FLoco
Paper Heritage : Railway Stamps Haiti Briefmarken Eisenbahnmotiv
Haiti : Railways & Tramways on Stamps : 1906 - 1982
A brief history : Ostensible Independence at a price :
Since Columbus landed in what today is Haiti in 1492, the country has had to endure perhaps the worst continuous suffering, violence and instability of any country on Earth, starting with the disease and piracy that followed the Spanish arrival and the brutal enslavement under French rule, who, in the face of great unrest and with the ideals of the French Revolution still fresh, 'endowed' the country with its independence in 1804, albeit whilst attaching a huge debt that it took 122 years to repay, the results of which are still felt today.
Part of the island of Hispaniola, French (and French-Creole) speaking Haiti gained its independence early, whilst the other part of the island, later to become the Dominican Republic, remained much longer under Spanish rule. Haiti was rarely at peace and its independent status as a republic went unrecognized by many western nations, fearful that to do so might encourage other enslaved peoples to revolt.
Revolutions inside, and obstructive policies towards the country from outside, have kept the country continuously poor and unstable. By the early 20th century, Haiti was heavily in debt to Germany, France and the USA. German influence in the country came from a small but financially powerful group and was seen as a threat to commercial interests, particularly by the USA which believed the country was moving towards ever-closer ties with the Kaiser's Germany. The Munroe Doctrine of 1823 governed much American thinking in the region, which was a United States policy of opposing European colonialism in the Americas.
The internal divisions were mirrored in the constant change of one autocratic leader for another (six in four years between 1910 and 1914). On February 7th 1914, an army general, Emmanuel Oreste Zamor, became President, with some degree of American backing. Zamor's rule was unpopular and coincided with the warlike movements in Europe preceding the Great War and Haiti's strong German links opened the possibility that Germany might seek to establish naval bases in the country.
When Zamor was assassinated on October 29th 1914 with the war now raging in Europe, the USA, alarmed at the implications, sought to dilute German influence by encouraging an American consortium to acquire the only bank in Haiti, the Banque Nationale d'Haïti. Having done so, they immediately transferred the country's entire gold reserves to the United States, in order to emasculate the powerful German-rooted families in Haiti.
In 1915, a new dictator, President Sam, took office and he was quickly perceived as anti-American and a threat to American commercial interests and its citizens in the country. In June 1915, US Marines invaded and by the end of the year, had control of most of the country, where they would remain for 19 years in an occupation that was frequently challenged by insurgents, leading to many brutal repressions up until the eventual reinstatement of the country's independence.
Steam Tram / Train in Haiti with American sailors alongside. The card was posted inside the USA in 1917. The tramways and railways in Haiti were largely owned by German families at the time the US Marines landed in 1915.
Although the country was administered locally, much policy after the invasion was initiated in Washington, which had many powers of veto over Haitian government departments, always backed up by the continuing presence of American forces in the country.
Even after the occupation ended in 1934, the USA maintained its control over the country's finances until 1947. During this 13-year period the USA expropriated around 40% of Haiti's meagre income, part of which was forwarded to France as further debt repayment, the rest retained by the USA. Even since 1947, the USA have periodically interfered significantly in Haiti's affairs to ensure that a pro-American administration remains in place, with some of their near-puppet presidential choices using their position to enrich themselves at terrible cost to the people of Haiti.
Philately : Issuing Authorities : In terms of overall control of the country, we are looking at three periods, firstly the definitive issues of the independent Republic between 1906-1913 and the surcharges on those stamps under General Zamor in 1914, secondly the stamps of 1915-1934 when the country was under American Occupation and rule and, finally, the very meagre railway content in the stamps since the re-establishment of the independent, but still externally-influenced, Republic in 1934. There is little in the outward appearance of the stamps to distinguish the periods, with all the issues inscribed 'Republique d'Haiti'.
Currency : The usual currency name is Gourde but occasionally Piastre is used, comprised of 100 centimes in both cases.
Tramways & Railways : The island has had both railways and tramways but none are still operating. By world wide web standards, there is relatively limited information on any of these now long-departed horse tramways, electric tramways and railways and we have not sought to provide information here on the history of these services. Many of the stamps that we list show just tracks and we believe, but have not fully confirmed, that these are all tram tracks, and have described them as such in this article.
