Usage
The majority of telegrams were paid for using normal postage stamps. These can often be identified by their distinctive telegraphic cancels or punched holes. Specific telegraph stamps were issued in most countries but in some regular postage stamps were overprinted (e.g. Nicaragua, Ecuador). Private companies issued telegraph stamps in countries where the telegraph network was of private ownership.
The first telegraph stamps issued might be those of the English and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Co., released in 1853. The first government-issued telegraph stamps were produced by Spain and went into use on July 1, 1864.
Occasionally postage stamps ran out and telegraph stamps were used for letter postage as an emergency measure, for example in Spain in 1879.
Read more about this topic: Telegraph Stamp
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