Semi-postal stamp

The first semi-postal was actually a postal card; to commemorate the Uniform Penny Post in 1890, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland issued a card with a face value of one penny, but sold it for sixpence, with the difference given to a fund for postal workers.

In 1900, the Australian States of Victoria and Queensland issued sets of two stamps to raise funds for those returning from the Boer War and their families.

Many countries issued semi-postal stamps to raise money for the Red Cross in World War I.

The United Kingdom's Royal Mail, a relative newcomer to semi-postals, issued its first stamp of this type in 1975 with a 4+1⁄2p denomination and a premium of 1+1⁄2p for charitable causes making the total cost 6p, with funds going to health and handicap charities.

[citation needed] Some non-European countries followed suit (such as New Zealand, which has issued health stamps annually since 1929); the New Zealand associated territories of the Cook Islands and Niue often issue Christmas or Easter stamps in two sets of values, with one set having a charitable surcharge.