Haiti

Haiti has been independent from France since 1804 after a slave revolt. During its 200 year history, Haiti has had 32 coups and Haiti tops the league in perceived domestic corruption - corruption which has affected its stamps (in the form of forgeries and reprints).

The inaugural issue for Haiti was a six stamp imperforate set with "Liberty Head" as the design. The stamps feature the head of an allegorical figure of Liberty in left-facing profile. It is an interesting design, because some believe the head shown on the stamp has two faces. The left-facing profile is that of a white woman, and the right-facing profile is that of a black woman, supposedly the wife of the president of Haiti, Gen. Louis Etienne Felicite Salomon.

This was the first and last design that imitated the "French" model, as the rest of the issues for the next 25 years either had "Coat of Arms" or Presidents as the image.

(The following is drawn largely from the wonderful Big Blue 1840-1940)

 

Beginning in 1882, a seven stamp perforated set was issued of the "Liberty Heads". Then in 1886-87, a three stamp issue was produced that had some subtle changes in the design. The blue arrow on the right 1c stamp points to the crossed lines of dots on the face.

Liberty Head forgeries.

 

A four stamp set was issued in 1887 with the portrait of Lysius Salomon, president of Haiti from 1879-1888. He was responsible for developing Haiti's postal system and joining the International Postal Union.

 

The first handstamped surcharged stamp for Haiti was followed over the years by many others. Missing letters are often found with many of Haiti's surcharged issues.

 

 

 

 

The first five stamp  "Coat of Arms" issue was produced in 1891. Note the leaves are raised in this issue, which is a distinguishing feature for these stamps.

(Leaves Dropping)

 A six stamp set was issued in 1892-95, this time with the "leaves dropping". The stamps were produced with a combination of engraving and lithography. Perforations are 14.

More about Haiti Royal Palm 1892 issue.

 

 

Another "Coat of Arms" set was produced in 1896 with six stamps. This set can readily be distinguished from the previous set by different color, perforation, printing differences, slightly different size, and the "c" of cent.

 

The 1898 six stamp set had a watermark ( a reversed "R H").

 

 

In 1898-99, a 15 stamp set was produced with two designs.The "President Sam" design is found on eight stamps. He was president from 1896-1902. His cousin, Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, also became president of Haiti.

This might be a good time to tell the story of Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, who was president from March to July 1915, but does not appear on any Haitian stamps.

Following the murder of the president and widespread chaos. President Woodrow Wilson ordered American troops to seize the capital, occupying the country for nineteen years, until August, 1934.

 

The other design found on the 1898-99 issue, the "Coat of Arms", is shown above. This design is found on seven stamps.

 

 

The 1898-99 issue was subsequently handstamped for a fifteen stamp set  in 1902. The handstamp has May, 1902 as the date. Scott notes that forgeries exist for this overprint. Look at the "neatly" placed cancel - a "probable" CTO.

 

The "Centenary of Independence Issue" of 1903 consists of seven stamps. Besides the Coat of Arms design, they have a portrait of three revolutionary heroes. Pictured here is Toussaint L'Ouverture, the leader of the Haitian Revolution. His military victories lead to the independent black state of Haiti, consisting of former slaves who were now a self-governing people. But Napoleon Bonaparte sent forces in 1802, and exiled him to France, where he died in 1803.

 

Forgeries

 

Unfortunately, most of the stamps in collections are forgeries. Stamps with perforation 13 1/2 are forgeries; perforation 14 and 13 1/4 are found on "real" stamps.

 

Here is no doubt a forgery. The perforation is 13 1/2 (forgery). The vignette portrait is crude (Compare to the stamp before this one).

 

 

Jean-Jacques Dessalines was one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution, and the first ruler of Haiti. He is considered the founding father. He named himself Emperor Jacques I of Haiti, and ruled from 1804-06, until he was assassinated. The national anthem of Haiti, La Dessalinienne, is named in his honor.

 

The stamp itself: fake. The Perforations are 13 1/2 (forgery). The vignette portrait is crude.

 

Alexandre Pétion, one of the founding fathers, was president of Haiti from 1806-1818. He appears on both the 20c and 50c denomination stamps.

The stamp itself: a forgery: the perforation is 13 1/2 (forgery), and the vignette portrait appears crude.

 

In 1904, the 1903 issue was handstamped as shown above.

 

 

In 1904, a six stamps issue  was produced with the vignette portrait of President Pierre Nord Alexis. He was president of Haiti from 1902 to 1908. He became president by leading troops loyal to him into the country's Chamber of Deputies, and "inviting" the legislators to declare him president.

 

He managed to hold on to the presidency for 6 years but his regime was rife with corruption. In 1908, already in his eighties, he declared himself "President for Life". That was too much for the opposition, and he was exiled. He later relocated to New Orleans, and he died and was buried there in 1910.

Forgeries

 

The stamps themselves are also rife with corruption. The originals are perforation 14 or 13 1/4. So other perforations, compound perforations, or perforation 13 1/2 are forgeries.

But it is worse then that.  The "Focus on Forgeries" handbook by Varrio Tyler states that reprints of all values were prepared from original plates. Some of the reprints are difficult to distinguish from the originals.

Some of the reprints are in very bright colors on white paper, according to Scott.

Both forgery reprints

 

The right side stamp has a quite bright color, which may be the particular type of reprint that Scott mentions.

So reprints from original plates can be forgeries, but there are "actual" forgeries: Varrio Tyler mentions the 1 centime and 50 centime stamps exists as actual forgeries.

