Postage stamps and postal history of Guam

The postage stamps and postal history of Guam is an overview of the postage stamp

Postage stamp

A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...

s and postal history

Postal history

Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of postage stamps and covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems...

of the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

island of Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

. Its postal service is linked to those of the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

during the Spanish Empire

Spanish Empire

The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....

and, since 1898, to the United States of America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. A peculiarity is that, for a short period in the 1930s, Guam had a local post

Local post

A local post is a mail service that operates only within a limited geographical area, typically a city or a single transportation route. Historically, some local posts have been operated by governments, while others, known as private local posts have been for-profit companies...

service.

Because the US Postal administration issued the same stamps in Guam as in the United States, cancellations are the only way to identify a stamp as having been used in the island. Between the 1930s and 1970s, during the creation of trans-Pacific airways, stops at Guam were commemorated with special illustrated marks.

Spanish colonization

During the Spanish Empire, Guam was considered part of the Mariana Islands

Mariana Islands

The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...

that were claimed by Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

since the 16th century. Between 1876 and 1882 stamps used are those of the Philippines

Philippines

illustrating a portrait of King Alfonso XII

Alfonso XII of Spain

Alfonso XII was king of Spain, reigning from 1874 to 1885, after a coup d'état restored the monarchy and ended the ephemeral First Spanish Republic.-Early life and paternity:Alfonso was the son of Queen Isabella II of Spain, and...

, the Spanish coat of arms (1881–1888) and, after 1890, the child profile of Alfonso XIII

Alfonso XIII of Spain

Alfonso XIII was King of Spain from 1886 until 1931. His mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was appointed regent during his minority...

.

Following the victory of the United States in the war of 1898

Spanish-American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

, in December 1898 Spain agreed by the treaty of Paris

Treaty of Paris (1898)

The Treaty of Paris of 1898 was signed on December 10, 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, and came into effect on April 11, 1899, when the ratifications were exchanged....

to sell the island of Guam, while the others Mariana islands

Northern Mariana Islands

The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...

became part of the German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

. US troops had been present since an invasion the previous June.

Territory of the United States

In 1899, when it began to administrate the island, the US Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

issued eleven postage stamps overprint

Overprint

An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp or banknote after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail...

ed "GUAM". These were from the definitive

Definitive stamp

A definitive stamp is a postage stamp, that is part of a regular issue of a country's stamps available for sale by the postal service for an extended period of time...

series illustrating with portraits of US presidents or major personalities. This series was first issued between 1890 and 1894. The denominations and colors used for Guam are from 1895 and 1898–1899 issues.

Denomination and color	Portrait
Stamps from the 1895 series
2-cent carmin	George Washington George Washington George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
3-cent violet	Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
8-cent brown-violet	William Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. He served as a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War , for which he received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched...
50-cent red-orange	Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
1 dollar black	Oliver Hazard Perry Oliver Hazard Perry United States Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island , the son of USN Captain Christopher Raymond Perry and Sarah Wallace Alexander, a direct descendant of William Wallace...
Stamps from the 1898–1899 series
1-cent green	Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
4-cent brown-red	Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
5-cent blue	Ulysses Grant
6-cent brown-carmin	James Garfield
10-cent brown	Daniel Webster Daniel Webster Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...
15-cent green-olive	Henry Clay Henry Clay Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...

When the United States Post Office Department

United States Post Office Department

The Post Office Department was the name of the United States Postal Service when it was a Cabinet department. It was headed by the Postmaster General....

(USPOD) took charge of the postal service of Guam in March 1901, the local population, soldiers from the US Navy base and indigenous Chamorros, had to use US stamps without any distinctive marks. Since 1901, only a Guam town cancellation indicates domestic posting. This situation is common to others insular unincorporated territories of the United States, such as, Northern Mariana Islands

Northern Mariana Islands

since 1944, Virgin Islands

United States Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands of the United States are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.The U.S...

since 1917, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

since 1900 and American Samoa since 1899. The existence of a local post at the beginning of the 1930s and the Japan occupation periods were exceptions.

Since its annexation, Guam was the subject of one postage stamp produced by the United States Postal Service

United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

. On June 1, 2007 a 90-cent stamp, part of the airmail series "Scenic American Landscapes" depicting a sunset on a beach and the Hagåtña Bay was released.

