Postage Stamps and Postal History of Cyprus - Postal Stationery

Postal Stationery

British postcards were first used in Cyprus from 1878, examples of such postcards used in Cyprus are very rare. In April 1880 Great Britain postcards overprinted CYPRUS were issued. Postcards with the name Cyprus in the design were first issued in July 1881. With changes in postage rates and the design different postcards continued to be made available to date.

As with postcards British registration envelopes were made available from July 1878, these were followed by Great Britain overprinted registration envelopes in April 1880 and in 1881 registration envelopes with the name Cyprus in the design were issued. In total over 150 different registration envelopes have been issued to date.

The first newspaper wrappers were Great Britain wrapper overprinted CYPRUS and issued in 1880. This wrapper is commonly found mint but no used copies are known. In 1881 the island was supplied with newspaper wrappers with the word Cyprus in the design. Different designs continued to be produced until 1976, after which they were discontinued.

Pre-printed aerogrammes forms (or air letter as they were inscribed), with a 4½ piastre stamp affixed, were first made available in 1944. Aerogrammes with an imprinted stamp were first made available in 1946 and various designs have been produced since that date.