 

Left: reprint from original plates

Right: outright forgery- note thinner "1" on left lower tablet

 

This reprint is probably from the original plate, as the perforations are not what one finds with the originals. But the right stamp is an outright forgery, possibly from the Paris forger Louis Dumonteuil d'Olivera, according to Varrio Tyler.

The outright forgery has the left lower "1" thinner (blue arrow), measuring .6-.7 mm across, while the original plate "1" measures .8 across.

 

The original plate has "E-COTE" under the "1" in large type, touching the lines above and below it. The forgery "E COTE" is smaller, and without a hyphen. There are also other differences, especially noted in the letters.

 

 

Also in 1904, the six stamp 1904 issue was handstamped as above. Forgeries can be found.

 

Between 1906-13, twenty stamps were released in denominations for foreign postage (centimes de piastre).

 

Also, 1906 saw the release of a 5 stamp set for domestic postage valued in centimes de gourde. One should note that many of Haiti's stamps are produced by the American Bank Note Company of New York.

 

In 1907, the 1904 "Nord Alexis" twelve stamp issue was handstamped surcharged in red, black, brown, or violet.

 

 

President Nord Alexis was exiled in 1908, so there was a need for a new presidential stamp. Antoine Simon lead the rebellion against Pierre Nord Alexis, and he subsequently became president from 1908-1911. He allowed exiled Haitians to return, and promoted road and railroad infrastructure building, and the electrification of Port-au-Prince. But Haitian companies were taxed to pay for the upgrades, which lead to unrest, and finally a coup d'état against Simon by General Cincinnatus Leconte.

The 1910 "Simon" stamp issue consisted of three stamps for foreign postage, and one for domestic postage.

In turn, Cincinnatus Leconte became president after the coup in 1911 until August 8, 1912. He did manage to have a three stamp set issued in 1912. He proceeded to pave streets, put up telephone lines, increase teacher pay, and run a cleaner tighter government. Curiously, he did pursue a discriminatory policy towards the "Syrian" population (actually Lebanese Christians). On August 8, 1912, a huge explosion destroyed the National Palace, killing Leconte and several hundred soldiers. Tancrede Auguste became the next president.

 

In 1914, a whole group of stamps from preceding issues were handstamped with the February 7, 1914 date, and some were surcharged. Altogether, 38 stamps were handstamped.

 

 

An example of another 1914 handstamped stamp is shown above.  "O.Z." are the initials of General Oreste Zamor, and the February 7, 1914 date is that of his triumphal entry into Port-au-Prince.

 

July 28, 1915: 3000 U.S. marines enter Port-au-Prince, beginning a nineteen year U.S. occupation.

 

August 12, 1915: Senator Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave is elected by the Constituent Assembly to a seven year term as president.

 

In 1914, a 10 stamp issue was produced, but a large quantity was stolen during transit. The stamps were never placed on sale at post offices according to Scott. The reality is this stamp issue is out there among philatelists, and is common.

Oreste Zamor, the man who had the triumphal entry to Port-au-Prince on February 7, 1914, is portrayed on six denominations of the set. He only served until October, 1914, when he too was overthrown. The following year, he was assassinated on orders of President Vibrun Guillaume Sam.

 

Also portrayed on one stamp is Tancrede Auguste, the man who succeeded Cincinnatus Leconte as president.

 

Considering the turmoil occurring at the time (Presidents overthrown or assassinated, and the U.S occupation), it is not surprising to find many surcharged stamps.There were eight stamps issued during 1915-16 with the handstamp surcharges as shown.

 

Above is an example of an overprinted stamp, then subsequently surcharged.

Between 1917-19, 59 stamps were handstamp surcharged in various colors.

 

On the right is an example of the many surcharged stamps issued during 1917-19.

 

Finally, in 1920, a five stamp non-surcharged set was issued.

 

 

A five stamp set was issued in 1924;  President Louis J. Borno is portrayed on two stamps. He served as President from 1922-1930 during the American occupation of Haiti.

"Christophe's Citadel", shown on the stamp above, is a large mountaintop fortress in northern Haiti. The stone fortress was built between 1805 and 1820 by 20,000 workers as protection against French hegemony by the now independent nation of Haiti.

 

Sténio Joseph Vincent was President of Haiti from 1930 to 1941. He had campaigned in opposition to the American occupation of Haiti. The US Marines left in 1934. By the mid decade, though, he was considered to be one of the strongest pro-American supporters in the western hemisphere.

 

A nine stamp issue was produced during 1933-40. These illustrate buildings and structures in Haiti.

 

This two stamp set was issued in 1935 to commemorate a visit of a delegation from France to Haiti. Alexandre Dumas was a French writer of historical novels of high adventure such as "The Three Musketeers". Dumas was the grandson of a French nobleman and a Haitian slave.

Of interest, this stamp was lithographed locally.

 

The last regular stamp for Haiti in the Scott Classic is this surcharged "Coffee beans and Flowers" stamp. A beautiful stamp and a fitting end to the Haitian survey.

 

 

The 1933-40 Air Post set consists of six stamps.






Why collect Haiti? (hint: they are cheap)
Haiti's postage stamps overprinted for fiscal use.
Haiti's rarest stamps
Haiti postage stamp gallery

Note: Great Britain had post offices in Haiti from 1865 to 1881. These post offices used British stamps and barred oval postmarks with alpha-numerical codes within the bars: "C59" for the city of Jacmel and "E53" for Port-au-Prince. These are not easy to find and worth watching for on British Queen Victoria stamps of the period.