Description

A hard-to-find se-tenant pair of labels from Davaar Island (3½p and 25p), with roulette perforations, featuring a “Europa 1973” overprint on the previous Royal Wedding issue.

U/M / Unmounted Mint / MNH / Mint Never Hinged.

About Davaar Island

Davaar is a tidal island in Scotland, located at the mouth of Campbeltown Loch off the east coast of the Kintyre peninsula.

Davaar's first attractive stamps, depicting the island's lighthouse, were produced in 1964, and did initially perform a local postal function. The island at the time had a permanent population of six people, as well as many day visitors, and Davaar's stamps paid for the transportation of mail from the island's postbox to the mainland, at Campbeltown, by the island's boatman. As usual with local posts, mail from the island also had to bear Royal Mail stamps for the onward journey beyond Campbeltown.

This local postal service is believed to have operated for just a few years. However, stamp issues bearing Davaar's name continued to appear at an increasingly ridiculous rate - by 1995, it had issued well over 500 different stamps and souvenir sheets, including such locally relevant themes as train locomotives, American Indians, and Coronation Street characters.

All Davaar issues are classed as Cinderellas, but only its earliest stamps can really be considered 'locals', with the later, thematic ones falling into the realm of fantasy issues.

For an interesting summary of Davaar's stamp-issuing history, check out this article at StampNewsOnline.net.