The island's name was included on the central label of the 50th Anniversary of the World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

miniature sheet

Miniature sheet

A souvenir sheet or miniature sheet is a small group of postage stamps still attached to the sheet on which they were printed. They may be either regular issues that just happen to be printed in small groups , or special issues often commemorating some event, such as a national anniversary,...

s of ten stamps each, issued between 1991 and 1995.

Guam Guard Mail

Until the 1930s, the USPOD office in Guam didn't deliver mail to addressee's home or businesses. To accomplish this, the military governor, Commander Willis Winter Bradley Jr., created a local post

Local post

service on April 8,1930.

Bordallo's Taxi was used to regularly carry the mail. The 15 miles run from Agana to Agat with stops in Asan, Piti, and Sumay, was made twice a day, six times a week. The arrangements with Bordallo originally was on a gratis basis, but as the amount of mail increased, he was paid $5.00 per month. The service was completely equipped with bags, mail boxes, canceling stamps, and signs with Bordallo's bus line as carriers for the mail.

Commissioners of the various villages served were given the duty of providing local postal service. Often these commissioners did not live in their village and so had to delegate authority to others to handle the mail. No specific records exists of the names of those persons who first handled the mails, but the following, listed in the "Guam Recorder" of January 1930 were the commissioners who can logically be called the first Guam Guard Mail Postmasters in their several villages:

Agana: Antonio C. Suarez

Agat: Tomas C. Charfauros

Asan: Santiago A. Limitiaco

Inarajan: Enrique P. Naputi

Merizo: Juan E. Lujan

Piti: Joaquin Torres

Sumay: Joaquin C. Diaz

On August 29, 1930 the Guam Guard Mail service was extended to the southern part of the island with stations at Merizo and Inarajan. This route also included Umatac. The route was by bus from Agana to Piti and then to Merizo via the semi-weekly boat service (this was necessary since a bridge had not been completed on the road to Merizo). Then from Merizo to Inarajan by Island Government truck.

Stamps were issued to mark the payment of this service. On April 8, 1930, two stamps of the Philippines

Philippines

were issued with the overprint in black GUAM / GUARD / MAIL : they are the 2 centavos green José Rizal

José Rizal

José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda , was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by...

" and 4 centavos red picturing president William McKinley

William McKinley

William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...

. 2,000 of the 2-centavos and 3,000 of the 4-centavos were issued in sheets of 100.

On July 10, 1930, two stamps were issued depicting the Guam coat of arms. These 1-cent and 2-cents are bi-color black and red, perforated 11 and without gum. 1,000 of 1 cent and 4,000 of the 2 cent were issued is sheets of 25. These two stamps were printed locally on Guam since the first issue had run out and the new supply of stamps had not arrived from the Philippines.

On August 21, 1930 the 2-centavos and 4-centavos issued with the overprint in black GUAM / GUARD / MAIL, but using a different font from the first issue. This was necessary since not enough of the older typeset was available to overprint the greater number of stamps. 20,000 of the 2-centavo and 80,000 4-centavo were issued in sheet of 100 with the right handed selvage removed for most right handed sheets.

On December 29, 1930, Philippines stamps were issued with the overprint « GUAM / GUARD / MAIL » in red using the same font as the 3rd issue. The 2-centavos and 4-centavos were used again and also a 6-centavos violet « Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....

», 8-centavos brown « López de Legazpi

Miguel López de Legazpi

Miguel López de Legazpi , also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo , was a Spanish conquistador who established one of the first European settlements in the East Indies and the Pacific Islands in 1565. He is the first Governor-General in the Philippines...

» and 10-centavos blue « Henry Ware Lawton

Henry Ware Lawton

Henry Ware Lawton was a highly respected U.S. Army officer who served with distinction in the Civil War, the Apache Wars, the Spanish-American War and was the only U.S. general officer to be killed during the Philippine-American War...

». 50,000 of the 2 and 4-centavos and 25,000 of the 6, 8, and 10-centavos were issued in sheets of 100. Again the right handed selvage removed for all right handed sheets. The bottom salvage was removed from 10-centavos stamps leaving only top plate numbers on these sheets.

