Dead Countries Or Lost Nations

There is a fellow who had been working at building a quite nice and helpful website about dead countries, called 'dcstamps'. (The 'dc' being for dead countries.) It was always a work in progress, but what he had written up was very impressive.

I think he got interrupted in his work on it in 2018, caused by either a significant change in his professional work or in his family, as is so often the case with many of us. So it hasn't been updated since then, but, in looking up the website for this thread, I was pleased to see that it's still there. Hopefully he'll have the opportunity to continue with its work sometime in the future. (Isn't that true for all of us ...)

His site:

http://www.dcstamps.com/

I clicked his fb link. His post of Dec 3 this year says the he's still alive n kickin. Getting ready to move to Portugal and taking his site with him. So save the link.

Thanks for that update, LRP -- great news!

There's also deadcountrystamps dot com; Lynn Davidson-Stroh, based in Gallup, NM. I've bought some nice, reasonably priced, stuff from her the past few years. Didn't see her this year due to both our shows here in metro Denver being cancelled.

Lynn has a nice site with some good materials. And just as important, the site looks and feels alive- like the owner is actively working with it to add content and stock. She's a little loose in her definition of 'dead country," with active countries such as Brunei, Algeria, Falkland Islands, Gambia, Hong Kong, Jamaica, and Korea making the "list."

I am writing this all down, thanks folks

What about "revived" countries? Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Montenegro, Ukraine, Timor-Leste, Curaçao, Eritrea, etc.

And also Southern Rhodesia, a dead country that was revived and then died again.

I collect them as part of my major country albums. GB, France, Portugal, Spain, NL, Germany, Belgium, AU, USA, CA, Russia/Ussr, etc. They include colonies, offices, occupation. I stop at independence if the names remained. Africa is broken out by colonial name such as British Africa,

I like building the list and understanding why all these stamp issues are related to the parent (ie France). I also like figuring out where they are and why they existed

This approach means I have stamps from some "live" counties like Cuba in different books. Cuba in USA and early Cuba in Spain collection. Germany breaks up even dead countries

I like dead country stamps that are unique vs overprints. I bid on Cochin China stamp but struggled to go too high on a French definitive with an overprint vs a unique stamp like one from Hawaii.

One of my favorite dead countries to collect stamps from is Zanzibar.

Newfoundland's moose stamps, Ceylon, and some from Upper Volta are in a few books of mine.

As far as others go, Hong Kong and Macau could potentially be considered dead countries, but by the years 2047, and 2049. That's if they follow the handover guidelines established.

@ZeWaxSeal: welcome to the Forum !!!

Yes, one can consider British Hong Kong and Portuguese Macau as dead countries. Then the current stamp issuing entities would be separate.

So, is Swaziland now a dead country now that it's been renamed eSwatini?
And how about the issues for "Papua and New Guinea" now that it's Papua New Guinea without the "and"?
And wasn't there an early stamp issue in which Mexico was spelled Mejico?
I'm NOT arguing either way for any of those. There are lots of fun decisions we can make in collecting!To each his/her own!

Wouldn't it be cool to do an album in a 'family tree' format? A page with representative older stamps, then a bunch of representative stamps, below and spread out, for the earlier country's 'offspring'. Like a USSR stamp (or set) at top, and then stamps from Ukraine, Khazakstan (excuse my spelling), Latvia, Lithuania, etc, etc, etc, below. And it could go in reverse when countries get 'gobbled up'. Like early Latvia, Lithuania, etc, above, and USSR below. Russia/USSR alone would have to be many multiple pages. It might be a good graphical way to show how territories/regions change over time. Has anyone here done such a thing???

I like mootermutt987's idea.
How about constructing a family tree for each existing nation + its non-independent possessions (if it has any)?
One approach could be to have an example of a first or early stamp issue for every separate earlier entity that was a part of the present-day nation-- colonies, independent nations, monarchies, republics, breakaways, etc. Some of the other "leaves" of this family tree could include provincial, regional and local stamp-issuing entities that were in the present day nation. Could also be separate "leaves" for changes in the nation's name. Do it from the earliest times to the present. You decide the parameters.
Could be educational fun researching how to construct each tree. One could do as many or as few nation's trees as one wished.

You have one country under "dead country" to add in list, and it is YUGOSLAVIA!
But, to complete this country collection, You will need a lot of patience and knowledge!