3a
Type II 1878-79, perf 12½
1d sky blue	1b	4
3d vermilion	3b	5
6d violet	4a	6
1 shilling orange-yellow	6	7, 7a
1/- dull yellow	6a		5
1/- lemon yellow	6b	7c
1/- golden yellow, 1879, perf 11¾	6c	7b
2/- red-brown	7a	8
2/- chocolate	7b	8a
5/- grey-green	8b	9, 9a
Type III 1879, perf 12½
1d sky blue	1a	10
3d vermilion	3	11
6d lilac	4	12
2/- deep brown	7	13	6
2/- chocolate	7c	13a
5/- emerald green	8	14	7
5/- "line above X not repaired"	8c	14a
Type III 1879-82, perf 11¾
1d blue	1	15	1a
1d ultra	1d	15b
1d deep blue	1e	15a
3d scarlet vermilion clean-cut perfs	3a	16a
3d vermilion rough perfs	3d	16
6d dull lilac	4c	17a
6d bright violet	4d	17
2/- deep brown	7d	18
5/- yellow green	8a	19
5/- deep green	8d	19a
5/- "line above X not repaired"	8e	19b
Type IV 1880-82, perf 11¾
2d lilac-rose (1882)	2
9d pale chestnut	5		4
9d pale orange-brown	5a	20

† There are detailed articles on the early Samoa issues by Tim Balm (FICC #91) in FICC Journals v16n4 and n17n2. In summary there are four main variants of the first issues:

Type	Date	Perf	Description
I	1877	12½	Scott [1] - Line above “X” is usually unbroken. Dots over “SAMOA” are uniform and evenly spaced. Upper right serif of “M” is horizontal. Gibbons [2] - White line above “X” in “EXPRESS” not broken.
II	1878-79	12½	Scott - Line above “X” is usually broken. Small dot near upper right serif of “M.” Gibbons - White line above “X” broken by a spot of colour and dot between top “M” and “O” of “SAMOA”.
III	1879	12½ or 11¾	Scott - Line above “X” roughly retouched. Upper right serif of “M” bends down 3 (joined to dot). Gibbons - Line above “X” repaired, dot merges with upper right serif of “M”.
IV	1880	11¾	Scott - Speck of color on curved line below center of “M.” Gibbons - Spot of colour under middle stroke of “M”

Yvert & Tellier [3] does not bother with the fine distinctions

Samoa is an archipelago of islands in the south Pacific. The first postal service, using the "EXPRESS" stamps, was organised by C.L. Griffiths, who had previously run the Fiji Times Express post, the main purpose being delivery of newspapers.


German dependency	NZ Dependency	Western Samoa	Independence
1900 Sc51 SG-G1	1914 Sc101 SG101	1935 Sc166 SG180	1962 Sc223 SG239

Interesting changes of administration occurred: in the 1890s, the US, GB and Germany all had a presence. The three powers encouraged rivalries within the local population, resulting in two civil wars, eventually resolved in the 1899 Tripartite Convention. GB withdrew, leaving ‘American Samoa’ in the west and the much larger ‘German Samoa’. Stamps were issued for the German area in 1900. During WW1, New Zealand troops occupied that area and NZ were given the mandate in 1920 by the League of Nations. In 1935, stamps were rebranded ‘Western Samoa’. Independence was granted in 1962.