Market Value : In general, stamps of Haiti do not command high prices and this often extends to the surcharge varieties, even though some are undoubtedly scarce or even rare. The lack of readily-available specialised philatelic literature for this country's stamps is a significant factor in the haphazard and unsophisticated pricing, particularly of the errors and varieties.
.
Independent Republic of Haiti.
Original Issue of 1906 and 1911 New Colours :
1906 : Original Colours :
3c Sepia : Tram Tracks at the Iron Market in Port-au-Prince [ . ] [ . ] (SG 139)
8c Deep Rose : Tram Tracks outside the Catholic College, Port-au-Prince [ . ] [ . ] (SG 144)
1911-13 : New Colours :
1911 : 3c Yellow-Orange : Tram Tracks at the Iron Market in Port-au-Prince [ . ] [ . ] (SG 140)
1913 : 8c Olive-Green : Tram Tracks outside the Catholic College, Port-au-Prince [ . ] [ . ] (SG 169)
American Banknote Company (ABN Co.) Specimen Stamps for the 1906 and 1911-13 issues.
Images of further Specimen Stamos and of Die Proofs of these and other Haiti designs are shown in the Appendix.
.
Overprints of 1914 :
When President-General Oreste Zamor came to power, he ordered that all current stamps should be overprinted GL. O.Z. / 7 Feb 1914 (the day he came to power).
Overprint & Surcharge Varieties: There is a philatelic convention that most handstamp varieties (as opposed to machine overprints) are not usually catalogued, since almost any number may have occurred, whether recorded or not. However, we have chosen to list those that we have seen, whilst recognizing that any listing of handstamps is, by nature, somewhat open-ended.
We have not identified any significant shades on these stamps and have therefore used abbreviated stamp colours for the rest of this article.
The bottom right stamp appears to be from an over-inked and worn handstamp, shown for interest, but not 'listed' below.
Stamps of 1906-1911 handstamped only with framed : GL O.Z. / 7 FEV 1914 (in Black)
1914 3c Sepia : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 185)
1914 3c Yellow : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 186)
1914 8c Rose : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 189)
1914 8c Olive : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 201)
- ditto - Pair, one with handstamp inverted [ . ] [ . ]
.
1915 - 1934 : United States Occupation and Administration.
c. 1915 : Boxed 'simple numeral' surcharge :
A number of stamps received this rudimentary revaluation handstamp between 1915 and 1916, including the 3c sepia shown above but it is one of the values with this surcharge reported as 'not officially issued'. To our knowledge, there is no other surcharge in this style on any of the tram-track values (3c & 8c), nor do we think it likely that this 3c exists with any other orientation of the handstamp.
1915/16 1(c) / 3c Iron Market & Tram Tracks UNISSUED [ . ]
.
1917-19 : Surcharges on stamps without '1914 GL O.Z. 7 FEV 1914' overprint :
Row 1 : Handstamp Normal
Row 2 : Handstamp Inverted
Row 3 : Handstamp Double
Row 4 : (2c/8c Red h/stamp) : Double, both inverted; Pair, one with double h/stamp; handstamp à cheval
Other handstamp varieties will almost certainly exist. We have provided mint and used check-boxes for the varieties in this article but it is not certain that all of them are to be found in both states.
1917-1919 Handstamped surcharges on original stamps (without GL O.Z. opt).
2c / 3c Sepia : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 251)
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Double [ . ] [ . ] no scan shown
2c / 3c Yellow : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 252)
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Double [ . ] [ . ]
2c / 8c Rose : Handstamp in RED : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 253)
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Double [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Double, Both Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Pair, one with single handstamp, one with double handstamp [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp à cheval [ . ] [ . ]
2c / 8c Rose : Handstamp in BLACK : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 254)
- ditto - Handstamp Double [ . ] [ . ] no scan shown
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
2c / 8c Green : Handstamp in BLACK : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 255)
- ditto - Handstamp Double [ . ] [ . ]
.
