The First Christmas postage stamp issue of Philippines

The first Christmas postage stamp issue of Philippines

Above is the first set of Christmas stamps, printed in 1967 to be used as legitimate postage, unlike the TB seals, which were first printed in 1946 and continue to be sold to date as charity labels with no actual postal function, with option to affix along with the recognized postage issues. The 1967 Christmas postage set were printed in Japan for the Philippine Bureau of Post (later acquired by Philpost or the Philippine Postal Corporation). Ten million of the 10-centavo values and five million of the 40-centavo values were delivered to the Bureau of Post and were released starting December 1. The huge quantity makes the set affordable to today’s collectors. Dealers sell the mint stamps for P50 — relatively cheap for a 53 years old set.