Eynhallow / Holy Island 1974 Owl/UPU Sheetlet (50p, CTO)

£0.70

Imperforate sheetlet (50p) from Eynhallow (Holy Island), issued in 1974. The item depicts a long-eared owl, but commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

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Description

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Imperforate sheetlet (50p) from Eynhallow (Holy Island), issued in 1974. The item depicts a long-eared owl, but (for reasons not entirely clear) commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

Cancelled-to-order (CTO) condition (see our glossary page for an explanation of what CTO means).

About Eynhallow

You can be forgiven for thinking that Eynhallow is an unlikely stamp-issuing territory, given that the island - located between Mainland and Rousay in Orkney - has been uninhabited since the 1850s. These days, you're more likely to find birds than humans, and however hard you look you certainly won't find a post office!

In fact, the more than 2,000 stamps 'issued' by Eynhallow between 1973 and 2001 have a similar story behind them to those of Nagaland, Dhufar and Staffa, among others. Labels from all these territories are essentially bogus stamp issues, produced by the colourful English stamp dealer Clive Feigenbaum for sale to collectors. Feigenbaum, a former chairman of Stanley Gibbons, was expelled from the Philatelic Traders Society (PTS) in 1970 for not making explicit that the labels he was selling were not genuine postage stamps, but he continued to produce 'stamps' for all kinds of weird and wonderful places until his death in 2007.

Their lack of postal validity is why stamps from Eynhallow are considered to be Cinderellas. Nevertheless, more than four decades on from their first appearance, Eynhallow issues are a collectable curiosity in their own right - just as long as you know their backstory.

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