GERMAN COLONIES
MARSHALL INSELN
STAMPS
1890 / 1901

The German possession started on 15th October 1885 with the post office starting from 29th Mar 1889.

The Marshall Islands are located at the easternmost edge of Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean and encompass about 900 atolls and smaller islands. On 15th October 1885 the islands were declared a German Protectorate with Jaluit as its capital. The first postal office in Jaluit was opened on 23rd March 1889 with the only other post office, based in Nauru, opening on 14th July 1908.

Jaluit was occuppied by Japanese troops on 29th September 1914 and Nauru by Australian troops on 6th November 1914.

line

Forerunners are stamps of the German Empire that were in circulation in foreign countries and the colonies without any special identification (i.e. not overprinted "China"), until issue of their own stamps. 'Proper' forerunners were officially delivered to post offices and were sold from postal counters, stamps that were not used or not officially issued are non-proper forerunners. All forerunners and interim stamps can only be recognised by the cancellation and as such there is no such thing as an unused forerunner.

line