1919/20 : Surcharges on stamps with '1914 GL O.Z. 7 FEV 1914' overprint :
Despite first appearances, all the stamps above are mint. The new face values are often hard to distinguish, especially the figures '3' and '5' surcharged in Red on the sepia-coloured stamps.
1919/20 : Stamps overprinted GL O.Z. 7 FEV 1914, handstamped with new value
2c / 8c Rose : Handstamp in BLACK : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Surcharge (handstamp) Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
2c / 8c Green : Handstamp in BLACK : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - GL O.Z. 7 FEV 1914 overprint DOUBLE [ . ] [ . ]
We have not seen the GL O.Z. Double Overprint on stamps without the 2c handstamped surcharge as well.
3c / 3c Brown : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
5c / 3c Brown ; Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
5c / 3c Yellow : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ]
.
1920 : New Designs :
A set of 5 stamps in two designs, one representing 'agriculture', the other commerce were the only new stamps design in a 9-year period from 1915 to 1924. The 'Agriculture' design was used for the two lowest values of the set and it shows a steam train in the countryside. Note the superb detail that can be revealed by enlargement, typical of recess-engraved stamp production. For interest, we also show specimen stamps of this issue from different print runs, identified by their ABN Co File / Print Number.
1920 3c Orange : Steam Train and Agriculture [ . ] [ . ]
1920 5c Green : Steam Train and Agriculture [ . ] [ . ]
.
Revenue Stamps on 1920 Issue 5c : Handstamped boxed T.M. (for Timbre Mobile)
1920 5c Green : Steam Train and Agriculture : handstamped boxed T.M. in Blue [ . ] [ . ]
1920 5c Green : Steam Train and Agriculture : handstamped boxed T.M. in Red [ . ] [ . ]
No similar handstamp has been reported on the 3c value.
.
.
From 1934 - Republic (but with American oversight) Restored.
There are thin pickings for railway thematics after this date. The first items are possibly the most arcane / borderline of all railway thematics. To paraphrase from an American Topical Association handbook, we are looking at 'an extract of a text from the railway station in Savannah, Georgia, USA, commemorating men from Haiti at the Siege of Savannah'. In this siege, Haitian fighters assisted the Americans against the British in the American Civil War in 1779. We do not know the exact location of this memorial at the station.
1976 : Siege of Savannah commemoration :
We show all five stamps in the set, but only four carry the text, which is in French.
0.50g : Savannah Station text [ . ] [ . ]
0.80g : Savannah Station text [ . ] [ . ]
1.50g : Savannah Station text [ . ] [ . ]
7.50g : Savannah Station text [ . ] [ . ]
1977 : Surcharge on Siege of Savannah :
G.0.80 / 1g50 Thick figure of value* [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Surcharge Double, both obliterating boxes inked, but one strike of G.0.80 albino (un-inked). [ . ] [ ? ]
G.0.80 / 1g50 Thin figures of value* [ . ] [ . ]
* It may be that the 'thinner' figures G.0.80 are slightly taller than the 'thicker' figures but we cannot measure any difference in the length of the surcharge, nor can we identify any feature in the lettering that is indisputably from a different font. The apparent slight variation in size between the two surcharges may just be an optical illusion. The albino impression mentioned above cannot be seen in a scan, but is clear with the stamp held horizontally to the light.
.
1982 (June) : 10th Anniversary of Reforms : Docks : Rail-mounted Crane :
0.25g : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
0.50g : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
1 G : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
1G25 : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
2 G : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
5 G : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
1982 (Nov) : 25th Anniversary of Duvalier Revolution : Docks : Rail-mounted Crane :
0.25g : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
1 G : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
1G25 : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
2 G : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
Note : Mint sets of this overprinted issue are quite elusive and worth much more than their value in many catalogues. The surcharge is primitively applied, as can clearly be seen in the scan.
.
Appendix : Die Proofs & further Specimen Stamps.
In recent years, we have seen several lots of Haiti Die Proofs and some further Specimen Stamps offered in auctions internationally. The scan quality is often poor on these images but we include them, largely without text commentary, for information.
Master Die Proofs : 1906 Issue
.
Original (1906) Colours : UPU Sample Stamps on a sheet (detail) & Two Imperforate Colour Proofs :
.
