Nicknames of Some Famous Stamps


Some stamps are so well-known or so beloved that they've been given nicknames over the course of time. Here are just a few of them. There are many more.

• "Baby Zeppelin" or "Baby Zep," the US 50¢ green Graf Zeppelin airmail stamp, US Scott # C18
• "Basel Dove," the first issue of Basel (in 1845), a canton of Switzerland, picturing a dove
• "Beaver" or Beavers, early issues of Canada (1851-1859) that of course picture a beaver
• "Black Jack" or Blackjack, the early 2 cent US issues picturing Andrew Jackson (there are several of them)
• "Cape Triangle," the triangular-shaped 1853-1864 issues of the Cape of Good Hope
• "Chalon Head," one of the many stamps of British Empire countries picturing a specific portrait of Queen Victoria. Named after
• the portrait's artist Alfred Chalon. Canada, the Bahamas, Grenada, Natal, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island,
• Queensland, Tasmania, and perhaps most famously, New Zealand all produced Chalon Heads
• "Hawaiian Missionaries," the first issues of Hawaii in 1851-1852
• "Hermes Heads," the 1861-1882 Greece stamps picturing the Greek god Hermes
• "Inverted Jenny," US Scott C3a. This 1918 airmail stamp features an airplane that was unintentionlly-printed upside-down. One
• of the most prized errors in philately
• "Penny Black," the 1840 1 penny black issue of Great Britain. Considered to be the first adhesive postage stamp
• "Penny Red," the 1841 1 penny red issue of Great Britain. Similar in appearance to the Penny Black but a different color.
• "Posthorns," Norway's long-running series of stamps picturing a post horn
• "Saint Louis Bears," 1846 postmaster provisional stamps issued by the Saint Louis, Missouri US postmaster picturing three bears
• "Treskilling Yellow," Sweden's famous, unique three Skilling Banco color error

That's just a short list of a few of the well-known stamp nicknames that exist. If you'd like to contribute more, please post them!