The first postage stamps issued from the continent of Africa

The first postage stamps issued from the continent of Africa

On 1 September 1853, the first adhesive postage stamp in Africa was issued in the Cape of Good Hope, a British colony at the time. The triangular shaped stamp became known as the ‘Cape Triangular’. The stamp was designed by Charles Davidson Bell, who was the Surveyor General of the Cape Colony at the time. The stamps depicted the reclining figure of Hope, in homage to the Cape of Good Hope. The triangular shape of the stamp was a unique design for a stamp during this period. Sir George Cathcart, Governor at the Cape at the time, had proudly commented on how the stamps looked completely different to the British stamps.

The Cape Triangular stamps appeared in two values, the “four pence blue” and the “one penny red”, and could be used to pay inland post only. The first adhesive stamp ever to be issued in the world was the British “Penny Black” in 1840, which depicted Queen Victoria’s head against a black background and had a denomination of one penny. A centenary edition of the Cape Triangular stamp was later issued on 1 September 1953, which included the original design on a rectangular stamp in sepia and vermillion.

It remained a British colony until being incorporated into the independent Union of South Africa in 1910 (now known as the Republic of South Africa). In August 1852 the Cape government approached British printing company Perkins Bacon and commissioned the production of 1d and 4d stamps in a triangular shape. The stamps were recess-printed by Perkins Bacon in London and then shipped to the Cape.