Haiti : Presumed Printers' Waste : 1906 Issue
.
Haiti : 3c Die Proof & Master Die Proofs (2) : 1920 'Agriculture' Design
.
.
Haiti : Picture Postcards.
A random sample of period postcards (and views extracted from postcards) showing trains and trams. The Port-au-Prince trams are said to have extended into quite rural areas on the edges of the capital.
End of Article.
Revolutions inside, and obstructive policies towards the country from outside, have kept the country continuously poor and unstable. By the early 20th century, Haiti was heavily in debt to Germany, France and the USA. German influence in the country came from a small but financially powerful group and was seen as a threat to commercial interests, particularly by the USA which believed the country was moving towards ever-closer ties with the Kaiser's Germany. The Munroe Doctrine of 1823 governed much American thinking in the region, which was a United States policy of opposing European colonialism in the Americas.
The internal divisions were mirrored in the constant change of one autocratic leader for another (six in four years between 1910 and 1914). On February 7th 1914, an army general, Emmanuel Oreste Zamor, became President, with some degree of American backing. Zamor's rule was unpopular and coincided with the warlike movements in Europe preceding the Great War and Haiti's strong German links opened the possibility that Germany might seek to establish naval bases in the country.
When Zamor was assassinated on October 29th 1914 with the war now raging in Europe, the USA, alarmed at the implications, sought to dilute German influence by encouraging an American consortium to acquire the only bank in Haiti, the Banque Nationale d'Haïti. Having done so, they immediately transferred the country's entire gold reserves to the United States, in order to emasculate the powerful German-rooted families in Haiti.
In 1915, a new dictator, President Sam, took office and he was quickly perceived as anti-American and a threat to American commercial interests and its citizens in the country. In June 1915, US Marines invaded and by the end of the year, had control of most of the country, where they would remain for 19 years in an occupation that was frequently challenged by insurgents, leading to many brutal repressions up until the eventual reinstatement of the country's independence.
Steam Tram / Train in Haiti with American sailors alongside. The card was posted inside the USA in 1917. The tramways and railways in Haiti were largely owned by German families at the time the US Marines landed in 1915.
Although the country was administered locally, much policy after the invasion was initiated in Washington, which had many powers of veto over Haitian government departments, always backed up by the continuing presence of American forces in the country.
Even after the occupation ended in 1934, the USA maintained its control over the country's finances until 1947. During this 13-year period the USA expropriated around 40% of Haiti's meagre income, part of which was forwarded to France as further debt repayment, the rest retained by the USA. Even since 1947, the USA have periodically interfered significantly in Haiti's affairs to ensure that a pro-American administration remains in place, with some of their near-puppet presidential choices using their position to enrich themselves at terrible cost to the people of Haiti.
Philately :
Issuing Authorities : In terms of overall control of the country, we are looking at three periods, firstly the definitive issues of the independent Republic between 1906-1913 and the surcharges on those stamps under General Zamor in 1914, secondly the stamps of 1915-1934 when the country was under American Occupation and rule and, finally, the very meagre railway content in the stamps since the re-establishment of the independent, but still externally-influenced, Republic in 1934. There is little in the outward appearance of the stamps to distinguish the periods, with all the issues inscribed 'Republique d'Haiti'.
Currency : The usual currency name is Gourde but occasionally Piastre is used, comprised of 100 centimes in both cases.
Tramways & Railways : The island has had both railways and tramways but none are still operating. By world wide web standards, there is relatively limited information on any of these now long-departed horse tramways, electric tramways and railways and we have not sought to provide information here on the history of these services. Many of the stamps that we list show just tracks and we believe, but have not fully confirmed, that these are all tram tracks, and have described them as such in this article.
Market Value : In general, stamps of Haiti do not command high prices and this often extends to the surcharge varieties, even though some are undoubtedly scarce or even rare. The lack of readily-available specialised philatelic literature for this country's stamps is a significant factor in the haphazard and unsophisticated pricing, particularly of the errors and varieties.
.
Independent Republic of Haiti.
