Which Countries Do You Find It Hardest To Get Used Stamps?

By countries, I am referring to any stamp issuing entity in the classic period. I will extend classical to 1945, to include WWII.

I will offer two to start, based on personal experience:

Inini (French Territory now part of French Guiana)

Wallis & Futuna Islands (South Pacific)

Try Pitcairn Islands, Norfolk Island, Tristan da Cunha to name three. Or try finding genuinely used postal covers. Even St. Pierre & Miquelon is difficult. I do have quite a few used stamps from SP&M but think most of them were soaked off first day covers or were CTO's that have been soaked to remove the gum.

Downtown Inini

From my blog....

"Between 1930-1946, the interior of French Guiana, a territory known as "Inini", was administered separately from French Guiana in the hope of developing the interior. Prisoners from Annam in Indochina, who had revolted against French rule there, where brought in to construct a railroad.



Population was "considered" to be 5,000 in 1946, and the Capital was St. Elie.

Stamps of French Guiana were overprinted from 1932-1940. The Vichy government printed stamps in 1941 and 1944 without the "RF" inscription, but they were never placed on sale in Inini.

Was the attempt to build a railroad and colonize the interior a success? No. But the ruins of three prisons are still visible.

Despite the failed experiment, and lack of demand (to say the least) by the Ininians for post office services, the stamps of Inini are widely found in WW albums. The packet trade must have been busy. "

And checking my collections, I have no used specimens for Inini or Wallis & Futuna either.

If we're talking real postal use, Pitcairn has to be close to the toughest, given that the population is only 53 as of recently.

I have not found Pitcairn that tough, so many collectors had covers prepared and sent to the island and sent back cancelled through the mail. I have quite a few used stamps which were likely soaked of such covers. The same with Tristan. Once soaked off, it is impossible to tell if truly postal use.

Nice summary on Inini JKJ

Consider the French Southern and Antarctic Territories. I rarely see used stamps offered by dealers or at auction. Falklands may also be a problem, but I did get a nice postcard last year from a good friend who had stopped there on an Antarctic cruise.

Climber Steve, I received postcards from a contact who visited St. Helena and Ascension. Here are the stamps with the cancels.

Quite a few of the Indian States are hard to find commercially used.

For example, Bijawar: I've never seen a commercially used stamp from Bijawar, and I know of only one cover from it - and that was favour cancelled.

Then, the 1931 pictorial set of Charkhari is common as muck in CTO, but just try and find genuinely commercially used examples, like this 2 Anna stamp



I wouldn't part with it, full stop.

Barwani, my favourite State, is another tough one. No Barwani stamp is more common used than mint, and some are all but impossible to find used. It took me several decades of searching to find this 4 Anna on thin paper from 1927



and I'm not holding my breath until I see another.

Looks like there's some jumping between Classic era and modern so I'll just add my well known personal experience/view that the hardest country to collect used stamps from in the last 5 years is Great Britain.
Only two stamps have been cancelled in my 2014 so far and that's not likely to change in the near future or indeed ever. I have over £64 of uncancelled stamps ready for re-use.

Royal Mail just don't give a toss.

SHAMELESS PLUG:

I will be listing some cheap lots in the coming week and offering FREE POSTAGE on everything. I will be taking them to the UK on the 16th and post all 'winnings' from there !

WATCH THE SPACE ON THE LEFT SIDE !

Londonbus1....sorry for the long post and if it's against BC's wishes !

Genuine used Moresenet on cover is next to impossible...

Two more:

British Columbia & Vancouver Island

Ionian Islands (British)

BC & VI used are hard to find, especially in fine condition. Most used are in rather poor shape.

More on Neutral Moresnet as suggested by Ken:

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moresnet

http://www.moresnet.nl/english/postverkeer_en.htm

Especially this one....

Thanks for the information about Moresenet. Until now, I had never heard of it.

I figured out that I have some CTO's of the 1886 issue, but can't find a "REAL" postally used one on cover. Lot of fishy stuff went on then.... Ken

For its size, I think the Soviet Union is worth a mention. I collect pre-1960. Given the number of stamps and the population, you'd think 1940 - 1960 would be much more prevalent (and cheaper). My collection is full of CTO's.