Less could be best? – Part 1

One of the biggest frustrations for many stamp collectors is the enormous amount of new issues. The question can then become: “How much of my ready cash do I spend on new stamps and how much should I spend on old items that will give me a more varied collection?” However, there are still countries in the year 2016 with very modest issuance programmes.

The huge flow of new stamps from countries such as Niger, Congo, St. Thomas, Maldives, Guinea etc., is not produced by their postal administrations, but by an agency from Lithuania, which has acquired licences to release them from government ministers from those countries who possibly profit from the arrangement. It is therefore quite remarkable that a country in Africa rather notorious for corruption has one of the most conservative stamp issue programmes in the world. We are talking about Nigeria.

In 1914 the merging of North and South Nigeria formed the British Crown Colony of Nigeria. In turn, Nigeria gained its independence in 1960. If we look at what has happened since 1914, we see that the country has made less than 1,000 stamp issues. Also in recent years, Nigeria has certainly not been extravagant, as seen below. 2002: three series, a total of 12 stamps 2003: 5 series, in total 14 stamps and 2 blocks 2004: 2 series, in total 6 stamps and 2 blocks 2005: 3 series, in total 8 stamps and 1 block 2006: 7 series, in total 18 stamps and 1 block 2007: 3 series – 9 stamps and 2 blocks 2008: 4 series – 11 stamps and 2 blocks 2009: 2 series, in total 3 stamps 2010: 5 series, in total: 14 stamps 2011: 4 series, in total 9 stamps Virtually all postal authority spending is seriously considered and related to what is happening in Nigeria – with not too many stamp issues and concerning important subjects. This makes it relatively affordable for the collector. In recent years, a subscription for new issues has cost less than fifteen euros per year (most years even less than ten). In short, Nigeria is a very interesting and fine collectible country. The images placed between the text are of past-released series from Nigeria Postal Service. If required, PostBeeld can organise an annual subscription for new issues from Nigeria. Click here to view all stamps from Nigeria in stock in the PostBeeld webshop. Click here to view all stamps from Nigeria in Freestampcatalogue.