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Guernica Postal History of the Falkland Islands in the nineteenth century

One branch of philately is the Postal History, consisting of the study not only of the stamps, but the envelopes full rates, postal routes used, etc. In considering all of the above is not even necessary to have stamps, so parts can be studied prior to 1840 (date of onset of the first stamp).

In the case of the Falkland Islands Envelopes are the first known in 1800, when they were a English colony, part of the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata. At that time there was no organized mail service, and all letters sent from there depended on the goodwill of the captains of ships passing by. Failing to post, the only way to identify them is by the content of the letters, which no doubt indicating that came from the islands. The first period runs from 1800 to 1869, through the English colony until 1811, Argentina occupation until 1833, and the British colony since.

Letter sent on 1827 to France. At that time did not use a separate envelope, the letter was folded with the writing in and stood in the back the address of the recipient. Just about 20 letters are preserved from this period, as can be determined from the Falkland Islands.

In 1869, the British post began using two brand names for mail sent from the Falkland Islands, known as "The Black Frank" and "The Red Frank." The purpose of these marks was to indicate that postage had been paid and should not be charged back to the recipient. These marks were used until 1878, when it introduced the first stamps. Unfortunately, in the 1890's, these stamps were applied on white paper as a souvenir, which has made today, if not on a letter or part of it clearly indicates the date, they have great economic value.

"The Black Frank" sent in 1872 to Montevideo, Uruguay.
are known about 50 envelopes with this brand of mail.

"The Red Frank" sent to the U.S. in 1877. Little is known about 20 envelopes with the brand.
This is the only shipped outside the United Kingdom.

Finally, in 1878 began to be applied common stamps to letters that came from the Islands, which greatly simplifies the sending of mail.

Single known letter that uses the first stamp of the Falklands.

Obviously, envelopes shown here do not belong to my collection, but to that of Stefan Heijtz , possibly the world's foremost expert on the Falkland Islands philately.