Philately Gibraltar Postage Stamps

The first stamps specifically marked Gibraltar were stamps of Bermuda overprinted as such and issued in January 1886. Before that British and Spanish stamps were used according to the type of mail and other arrangements were in place before the invention of postage stamps. British stamps used in Gibraltar may be identified by the use of cancels containing the numeral A26 or the letter G in oval bars.

From November 1886 Gibraltar had its own stamps including the word Gibraltar in the design with seven values from 1/2d to 1 shilling. From 1889 these stamps were overprinted in centimos until British currency began to be used again in 1898.

The post in Gibraltar is currently run by the Royal Gibraltar Post Office which in 2005 was granted the title of “Royal” by Her Majesty the Queen. Gibraltar is now the only commonwealth or British Territory outside the United Kingdom that bears this distinction, Canada and other nations having dropped the name some time ago. The Gibraltar Post Office is now known as the Royal Gibraltar Post Office and all stamps are issued by the Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau.