Stamps of Liberia 1860 - 1996

In this section you can find all basic stamps and souvenir sheets issued by Liberia through 1996. If should be seen as a help for identification; therefore, stamps are organized mainly by design regardless of catalog number or intended purpose, meaning that regular, official and airmail stamps including surcharges are grouped together.
Just mark the checkboxes to the right and press ‘Submit Selection’. You can select all groups at once, but loading may take a while!

Below each stamp are given its Scott catalog number to the left, date of issue to the right, and information about the catalog value in the middle (mint - used). Values are mainly based on Scott and Michel 2012 catalogs, and are coded by falling into one of ten price ranges, indicated by the number of diamonds: “♦” = below 30c, “♦♦” = 30c..99c, “♦♦♦” = $1..$2.99, “♦♦♦♦” = $3..$9.99, “♦♦♦♦♦” = $10..$29, “♦♦♦♦♦♦” = $30..$99, “♦♦♦♦♦♦♦” = $100..$299, “♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦” = $300..$999, “♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦” = $1000..$2999, “♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦” = $3000 and above. Catalog prices for many Liberian stamps are dubious, but at least this should give you a hint if some stamp is waste paper or your ticket to Rio!

Stamp images have a resolution of 150 dpi, except for souvenir sheets which have 100 dpi. Thus, on the average 96 dpi monitor souvenir sheets will show close to their natural size, while stamps are enlarged by 50 percent.

Crosses and Circles watermark Crosses and Circles
Rosette watermark Rosette
Watermarks
In general, Liberia's classic postage stamps were printed on paper without dedicated watermark – some are known with paper-makers watermark – but there are two exceptions: most of the early Waterlow & Sons issues are watermarked “Rosette” (not the triangle stamps), and all issues printed in Germany are watermarked “Crosses and Circles”.

  • President Gibson 1903 and surcharges

    engraved by Perkins, Bacon & Company, England on unwatermarked paper, perforated 14.

    • registration issue 1903

      • F10
        1903
        ♦♦♦ - ♦♦
      • F10a
        1903
        ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ - 
      • F11
        1903
        ♦♦♦ - ♦♦
      • F11a
        1903
        ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ - 
      • F11b
        1903
        ♦♦♦ - ♦
      • F12
        1903
        ♦♦♦ - ♦♦
      • F12a
        1903
        ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ - 
      • F13
        1903
        ♦♦♦ - ♦♦
      • F13a
        1903
        ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ - 
      • F13b
        1903
        ♦♦♦ - 
      • F13_blue
        1903
      • F14
        1903
        ♦♦♦ - ♦♦
      • F14a
        1903
        ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ - 

    • surcharged 1920

      overprinted in a setting of 25 twice on each sheet of 50 on all values for Buchanan, Grenville, Harper, Monrovia and Robertsport; major varieties are: inverted “1” in “1920” (position 13), italic “2” in “1920” (position 15), italic “9” in “1920” (position 20), and left quad bars vertical (position 22), all of which also exist in combination with the major errors: inverted overprint, double overprint, and double overprint with one inverted; also with hand stamped double quad obliterators on Buchanan and Robertsport; the typewritten surcharges were done on panes where the overprinting was very misplaced, and are only known for Buchanan, Grenville (orange red shade) and Harper either in violet and large lettering reading “1920 FIVE CENTS”, or in black and smaller lettering reading “FIVE” with some “X”s obliterating the old “10” values.

      • setting varieties

        in principle, every single position except one (no. 17) on the pane of 25 should be platable due to some fault or variation of type, but some of the flaws reported probably developed over time and are hardly visible on early printings.
        Buchanan
        (1) “920” of “1920” shows small breaks in all figures due to faulty type (2) top bar of right quads is cut off diagonally at left (3) “0” of “1920” damaged just right of base of curve, shows up later as a break
        (5) broken “2” in “1920” making it appear larger
        (4) wide spacing between thinner bars of left quads; bottom bar of right quads has lower left hand corner cut off diagonally
        (6) top bar of right quads has end cut off diagonally (7) left quads thick and close together while right quads are thin with wide space between them (8) top bar of left quads damaged and sloping like a step (9) “92” of “1920” joined by a black blob of ink due to faulty type (10) small blob of ink on left inner curve of ball of “9” in “1920”
        (11) lead spacing bar shows indistinctly after “1920” (12) lower part of top bar of left quads thickened and jutting downwards (13) inverted “1” in “1920”
        (15) italic “2” in “1920”
        (14) “1” of “1920” directly over the ends of the left quads if an imaginary vertical line is drawn;
        only stamp with the date so far left
        (16) lead spacing bar shows clearly after “1920”, usually shaped like “Ǝ” (17) (18) both bars in right hand quads badly broken at center (19) “9” of “1920” broken off at base (20) italic “9” in “1920”
        (21) two smaller short bars in front of bars to right hand quads (22) left quad bars vertical (23) lead spacing bar in front of “1920” showing clearly as an “E” rather than a solid bar (24) left quad comprises a thin and a thick bar with wide spacing between them (25) left quad comprises two extra thick bars with little space between
        178
        1920
        ♦♦♦♦

