Inventory of Found in Collections Material

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First day cover of the 1938 airmail series, addressed to U.S. Postmaster General James A. Farley and carried on Air France’s aeromaritime service from Monrovia to Paris. Smithsonian National Postal Museum cover collection.

Cover collection: Boxes C519-C520 and C585 of the museum’s general cover collections contain Liberian material. This consists mostly of mint postal stationery and first day covers of the Mathilda Newport, Centenary of Independence, and Liberian Presidents issues. There is heavy duplication.

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In 1941, Pan American Airways announced the first direct airmail service between Liberia and the United States. The Liberian Post Office overprinted existing stamps for use on the flight and placed them on sale through the Liberian Consul General in New York. When Pan Am postponed the flight until 1942, the stamps were withdrawn and have become modern rarities. Smithsonian National Postal Museum reference collection.

Reference collection: The museum’s general worldwide reference collection consists of hundreds of thousands of stamps in stockbooks, small Hollinger boxes, and Scott album pages. Liberian issues through approximately the mid-1980s are found in stockbooks 318-321, one half of a small Hollinger box, and three folders of mounted Scott album pages that were formerly on display.

Highlights: UPU specimen overprints transferred from the Post Office Department; Scott Nos. C17 and C23.

Unknown accession: Six (6) Albums of Liberian regular and air mail issues, 1936-1953.

  • Volume 1: Air mail issues of 1936-1945 in singles, multiples, and with inverted surcharges.
  • Volume 2: Provisional air mail issues of 1944-1945.
  • Volume 3: Air mail issue of 1948, including full sheets, proofs, and varieties.
  • Volume 4: Air mail issue of 1952, including specimens, color proofs, and varieties.
  • Volume 5: Liberian overprints and surcharges of the 1940s; color trials of the 1950 issues.
  • Volume 6: Varieties of the 1952 souvenir sheet (Scott 69a).

Unknown accession: Gray Hollinger box containing 2 albums.

  • Volume 1: 51 pages, 1892-1949. Full panes, partial and reconstructed panes of issued stamps with plating notations, constant varieties, and color shifts. Two full panes of forgeries of Scott No. 64, one with bogus cancels. Numerous varieties of the 1936 overprints on the issue of 1918.
  • Volume 2: 45 pages, 1949-1957. Full panes, partial and reconstructed panes of issued stamps with plating notations, constant varieties, and color shifts; presentation album from the Universal Postal Union Congress at Ottawa in 1957; proof sheets.

Republic of Liberia