The postage stamps and postal history of Armenia describes the history of

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s and postal systems in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

. Czarist

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

n postmarks and stamps were in used in the territory of Armenia from 1858. The early postmarks were composed of dots in different shapes. Dated postmarks with city names soon followed. Many counterfeit postmarks are known. From 1909 until 1918 a few Russian stamps were overprinted identifying the Armenian Post. The Armenian letters H & P are intertwined, representing the initials of ''hai post'', the Armenian Post Office.

First Republic of Armenia

The

First Republic of Armenia The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն), was the first modern Armenian state since the loss of Armenian statehood in the Middle ...

was founded on May 28, 1918, but stamps were first issued in 1919 overprinted on

. In 1919

Arshak Fetvadjian Arshak Abrahami Fetvadjian ( hy, Արշակ Աբրահամի Ֆեթվաճյան; October 1, 1866 – October 7, 1947) was an Armenian artist, painter and designer. He is best known for his watercolor paintings of the architectural monuments of ...

was commissioned to design and supervise production of stamps for the new republic. Ten stamps were designed in different denominations and printed in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. Due to the occupation of Armenia they were never delivered and few were printed, so no genuine uses are known and many forged stamps are recorded. The stamps were sold to

stamp collectors Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study (or combined study and collection) of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteen ...

and dealers in Paris during 1924 and Hovanesian suggests that the Armenian government in exile ( Dashnak Party) did this because they needed money to finance their activities,.

Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic

Between 1922 and 1991 Armenia was initially part of the

Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , conventional_long_name = Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , common_name = Transcaucasian SFSR , p1 = Armenian Soviet Socialist RepublicArmenian SSR , flag_p1 = Flag of SSRA ...

which officially became the

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

in 1936. From 1922 the country issued its own definitives; and from 1923 used overprinted Russian stamps, and as a constituent of the Transcaucasian Federation, that specifically produced 15 stamps of their own, used the federation stamps though they were only in use until 1924. These stamps are known both

perforated A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a ''perforation''. The process of creating perforations is called perfor ...

and imperforate and the 40,000 Rs and 75,000 Rs stamps were also surcharged with an overprint 700,000 Rs. From 1924, upon a decree from the central government of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

, only regular Soviet Union issued stamps were in use until November 1991. During this period several stamps with Armenian nationalistic and ethnic topics were issued by the central government, such as a 1950 set of three stamps to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Armenian Republic, views of

Erevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and in ...

with Mount Ararat in 1960, and Armenian

national costume A folk costume (also regional costume, national costume, traditional garment, or traditional regalia) expresses an identity through costume, which is usually associated with a geographic area or a period of time in history. It can also indicat ...

s in 1961 and notable Armenian personalities.

Post-Soviet independence

Following the end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

and the breakup of the Soviet Union, Armenia became an independent state on September 21, 1991, though the first stamps, a se-tenant trio, were issued on April 28, 1992, to commemorate

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Many ...

. On July 26, another set of four stamps was issued for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games before the first new definitives appeared on August 25 of the same year. Other definitives depict such topics as, religious artefacts, landscapes,

David of Sasun David of Sassoun ( hy, Սասունցի Դավիթ ''Sasuntsi Davit also spelled David of Sasun'') is the main hero of Armenia's national epic ''Daredevils of Sassoun'', who drove Arab invaders out of Armenia. Background The ''Daredevils of ...

and the 1993 International Philatelic Exhibition. The first stamps to be issued in the new Armenian currency, the

dram Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxid ...

, that was introduced to replace the

rouble The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named '' ...

used for the previous issues since independence, appeared on August 4, 1994, illustrating treasures of

Etchmiadzin Vagharshapat ( hy, Վաղարշապատ ) is the 4th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about west of the capital Yerevan, and north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border. It is com ...

. Notable people stamps were issued for

Levon Shant Levon Shant ( hy, Լեւոն Շանթ; born Levon Nahashbedian, then changed to Levon Seghposian; 6 April 1869 – 29 November 1951) was an Armenian playwright, novelist, poet and founder of the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Socie ...

and

Yervand Otian Yervand and in some transliterations Ervand (in Western Armenian Yervant), is an Armenian given name of Persian origin. The Hellenic equivalent is Orontes. Ervand / Yervand / Yervant may refer to: Ervand *Ervand Abrahamian (born 1940) Marxist hist ...

in 1994 along with four new definitives and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

themed stamps.Hovanesian, pp. 278–281.

References and sources

;Notes ;Sources * Stanley Gibbons Ltd: various catalogues * *

External links

Armenian stamps 1920–1922

HayPost
Armenian

postal operator This is a list of postal entities by country. It includes: *The governmental authority responsible for postal matters. *The regulatory authority for the postal sector. Postal regulation may include the establishment of postal policies, postal rate ...

Stamp Issuing Entities Of The World

Linn's Stamp News ''Linn's Stamp News'' is an American weekly magazine for stamp collectors. It is published by Amos Media Co., which also publishes the Scott ''Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue'', the Scott ''Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Cove ...

{{PostalhistoryEurope Postal system of Armenia

First Republic of Armenia

Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic

Post-Soviet independence

See also

References and sources

Further reading

External links