Robert Odenweller’s book The Stamps and Postal History of Nineteenth Century Samoa is the latest substantial contribution to the philately of an interesting part of the Pacific. It is an attractively printed and bound volume. The book is extensively illustrated, with many of the illustrations being in colour. Attention is restricted to the issues of the nineteenth century. In 1900, Samoa was divided between Germany and USA. The German portion was captured by New Zealand forces early in World War I and is now known as Western Samoa. The USA portion has remained under American administration ever since 1900.

Here follows a brief synopsis of this book. There are 32 chapters, of which the last chapter is really an appendix. At the end of the book, there is a short bibliography, a catalogue concordance and an extensive index. The concordance will be useful for comparing the descriptions in this book with the major catalogues, namely, Gibbons, Yvert et Tellier, Michel and Scott.

The first chapter is brief and covers the postal history between 1834 and 1877 when the Samoa Express stamps were first issued. Some of these early letters were from missionaries in Samoa. Letters in this period are scarce and can be identified by the markings applied to them.

Chapters 2 to 9 deal with the Samoa Express issues in depth. The issued values were 1d, 3d, 6d, 9d, 1/-, 2/6 and 5/-. These stamps have attracted a great deal of interest from collectors ever since they appeared at the end of 1877. Nevertheless, reprints are numerous and there are a good number of forgeries about. All of these stamps were lithographed and come from four “States”. The first three States were used to print all values except the 9d. The fourth State was only used for the 9d and the remainders, which include an unissued 2d value. There is a chapter for each of States I to IV. Subsequent chapters deal with remainders, forgeries, proofs and varieties. Quantities printed are given.

The last part of the work on the Samoa Express issues discusses the relevant postal history. Covers are rare with only 11 being recorded plus another 9 pieces or part covers. Many of these covers also bear stamps from New South Wales, New Zealand or USA since Samoa was not yet part of the Universal Postal Union. The Samoa Express era ended in 1881 and the stamps were remaindered.

This part of the book has benefited greatly from the illustrations of complete sheets and reconstructions held in the Royal Collection. It is especially important to note that the author has provided detailed advice to collectors on how to distinguish the reprints and forgeries from genuine originals. Further, the collector will also learn how to correctly classify the genuine stamps to their correct printings.

Chapter 10 covers the interim period 1882 to 1886. This is the so-called “stampless” period, also known as the “Municipal Post Office Period”. About two dozen covers, pieces and fronts are recorded. Many of them bear a 5c Garfield of the USA and one cover has a 10c Jefferson but Fiji and New Zealand stamps are also recorded for this period on cover. This chapter fills in a gap in the philatelic history of Samoa.

The Palm Tree and related issues appeared in the period 1886 to 1900. Chapters 11 to 26 cover these issues in depth, including postal stationery and postal history. The author summarises the political history of Samoa at this time. Chapter 12 shows the reader how to distinguish the paper mesh and the three watermark variations. The perforations are also discussed. After that, the early printings of 1886 onwards are discussed, followed by the Malietoa and flag issues of the early 1890s. The various surcharged issues require three chapters to explain their background and production details fully. Printing quantities are provided in detail.

The fire of 1 April 1895 was a disaster since nearly all stamps in stock were destroyed and this event had major philatelic consequences. This leads to the perf 11 issues, some new surcharges and finally, the “Provisional Gov’t” overprints of 1898 to 1900. Chapter 19 discusses the postal stationery, followed by four chapters on postal history and rates and allied matters. An entire chapter is devoted to the use of USA stamps on Palm Trees covers. Chapter 24 deals with the 1/- bisects of 1895. Manipulated covers are treated in Chapter 25.

After a brief discussion of catalogue listings in Chapter 26, detailed catalogues with prices in US currency are provide in Chapters 27 to 29. A long list of known covers bearing Palm Trees issues appears in Chapter 30. This section needs 60 pages. Finally, some challenges for future students are discussed in Chapter 31 and an appendix rounds off the book in Chapter 32.

The author has drawn on a number of collections to produce this book, which is expected to guide future collectors of early Samoan stamps. This book is highly recommended to anyone who is interested in the early issues of Samoa. Guidance for the newcomer to this field is excellent and the illustrations are superb, not only for their beauty but for their value in explaining fine points of Samoan philately.

Published by kind permission of the author
First published in Philately from Australia (June 2006)