Centenary of Estonia Postage Stamps

The first Estonian postage stamps “Flower Design” were issued on 24.11.1918 and unlike modern postage stamps, they had to be cut apart. The first postage stamp to include the text “Eesti Vabariik” (the Republic of Estonia) was the postage stamp “Seagull” issued on 13.05.1919. The definitive stamps with three heraldic lions came into use on 24.09.1928, the charity publication “Caritas” issued the first Estonian souvenir sheet on 21.01.1938.

The second coming of Estonian postage stamps began on 01.10.1991 with the issuing of nine postage stamps with heraldic lions. The first joint issue was the Estonian-Latvian-Lithuanian-Swedish stamp booklet “Mare Balticum. Seabirds” issued on 03.10.1992. The prominence of self-adhesive stamps got its start on 14.09.2004 with the definitive postage stamp “Dandelion” and the Estonian flag postage stamp, which was issued on 22.02.2013 and the perforations of which partially mimic the contours of the flag.

The “100 years Herdbook of the Estonian native breed cattle”, which was issued on 19.07.2014, was the first to be printed on a plastic material reminiscent of leather; the souvenir sheet “Centenary of oil shale mining in Estonia”, which was issued on 15.06.2016, is partially covered in shale powder; a gingerbread scented Christmas postage stamp was issued on 18.11.2016 and a pure silver postage stamp “Centenary of the Republic of Estonia” was issued on 22.02.2018.