This local service ceased operation in the northern half of the island on January 1, 1931 and on the southern half on April 8, 1931 when the US postal administration took over all mail delivery on the island. After that date they were served by the U.S. Post Office Department's Star Route 81102.

The Guam Guard Mail was restarted on April 8,1976 and regularly continued to issue stamps and stationery

Postal stationery

A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage or related service has been prepaid...

, whose use is limited to mail between their posts and offices, or for Christmas and New Year wishes of the Guam Guard families. The stamps have been illustrated with Guam topics: the coat of arms, US Navy ships that halted to the island, first trans-Pacific planes, and the portrait of Kimberley Santos

Kimberley Santos

Kimberley Santos won the 1980 Miss World contest after Germany's Gabriella Brum resigned the day after her victory. The pageant was held in London, United Kingdom.-References:...

, Miss World 1980

Miss World 1980

Miss World 1980, the 30th Miss World pageant, was held on November 13, 1980 in the Royal Albert Hall, London, UK. The winner was Gabriella Brum from Germany...

. It was discontinued on December 31, 1981.

Japanese occupation

Right after the attack on Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...

Japanese forces conquered Guam on December 10, 1941. The Japanese administration used the same stamps as those issued for the occupied Philippines. At first the former US administration stamps were overprinted with messages commemorating the Japanese victories in the Pacific, then new stamps, with an evolution in the legend: in English in 1942 ("PHILIPPINES"), then Japanese in 1943, and finally in Filipino

Filipino language

This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...

("REPUBLIKA NG PILIPINAS") were released.

As previously, only the cancellation proves a Guam use.

The island was recaptured after the Battle of Guam, between the July 21 and August 10, 1944 and US stamps were once again reintroduced.

Aerophilately and astrophilately

October 1935 marked the new status of Guam as Pan American Airways

Pan American World Airways

Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991...

stop. The goal of PanAm was to create new trans-Pacific airways between Northern America and Asia. Until the 1970s, the openings of new lines furnished an aerophilatelic

Aerophilately

Aerophilately is the branch of philately that specializes in the study of airmail. Philatelists have observed the development of mail transport by air from its beginning, and all aspects of airmail service have been extensively studied and documented by specialists.- Scope :The scope of...

collection.

From the beginning, with the first test flight arrived in Guam on October 1935 from San Francisco, following stops in Honolulu and Midway

Midway Atoll

Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...

, mail was brought by the crew, illustrated with commemorative marks in Guam. Before and after World War II

World War II

each new first-flight to new destinations received commemorative marks in Guam, like any other stops and destinations.

Astrophilatelic

Astrophilately

Astrophilately is the area of philately connected with astronomy and efforts to reach outer space, both manned and unmanned.- Scope :Topics of interest include postage stamps, cancellations, and covers connected to various projects...

collections of Guam also exists. In the 1960s and 1970s, the presence of a NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

tracking station produced special covers when a US space launch took place.

Maritime marcophily

Paquebot cancellations appear on mail posted aboard ship that was delivered to the Guam postal service. The presence of the US Navy base means that Guam cancellations can appear on soldiers' mail

Military mail

A primary feature of military mail systems is that normally they are subsidized to ensure that military mail posted between duty stations abroad and the home country does not cost the sender any more than normal domestic mail traffic...

. Since the late 20th century, Japanese tourists in particular have been attracted to Guam by the climate and landscape arriving by planes and by liners

Ocean liner

An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...

. The latter passengers' mail will be cancelled in Guam if posted on board, even if it was franked with Japanese stamps.

Synthese

This table summarises the main periods of philatelic history of Guam.

Period	Stamps used
?-1899	Philippines Filipinas
1899–1901	United States overprinted « GUAM »
1901–1941	United States US or United States
1941–1944	Japanese occupation of the Philippines
Since 1944	United States US or United States
Local post
April 1930–April 1931	Philippines Islands United States of America surcharges Guam Guard Mail
July 1930	Guam Guard Mail
April 1931 : local service taken by US Post Office
Legend
italic type	mention on stamps

Spanish colonization

Territory of the United States

Guam Guard Mail

Japanese occupation

Aerophilately and astrophilately

Maritime marcophily

Synthese

See also