Postage stamps and postal history of the Pitcairn Islands

In 1921, the United Kingdom and New Zealand formally agreed upon a system to handle post from the island, but this arrangement was ended in 1926.

To improve the revenue generation of the colony, the British government established an official post office on the island in 1940.

Towards the end of the 20th century, a decrease in letter writing and in the popularity of stamp collecting led to a decline in revenue.

These letters received postal stamps and cancellation at various ports of calls, such as San Francisco to the East[2] and New Zealand to the west.

In 1921, the United Kingdom and New Zealand formally agreed to receive post from the island, allowing postal fees to be paid by the letter recipient.

[3] However, in May 1926, the New Zealand government discontinued this arrangement following reports of ship passengers mixing their own mail into the "no stamp” system set aside for Pitcairn residents, leaving the island again without an official postal service.

At the time Britain sought for its colonies to be financially self-sufficient, and Neill suggested that selling postage stamps would be the only way in which Pitcairn could support itself.

[3] Henry Evans Maude was sent from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands to bring "those twin blessings of civilization, a legal code and...postage stamps.

On 20 September 2020, the management of the Pitcairn Islands Philatelic Bureau was turned over to Tower Mint, from the United Kingdom.

Printed by two British companies, they featured an image of King George VI alongside depictions of the island and one map locating Pitcairn.

The 1957 definitive stamps, which consisted of 11 denominations, showed Queen Elizabeth II alongside further scenes depicting aspects of life on the island.

[11] Stamps designs were chosen to project a certain image of the islands to the outside world, such as telling the story of HMS Bounty, while avoiding spurious topics.