ELVIS INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE STAMPS

WELCOME to this Homepage. My name is Josephine Woodward. I live in England near the city of Canterbury, Kent. As a great admirer of THE KING and his music, I collect records, CD's, books and stamps connected with him......The following pages concentrate on postage stamps issued in his honour. In celebration of his life and art, the stamps are highly collectible and deserve to be more widely appreciated. I hope this Homepage will be of interest to other ELVIS fans as well as to stamp collectors.

The world's first ELVIS POSTAGE STAMP was issued by Grenada in 1978 to commemorate the first anniversary of his death. Since the mid 1980's many more countries have issued Elvis stamps - some of them producing completely new sets on a regular basis through the years. I have Elvis stamps from 46 countries and more are constantly being added.

A SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT THE 1993 US ELVIS STAMP (similar to the above picture): This issue was the best-selling commemorative stamp of all time, with over 517 million sold as singles or in sheets, and therefore it will never be of any great value other than as a colourful (and of course essential) addition to one's Elvis stamp collection. So many people have e-mailed me about this stamp that unfortunately I no longer have the time to reply to each enquiry. Many Elvis stamps issued in limited editions are extremely valuable, but not the US stamp. Sorry!

The majority of ELVIS postage stamps are commemorative of his anniversaries, and almost without exception are highly colourful and attractive. Many are artist portraits depicting Elvis in the different stages of his life and on complete stamp sheets this is particularly effective - from the youthful performer of the 1950's, through his film career and black leather-clad 'comeback' in 1968 to the more mature but equally dynamic concert artiste in the 1970's.

Full stamp sheets contain from four identical or totally different stamps, often on a decorative background. Miniature sheets, usually containing one or two stamps, tend to be more stylized with highly imaginative collages of ELVIS plus objects and incidents connected with his life.

The French father and son artistic team of Jean-Louis and Paul Puvilland at Design Graphic are the designers of some of the most skilful, interesting and colourful ELVIS stamps and sheets for many different countries. (All stamp illustrations on these pages are by Puvilland - with the exception of the reproduction of the US Elvis stamp.)

The artist Isabelle Tanner has also produced several beautiful commemorative sheets themed with backgrounds and quotes.

Other ELVIS stamps use well-known photographs to make up sheets and miniatures, such as the stunning 1996 sheet of nine stamps from Tanzania bearing the Official Elvis Presley Estate logo. Yet other Elvis stamps are included in tribute or commemorative sets for cinema, rock, jazz, boxing and even football. Details are given in the following pages.

This Homepage is dedicated to recording ALL Elvis postage stamps worldwide, so please contact me if you have any information to add.

Click here to e-mail me with additional details.

CLICK ON MAIN HEADINGS BELOW FOR ISSUE DETAILS OF EACH COUNTRY IN THAT SECTION: -

AFRICAN COUNTRIES

ANGOLA***BURKINA FASO***REPUBLIC DU BURUNDI
REPUBLIQUE CENTRAFRICAINE
REPUBLIQUE DU (T)CHAD
COMOROS ISLANDS***CONGO
EQUATORIAL GUINEA***GAMBIA***GHANA
REPUBLIC DE GUINEE***MADAGASCAR
MALI***NIGER***SAO TOME E PRINCIPE***SENEGAL
SIERRA LEONE***REPUBLIC OF SOMALILAND**TANZANIA
WESTERN SAHARA***ZAIRE

CARIBBEAN/WEST INDIES

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
COMMONWEALTH OF DOMINICA***GRENADA
MONTSERRAT***NEVIS
ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

OTHER COUNTRIES

ABCHASIA(ex USSR)***ALBANIA (Europe)
BATUM(ex USSR)***BURIATIA(ex USSR)***GERMANY
GUYANA(S.America)***HUNGARY***KYRGYZSTAN
KOSOVO***LAOS(S.E.Asia)***MALDIVES(off India coast)
MARSHALL ISLANDS(Pacific)***MICRONESIA(Pacific)
MONGOLIA(Asia)***PALAU(Pacific)
TADJIKISTAN (ex USSR)***TOUVA (ex USSR)
TURKMENISTAN(ex USSR)***U.S.A.

The September 1996 - STAMPFEST in New York featured a salute to ELVIS complete with ceremony and concert for the release of three new stamp issues from Gambia, Guyana and St. Vincent commemorating '40 Years of Music and Memories of Elvis Presley'. All three of these issues (each mounted on card) were available in a handsome LP style sleeve.

Many new ELVIS stamps were released in 1997, the 20th Anniversary year, the first of which were issued by the MARSHALL ISLANDS on 8th January, 1997. These were followed by stamps from BATUM, BURIATIA, HUNGARY, MALI, MICRONESIA, MONTSERRAT, NIGER, TCHAD,and ZAIRE.

Information is still coming in with regard to 1998 issues, but so far I have details of releases from GHANA, GUINEA and the MARSHALL ISLANDS, with two releases each from SENEGAL and TURKMENISTAN. Three of these stamp sheets celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1968 Singer TV Special. 1999 began with an issue from ABCHASIA featuring Bogart, Elvis, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe (crossing a road as in the Beatles' 'Abbey Road' LP cover!), and yet another beautiful sheet from the MARSHALL ISLANDS. There have been several releases from the Republic of SOMALILAND, a 9-photo sheet from TADJIKISTAN, multiple issues from ANGOLA, a Nato/Europa sheet from KOSOVO, and more from GUINEA, GRENADA and MALI. New country releases are from LAOS and KYRGZSTAN.

AT LAST! A FULLY COMPREHENSIVE BOOK ABOUT ELVIS INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE STAMPS.

'ELVIS IN THE POST'

For the first time - details, full descriptions and over 200 illustrations of the many beautiful postage stamps featuring Elvis. Birthday and anniversary commemorations; celebrations of Elvis on film and in concert; Elvis in costume, in the studio, with his family......... Elvis in company with a galaxy of other movie stars, music celebrities both new and old (including Mozart and the 'Old Masters'), and with Presidents.........

Geographical information on Elvis stamp-issuing countries.

First Day Covers and Elvis 'surprise appearances'.

'ELVIS IN THE POST ' IS AN INDISPENSABLE GUIDE FOR ALL ELVIS POSTAGE STAMP COLLECTORS AND A FASCINATING AND BEAUTIFUL ADDITION TO THE ELVIS BOOKSHELF.

'It has been my privilege to review a great many tomes dealing
 with aspects of thematics, but I don't recall ever seeing such a 
beautiful example as this with its lively yet authoritative text
married to such a riot of illustration.......I cannot recommend this
book too highly.'
James Mackay 'Stamp & Coin Mart' Magazine (UK)  September 1997

'Editor's Choice: -  A loving attempt to showcase worldwide Elvis
stamps for the delectation of a wide collector audience.   This it
does very well.'
Linn's Stamp News  (USA)  August 4th 1997

'Jo Woodward has....broken new and interesting ground with
'Elvis In The Post', a serious though by no means 'dry' look at
the phenomenon of Elvis stamps throughout the world........  One
clear effect of browsing through the book is to make you want to
collect these fine pieces of art.'
Gordon Minto 'Elvis, The Man & His Music' (UK) September 1997