Burma Stamps – Printed in India

There was no postal system and no records of using stamps in Burma during the rule of Burmese Kings. They used local messengers and volunteers to carry the letters.

Even though post offices were established around 1827, the first stamp of Burma was issued only on 1/4/1937, after Burma became a self governing unit of the British Commonwealth and received a constitution on 1/4/1937. These were Indian stamps used between 1926 to 1936, with the overprint of the word “Burma.”

At the end of July,1937, the Government of Burma announced a public competition for designing the new series of postage stamps. The result of this competition was the first definitive stamps of Burma. Between 1938 and 1940, Burma printed their definitive stamps of George VI in 12 colours and face values.

Winning designs of the competition were used for printing the beautiful and elegant stamps such as:
1. Farmer ploughing a rice field
2. Elephant moving a teak log
3. Sail boat on the Irrawaddy river

These stamps were printed by the security printing press, Nasik Security Printing Press, India and are still available in the market at a reasonable price.  Burma is now known as Myanmar.