Great Britain
Telegraphs
Telegraphs were a vital part of communication in the nineteenth century. Fortunes could be made by those with early access to pricing information about commodities, for example, and the high charges for telegraphic messages were tolerated. Prepayment of charges was indicated by the use of dedicated or overprinted stamps thus allowing proper monitoring of the income of this service. Post Office Telegraph stamps were issued on February 1st 1876 and generally matched the colours of the corresponding values of the Postage stamps. Once very popular, but sidelined for many years, Telegraph stamp collecting is back in the mainstream again.
