Top five map stamps

Get your map-themed stamp collection off to a great start with our pick of five top map stamps.

1. Now perhaps best known as the world’s first Christmas stamp, this Canadian stamp of 1898 features a map of the world designed by Canada’s Postmaster General William Mulock, designed to show the earth as if it were flat. British-dependent territories were marked in red and the stamp carries the slogan ‘We hold a vaster empire than has been’.

2. Over the years, many countries have used stamps to express national pride and reinforce a feeling of solidarity. This 1959 stamp from Alaska features a map of Alaska against a background of Alaskan scenery.

3. One of the finest GB map stamp issues is the 1991 Ordnance Survey 200^th anniversary issue, for which Royal Mail produced stamps showing OS maps of 1816, 1906, 1959 and 1991. Each of the maps focuses on the same area (the village of Hamstreet in Kent) which begins as a simple hamlet on the earliest map, then develops over the years with the coming of road and rail links.

4. The first ever Irish postage stamp (issued in 1922) featured a map of Ireland, bordered by Celtic-style pillars.

5. This 2011 stamp from Russia marks the 150th anniversary of the foundation of Mariehamn and features a map of the city’s streets on the stamp sheet.

Feature adapted from an in-depth article on maps on postage stamps, in the September issue of Stamp & Coin Mart.