album · page xxix · petrel isle (protectorate post)
10 cents · issued 1911 · printed by the colonial post, far harbour
petrel isle is the kind of island that earns its name twice over — a black volcanic comma in the southern ocean, around which an uncountable number of petrels skim the swell. the post office shares its roof with the customs house, the customs house shares its roof with the lighthouse-keeper.
the ten-cent blue was the rate for letters to the mainland. the petrels in the vignette are correctly drawn — sailors had complained about other stamp birds. the engraver spent a week on the island and went home with a notebook of feathers and damp drawings.
the protectorate post was wound up in 1939 when the island reverted to local administration; subsequent stamps used a less recognisable gull. the ten-cent blue, however, kept passing hands between collectors who liked an island they could not name.
field-note · hold the stamp near a candle and the bird seems to lift; the engraver knew exactly what she was doing.
see also · korphavn · 25 öre · archive franking · a feather · the island · the drawer