Stamps And Items From "Dead" Countries And Entities

Italian Libya was a colony of Italy between 1934 and 1943, formed from the unification of the colonies of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania. From 1911 until the establishment of a unified colony in 1934, the territory of the two colonies was sometimes referred to as "Italian Libya" or Italian North Africa (Africa Settentrionale Italiana, or ASI).

Although stamps were issued for the separate colonies of Cyrenaica (1923-1934) and Tripolitania (1909-1938), stamps with inscription "Post Italy - Libya" were issued before the unification (1912-1934 and continue after unification until 1941) for the two colonies together.

Italian Libya, stamps from 1924 for use in both colonies.

Southern Rhodesia was a British colony in southern Africa established in 1923, named after Cecil Rhodes. Governed by a white minority, it had internal self-rule but remained under British sovereignty. In 1965, its government unilaterally declared independence as Rhodesia, leading to international isolation until majority rule was achieved and it became Zimbabwe in 1980.

Northern Rhodesia was a territory in south-central Africa established in the early 20th century under British colonial rule. Named after Cecil Rhodes, the British imperialist and businessman whose British South Africa Company spearheaded colonial expansion in the region, Northern Rhodesia became a British protectorate in 1924. In 1964, Northern Rhodesia gained independence and was renamed Zambia.

The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–1963) was a semi-autonomous political entity in southern Africa, uniting Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), and Nyasaland (now Malawi) under British colonial rule. Intended to promote economic development and white minority interests, it faced strong African opposition and was dissolved in 1963 as nationalist movements gained momentum across the region.

Nyasaland - I haven't stamps from Nyasaland.

@LaoPhil I was looking through this thread and saw all of your Vietnamese entries. Here is one that might interest you.

The People's Republic of Kampuchea - An unrecognised puppet state created by Vietnam in 1979 after the Vietnam-Cambodia conflict to shelter ethnic Vietnamese-Cambodians from the Khmer Rouge. It was founded by The Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, a group mostly made up of Khmer Rouge defectors dissatisfied with the brutality of their new government, who were supported by the Vietnamese government against the Khmer Rouge. It lasted from 1979 to 1989, before renaming itself to State Of Kampuchea. The PRK was a communist one-party-state until 1991.

The French State - Commonly known as Vichy France, as the seat of Government was the city of Vichy, was a Collaborationist state created after the loss of France to Germany in 1940. The French State was lead by Marshall Phillipe Petain, whose government assisted the German occupiers with the deportation of French Jews. The government also banned Freemasonry, and had paramilitary forces dedicated to attacking members of the French resistance movement. The Vichy Regime has been described as a fascist puppet state. After the liberation of France in 1944, the French State ceased to exist.

The actual flag of Vichy france is identical to that of the modern day republic, but the axe symbol which represented Phillipe Petain is often used to make clear which France is being refered to. The French State also removed the title of "Republic", and interestingly, this applied to stamps too, in which some stamps designed with the text "Republique Francaise" were altered to now say "Postes Francaise". The motto was also changed from "Freedom, Equality, Fraternity", to "Work, Family, Fatherland".

Here are my Phillipe Petain stamps.

The Irish Free State; Saorstát na hÉireann - The Irish Free State came into existence after the Irish War for Independence in December of 1922 by Royal Proclamation after the Anglo-Irish treaty illegally partioned Ireland into North and South. The only way to really tell the difference between the Free State definitives and later Republic definitives using the same design is the watermark, which is a stylised SE on the Free State ones and just E on the Republic ones. After the Overton Window shifted and Ireland's government shifted far more towards Republicanism, Ireland began to recognise itself as a republic, and was officially declared the Republic of Ireland (ROI, Poblaicht na hÉireann) in 1949.

Edit: Let it be known, those stamps do not say "Pinsin" or "Pinsine", as many people seem to say online, but rather "Pingin" and "Pingine", Gaeilge for "Penny" and "Pence". It annoys me how many people sell these as "2 pinsine rare irish stamp" etc.

The Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya - Also known as Green Libya or Gadafist Libya, was a third positionist nation established in 1977. It is the only country to have a government of the Third International Theory, an ideology created by Muammar Gadaffi, considered to be a combination of far-left and far-right politics. Green Libya existed until the overthrow of Gadaffi by CIA backed Libyan rebels in 2011. Since the fall of the Gadaffi regime, Libya has suffered immensely, through political instabilities, political violence, and ongoing civil wars.

I got these stamps from this unusual country from my grandmother, who, starting in the 1960s, used to be a red cross nurse and worked in many war torn countries.

Central Lithuania; Srodkowa Litwa - Central Lithuania was an unrecognised puppet state created by Poland after Zelgiowski's mutiny, in which Polish forces captured Vilnius. The state existed from the 12th of October, 1920 until it was incorporated into Poland on the 18th of April, 1922. Some of the only items bearing the name of this country are stamps. I honestly think that if not for philatelists, many historical countries would truly be "dead".

The Ottoman Empire - An Islamic Empire that spanned the years 1299 to 1922. Conquering and Islamifying much of Eastern Europe, North-East Africa, and West Asia, the Ottoman empire has retrospectively been called a former global super power. During WW1, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, and was responsible for genocides against Greeks, Armenians and Asyrians. The Central Powers lost the war to the Allied Powers, who then occupied much of the former Ottoman Empire. This lead to the Turkish war for independence, which gave us the modern day Turkish Republic.

Here are my Autonomous Epirus stamps.
I saw them mentioned previously in this thread, so I probably won't need to add context to these.

State of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (29th of October 1918 - 1st of December 1918)



Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918 - 1922)



Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1922 - 1941)



Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (1941 - 1945)



Federated People's Republic of Yugoslavia (1945 - 1992)