Description

Whenever we acquire new Calf of Man stock at auction, it’s normally only the perfect, unmounted mint (mint never hinged) and CTO (cancelled-to-order) items that make it into the shop – unless we happen to come across something particularly interesting that’s hinged!

That means we always have a box full of mounted mint (mint hinged) and hinged CTO Calf of Man issues that we cannot sell individually. So, we’ve now gathered those together in packets of 30, and are selling them here at a great-value price.

The image gives an indication of what a typical packet looks like, but each lot will be slightly different.

We have removed any damaged stamps that we spotted, and have added a couple of spares into each packet in case we missed one or two dodgy ones – in short, all the stamps you will get are hinged, but otherwise in excellent condition. We hope our customers will enjoy what they find!

About Calf of Man

Denominated in "Murreys" (after John Murrey, who issued the first Isle of Man coins in 1668), Calf of Man local stamps were issued between 1962 and 1973, theoretically for use on mail being carried from the island to the Isle of Man mainland. More than 300 different stamps were produced over that period.

In reality, they are thought to have been produced more with an eye on the stamp collecting market, and when the Isle of Man took over its own postal service from the British Post Office in 1973, Calf of Man's own issues came to an end.

However, whatever the reasons for their existence, Calf of Man stamps remain an interesting piece of Cinderella philatelic history. For a listing of all the issues, we recommend the "Calf of Man Stamps" booklet, by Jacques Naayer, which is available to order from Isle of Man Sales Ltd.