When was the first Christmas stamp issued?
First CHRISTMAS STAMP
The first CHRISTMAS STAMP was a 2 cent pictorial bearing a map of the world, issued by the Canadian Post Office in December 1898, and originally designed only to mark the advent of Imperial Penny Postage. According to Sir John Henniker Heaton, then Postniaster—General, it had been intended to introduce Imperial Penny Postage on 9 November, the Prince of Wales’s birthday. When Sir John explained the new scheme to the Queen, she inquired when it was to come into force. ‘We think of introducing it on the Prince’s birthday’, he replied. The Queen, considering this encroached on her own position, asked coldly, ‘And what Prince?” The PMG responded without hesitation, `The Prince of Peace, Your Majesty.’ The Canadian stamp, which had already been designed to include the date, was thereupon changed to read ‘Xmas 1898’.
In Britain 3d and 1 s 6 d pictorials bearing designs by the winners of a nationwide competition for children organized by the GPO, one a picture of a snowman and the other of the Three Kings of the Orient, were issued on 1 December 1966.
