Above SG 5 from 1894 issue showing Lion of Tribe of Judah

Below SG 3 from 1894 issue showing Emperor Menelik II, 1844-1913

Hello, Are you still in lock down? You should be to be safe. I have now done 27 days at home, and we were told we will be locked down until the end of April. Plenty of time for writing and stamps!!! Tonight lets have a look at Ethiopia. I will do this in a few parts as there is more to cover than suited to one post, and especially their Airmail issues which I will cover at the end in a separate post.

Hope you like this.

Ethiopia, also known in the past by the name Abyssinia, has always been an independent nation, apart from a brief period from 1936 to 1942 when it was part of Italian East Africa. In the 19th century it was the only African country to resist a European colonial power and retain its sovereignty.

The British established a field post office at Massawa (then a port of Ethiopia) in November 1867, using stamps of British India. The territory of Harar was taken by Egypt in 1875, and in the following year a post office was established; letters from there used Egyptian stamps canceled with a Maltese cross.

Ethiopia first issued postage stamps on 24 November 1894. These stamps were valid only for local mail and mail to Djibouti. The very famous Arthur Maury, the Paris stamp dealer, helped produce the issue and the 1896 postage dues and then sold the remainders at a discount in 1900.

Enjoy your stamps Michael cddstamps.com