Stamps And Items From "Dead" Countries And Entities

Mandatory Palestine was a British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations' "British Mandate for Palestine". War between Jewish and Arab communities and Arab states started in 1948, ended with the territory of Mandatory Palestine divided among the State of Israel, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which annexed the West Bank, and the Kingdom of Egypt, which controlled Gaza Strip.

Pictorial set, issued in 1927 for use in the British Mandate for Palestine, with inscription "Palestine" in English, Arabic and Hebrew. The Hebrew contains also the letters AI which stand for "The Land of Israel".

Egyptian Occupation of Palestine

The UN Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal to divide Mandatory Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. On May 15, 1948, the British Mandate officially ended, and the Jewish community declared the independence of the State of Israel. The Arab states rejected the plan and launched a military invasion. When the war ended, Egypt annexed the Gaza Strip, which had been designated for the Arab state under the UN plan. This annexation lasted until 1967, when Israel took control of the Gaza Strip during the Six-Day War.

During this period, 1948-1967, Egypt issued stamps for use in Gaza strip. From 1948 up to 1959, Egyptian stamps overprinted "Palestine" were in use. Here is an example of an overprinted Egyptian stamp shows the map of Gaza strip on FDC cancelled in Gaza, 1957.

From 1960 until 1967, permanent stamps with inscription "Palestine" were issued for Gaza. Here are stamps from this period on FDC cancelled in Gaza, 1960.

The 1960-1967 stamps were the same design as the stamps of Egypt (called UAR in this period) except the inscription "Palestine" and different colours. Here is an example:

Note: between years 1948-1960, the Gaza Strip was officially governed by "All-Palestine Government", a puppet government controlled by Egypt.

The State of Katanga was a breakaway state that proclaimed its independence from Congo-Léopoldville on 11 July 1960 under Moise Tshombe, leader of the local Confédération des associations tribales du Katanga (CONAKAT) political party. The new Katangese state did not enjoy full support throughout the province and was constantly plagued by ethnic strife in its northernmost region. It was dissolved in 1963 following an invasion by United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC) forces, and reintegrated with the rest of the country as Katanga Province.

Stamps were issued during 1960-1962. The 1960's stamps were all overprinted Belgian Congo stamps, and later, during 1961-2, permanent stamps were issued for use in Katanga.

Belgian Congo stamps overprinted "Katanga" issued on September 19, 1960.

South Kasai was an unrecognized secessionist state within the Republic of the Congo (today DR of the Congo) which was semi-independent between 1960 and 1962. Initially proposed as only a province, South Kasai sought full autonomy in similar circumstances to the much larger neighboring state of Katanga, to its south, during the political turmoil arising from the independence of the Belgian Congo known as the Congo Crisis. Unlike Katanga, however, South Kasai did not explicitly declare full independence from the Republic of the Congo or reject Congolese sovereignty.

Stamps were issued during 1961 most of them are overprinted Belgian Congo stamps. Only two permanent sets and one SS were issued.

Laos - Neutralist government and Pathet Lao (I)

In 1960, the neutralist General Kong Le led a coup d'etat in Laos against the Lao Royal Government and established a new neutralist government. Few months later, The neutralist government fell by anti-coup supported by USA. The neutralist government members escaped to the area controlled by the Communist Pathet Lao anti-Royal guerilla forces (supported by Vietnam Communists).

The neutralist members established, together with the Pathet Lao, a provisional neutralist government supported by Soviet Union. They issued in 1961 these two sets of stamps to commemorate the first anniversary of the coup d'etat. They were valid on the Pathet Lao controlled zones and later, in entire Laos.


It is a very rare to find these stamps on covers and there are many bogus covers. Fortunately, I succeeded to add one real cover to my Laos collection which is my main collection.

Note about the stamps I posted in my previous post

Although the stamps were issued by the Neutralist government and the Communist Pathet Lao, both were anti-Royal government, the inscription on the stamps is "Kingdom of Laos". I think because they wanted to declare that they are the legitimate government of Laos.

Later, a coalition government was established and the stamps were valid in entire Laos (but not in Thailand which refused to accept covers franked with them)

Laos - Pathet Lao (II)

During 1974-1975, shortly before the fall of the Kingdom of Laos, the Communist Pathet Lao controlled large area of Laos. A set of 9 stamps was issued for use in their controlled area (actually 7, two were prepared but not issued). Stamps designs very resemble North Vietnam and Vietcong stamps, including anti American designs.

A very rare FDC of the first seven stamps. In over two decades as a collector of Lao stamps, I have never seen a commercial cover franked with these stamps. I believe they were produced primarily for propaganda purposes.

More Information.

Italian Eritrea was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy. In 1936 the region was integrated into Italian East Africa as the Eritrea Governorate. This would last until Italy's loss of the region in 1941, during the East African campaign of WW II. Italian Eritrea then came under British military administration, which in 1951 fell under United Nations supervision. In September 1952 it became an autonomous part of Ethiopia, until its independence in 1991.

Italian Eritrea, 1934.

The Territory of Western Samoa was the civil administration of Western Samoa by New Zealand between 1920 and Samoan independence in 1962.

Here are stamps issued between 1935-1940 for use in Western Samoa under New Zealand Mandate.

The French protectorate in Morocco was the period of French colonial rule in Morocco that lasted from 1912 to 1956. The French protectorate lasted until the dissolution of the Treaty of Fez in 1956. Morocco restored the exiled King Mohammed V but it did not end the French presence in Morocco until 1961.

Morocco's landscapes and sites, issued for use in the French protectorate in Morocco, 1939.

Germany - Joint allied occupation zone

After Germany surrendered from the war, it was divided into four areas, Russian, American, French, and British. Between 1946-1948, Joint stamps were issued with inscription "Deutsche Post" for the American, British, and Soviet zones but not the French zone (which issued different stamps).

Stamp from the first set 1946 on a cover sent to the USA examined by the censor.


Stamps with inscription "Deutsche Post".