Description

First day of issue postcard for the 2019 Goat Island fantasy local issue, comprising 2nd and 1st class non-value indicator definitives cancelled with a “Goat Island FDI 01 Apr 2019” handstamp.

Produced in very limited quantities, the card is numbered “02/10”, and signed by the creator of Goat Island’s issues, Darin Jackson.

(We have pixelated the address of the recipient for the purposes of our illustration – on the actual postcard it is clear.)

About Goat Island

Goat Island is a small rocky islet just off the south-west coast of Lundy, not to be confused with the Outer Hebrides Goat Island in Stornoway Harbour. It is connected to Lundy itself by a causeway, depending on the tides. 

Goat Island's labels are created by Kent-based Darin Jackson, who is also behind the regular issues for Puffin Island, a sediment-formed island in the Thames Channel. Goat Island's first stamps - comprising 19p and 26p values depicting goats - were issued on 1 April 1999, and a further set of two stamps (usually 2nd and 1st NVIs) has been produced on the same date almost every year since, with 2003-05 understood to be the only years in which no new issue was created.

Numbers issued are very small, typically comprising just 100 sets, five proof sets and 20 numbered cards. Hence, though they are produced just for fun, Goat Island issues do appear particularly collectable, with previous years’ sets regularly attracting bids around the £10 mark on eBay.