Original Issue of 1906 and 1911 New Colours :
1906 : Original Colours :
3c Sepia : Tram Tracks at the Iron Market in Port-au-Prince [ . ] [ . ] (SG 139)
8c Deep Rose : Tram Tracks outside the Catholic College, Port-au-Prince [ . ] [ . ] (SG 144)
1911-13 : New Colours :
1911 : 3c Yellow-Orange : Tram Tracks at the Iron Market in Port-au-Prince [ . ] [ . ] (SG 140)
1913 : 8c Olive-Green : Tram Tracks outside the Catholic College, Port-au-Prince [ . ] [ . ] (SG 169)
American Banknote Company (ABN Co.) Specimen Stamps for the 1906 and 1911-13 issues.
Images of further Specimen Stamos and of Die Proofs of these and other Haiti designs are shown in the Appendix.
.
Overprints of 1914 :
When President-General Oreste Zamor came to power, he ordered that all current stamps should be overprinted GL. O.Z. / 7 Feb 1914 (the day he came to power).
Overprint & Surcharge Varieties: There is a philatelic convention that most handstamp varieties (as opposed to machine overprints) are not usually catalogued, since almost any number may have occurred, whether recorded or not. However, we have chosen to list those that we have seen, whilst recognizing that any listing of handstamps is, by nature, somewhat open-ended.
We have not identified any significant shades on these stamps and have therefore used abbreviated stamp colours for the rest of this article.
The bottom right stamp appears to be from an over-inked and worn handstamp, shown for interest, but not 'listed' below.
Stamps of 1906-1911 handstamped only with framed : GL O.Z. / 7 FEV 1914 (in Black)
1914 3c Sepia : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 185)
1914 3c Yellow : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 186)
1914 8c Rose : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 189)
1914 8c Olive : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 201)
- ditto - Pair, one with handstamp inverted [ . ] [ . ]
.
1915 - 1934 : United States Occupation and Administration.
c. 1915 : Boxed 'simple numeral' surcharge :
A number of stamps received this rudimentary revaluation handstamp between 1915 and 1916, including the 3c sepia shown above but it is one of the values with this surcharge reported as 'not officially issued'. To our knowledge, there is no other surcharge in this style on any of the tram-track values (3c & 8c), nor do we think it likely that this 3c exists with any other orientation of the handstamp.
1915/16 1(c) / 3c Iron Market & Tram Tracks UNISSUED [ . ]
.
1917-19 : Surcharges on stamps without '1914 GL O.Z. 7 FEV 1914' overprint :
Row 1 : Handstamp Normal
Row 2 : Handstamp Inverted
Row 3 : Handstamp Double
Row 4 : (2c/8c Red h/stamp) : Double, both inverted; Pair, one with double h/stamp; handstamp à cheval
Other handstamp varieties will almost certainly exist. We have provided mint and used check-boxes for the varieties in this article but it is not certain that all of them are to be found in both states.
1917-1919 Handstamped surcharges on original stamps (without GL O.Z. opt).
2c / 3c Sepia : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 251)
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Double [ . ] [ . ] no scan shown
2c / 3c Yellow : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 252)
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Double [ . ] [ . ]
2c / 8c Rose : Handstamp in RED : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 253)
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Double [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Double, Both Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Pair, one with single handstamp, one with double handstamp [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp à cheval [ . ] [ . ]
2c / 8c Rose : Handstamp in BLACK : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 254)
- ditto - Handstamp Double [ . ] [ . ] no scan shown
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
2c / 8c Green : Handstamp in BLACK : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ] (SG 255)
- ditto - Handstamp Double [ . ] [ . ]
.
1919/20 : Surcharges on stamps with '1914 GL O.Z. 7 FEV 1914' overprint :
Despite first appearances, all the stamps above are mint. The new face values are often hard to distinguish, especially the figures '3' and '5' surcharged in Red on the sepia-coloured stamps.
1919/20 : Stamps overprinted GL O.Z. 7 FEV 1914, handstamped with new value
2c / 8c Rose : Handstamp in BLACK : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Surcharge (handstamp) Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
2c / 8c Green : Handstamp in BLACK : Catholic College & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - GL O.Z. 7 FEV 1914 overprint DOUBLE [ . ] [ . ]
We have not seen the GL O.Z. Double Overprint on stamps without the 2c handstamped surcharge as well.
3c / 3c Brown : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
5c / 3c Brown ; Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Handstamp Inverted [ . ] [ . ]
5c / 3c Yellow : Iron Market & Tram Tracks [ . ] [ . ]
.
1920 : New Designs :
A set of 5 stamps in two designs, one representing 'agriculture', the other commerce were the only new stamps design in a 9-year period from 1915 to 1924. The 'Agriculture' design was used for the two lowest values of the set and it shows a steam train in the countryside. Note the superb detail that can be revealed by enlargement, typical of recess-engraved stamp production. For interest, we also show specimen stamps of this issue from different print runs, identified by their ABN Co File / Print Number.
1920 3c Orange : Steam Train and Agriculture [ . ] [ . ]
1920 5c Green : Steam Train and Agriculture [ . ] [ . ]
.
Revenue Stamps on 1920 Issue 5c : Handstamped boxed T.M. (for Timbre Mobile)
1920 5c Green : Steam Train and Agriculture : handstamped boxed T.M. in Blue [ . ] [ . ]
1920 5c Green : Steam Train and Agriculture : handstamped boxed T.M. in Red [ . ] [ . ]
No similar handstamp has been reported on the 3c value.
.
.
From 1934 - Republic (but with American oversight) Restored.
There are thin pickings for railway thematics after this date. The first items are possibly the most arcane / borderline of all railway thematics. To paraphrase from an American Topical Association handbook, we are looking at 'an extract of a text from the railway station in Savannah, Georgia, USA, commemorating men from Haiti at the Siege of Savannah'. In this siege, Haitian fighters assisted the Americans against the British in the American Civil War in 1779. We do not know the exact location of this memorial at the station.
1976 : Siege of Savannah commemoration :
We show all five stamps in the set, but only four carry the text, which is in French.
0.50g : Savannah Station text [ . ] [ . ]
0.80g : Savannah Station text [ . ] [ . ]
1.50g : Savannah Station text [ . ] [ . ]
7.50g : Savannah Station text [ . ] [ . ]
1977 : Surcharge on Siege of Savannah :
G.0.80 / 1g50 Thick figure of value* [ . ] [ . ]
- ditto - Surcharge Double, both obliterating boxes inked, but one strike of G.0.80 albino (un-inked). [ . ] [ ? ]
G.0.80 / 1g50 Thin figures of value* [ . ] [ . ]
* It may be that the 'thinner' figures G.0.80 are slightly taller than the 'thicker' figures but we cannot measure any difference in the length of the surcharge, nor can we identify any feature in the lettering that is indisputably from a different font. The apparent slight variation in size between the two surcharges may just be an optical illusion. The albino impression mentioned above cannot be seen in a scan, but is clear with the stamp held horizontally to the light.
.
1982 (June) : 10th Anniversary of Reforms : Docks : Rail-mounted Crane :
0.25g : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
0.50g : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
1 G : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
1G25 : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
2 G : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
5 G : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
1982 (Nov) : 25th Anniversary of Duvalier Revolution : Docks : Rail-mounted Crane :
0.25g : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
1 G : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
1G25 : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
2 G : Quay and rail-mounted crane [ . ] [ . ]
Note : Mint sets of this overprinted issue are quite elusive and worth much more than their value in many catalogues. The surcharge is primitively applied, as can clearly be seen in the scan.
.
Appendix : Die Proofs & further Specimen Stamps.
In recent years, we have seen several lots of Haiti Die Proofs and some further Specimen Stamps offered in auctions internationally. The scan quality is often poor on these images but we include them, largely without text commentary, for information.
Master Die Proofs : 1906 Issue
.
Original (1906) Colours : UPU Sample Stamps on a sheet (detail) & Two Imperforate Colour Proofs :
.
Haiti : Presumed Printers' Waste : 1906 Issue
.
Haiti : 3c Die Proof & Master Die Proofs (2) : 1920 'Agriculture' Design
.
.
Haiti : Picture Postcards.
A random sample of period postcards (and views extracted from postcards) showing trains and trams. The Port-au-Prince trams are said to have extended into quite rural areas on the edges of the capital.
End of Article.