        Grenville (orange red)
        (1) “920” of “1920” shows small breaks in all figures due to faulty type (2) top bar of right quads is cut off diagonally at left (3) “0” of “1920” damaged just right of base of curve, shows up later as a break
        (5) broken “2” in “1920” making it appear larger
        (4) wide spacing between thinner bars of left quads; bottom bar of right quads has lower left hand corner cut off diagonally
        (6) top bar of right quads has end cut off diagonally (7) left quads thick and close together while right quads are thin with wide space between them (8) top bar of left quads damaged and sloping like a step (9) “92” of “1920” joined by a black blob of ink due to faulty type (10) small blob of ink on left inner curve of ball of “9” in “1920”
        (11) lead spacing bar shows indistinctly after “1920” (12) lower part of top bar of left quads thickened and jutting downwards (13) inverted “1” in “1920”
        (15) italic “2” in “1920”
        (14) “1” of “1920” directly over the ends of the left quads if an imaginary vertical line is drawn;
        only stamp with the date so far left
        (16) lead spacing bar shows clearly after “1920”, usually shaped like “Ǝ” (17) (18) both bars in right hand quads badly broken at center (19) “9” of “1920” broken off at base (20) italic “9” in “1920”
        (21) two smaller short bars in front of bars to right hand quads (22) left quad bars vertical (23) lead spacing bar in front of “1920” showing clearly as an “E” rather than a solid bar (24) left quad comprises a thin and a thick bar with wide spacing between them (25) left quad comprises two extra thick bars with little space between
        179
        1920
        ♦♦♦♦

        Grenville (orange)
        (1) “920” of “1920” shows small breaks in all figures due to faulty type (2) top bar of right quads is cut off diagonally at left (3) “0” of “1920” damaged just right of base of curve, shows up later as a break
        (5) broken “2” in “1920” making it appear larger
        (4) wide spacing between thinner bars of left quads; bottom bar of right quads has lower left hand corner cut off diagonally
        (6) top bar of right quads has end cut off diagonally (7) left quads thick and close together while right quads are thin with wide space between them (8) top bar of left quads damaged and sloping like a step (9) “92” of “1920” joined by a black blob of ink due to faulty type (10) small blob of ink on left inner curve of ball of “9” in “1920”
        (11) lead spacing bar shows indistinctly after “1920” (12) lower part of top bar of left quads thickened and jutting downwards (13) inverted “1” in “1920”
        (15) italic “2” in “1920”
        (14) “1” of “1920” directly over the ends of the left quads if an imaginary vertical line is drawn;
        only stamp with the date so far left
        (16) lead spacing bar shows clearly after “1920”, usually shaped like “Ǝ” (17) (18) both bars in right hand quads badly broken at center (19) “9” of “1920” broken off at base (20) italic “9” in “1920”
        (21) two smaller short bars in front of bars to right hand quads (22) left quad bars vertical (23) lead spacing bar in front of “1920” showing clearly as an “E” rather than a solid bar (24) left quad comprises a thin and a thick bar with wide spacing between them (25) left quad comprises two extra thick bars with little space between
        179a
        1920
        ♦♦♦♦ - ♦♦♦

        Harper
        (1) “920” of “1920” shows small breaks in all figures due to faulty type (2) top bar of right quads is cut off diagonally at left (3) “0” of “1920” damaged just right of base of curve, shows up later as a break
        (5) broken “2” in “1920” making it appear larger
        (4) wide spacing between thinner bars of left quads; bottom bar of right quads has lower left hand corner cut off diagonally
        (6) top bar of right quads has end cut off diagonally (7) left quads thick and close together while right quads are thin with wide space between them (8) top bar of left quads damaged and sloping like a step (9) “92” of “1920” joined by a black blob of ink due to faulty type (10) small blob of ink on left inner curve of ball of “9” in “1920”
        (11) lead spacing bar shows indistinctly after “1920” (12) lower part of top bar of left quads thickened and jutting downwards (13) inverted “1” in “1920”
        (15) italic “2” in “1920”
        (14) “1” of “1920” directly over the ends of the left quads if an imaginary vertical line is drawn;
        only stamp with the date so far left
        (16) lead spacing bar shows clearly after “1920”, usually shaped like “Ǝ” (17) (18) both bars in right hand quads badly broken at center (19) “9” of “1920” broken off at base (20) italic “9” in “1920”
        (21) two smaller short bars in front of bars to right hand quads (22) left quad bars vertical (23) lead spacing bar in front of “1920” showing clearly as an “E” rather than a solid bar (24) left quad comprises a thin and a thick bar with wide spacing between them (25) left quad comprises two extra thick bars with little space between
        180
        1920
        ♦♦♦♦

        Monrovia
        (1) “920” of “1920” shows small breaks in all figures due to faulty type (2) top bar of right quads is cut off diagonally at left (3) “0” of “1920” damaged just right of base of curve, shows up later as a break
        (5) broken “2” in “1920” making it appear larger
        (4) wide spacing between thinner bars of left quads; bottom bar of right quads has lower left hand corner cut off diagonally
        (6) top bar of right quads has end cut off diagonally (7) left quads thick and close together while right quads are thin with wide space between them (8) top bar of left quads damaged and sloping like a step (9) “92” of “1920” joined by a black blob of ink due to faulty type (10) small blob of ink on left inner curve of ball of “9” in “1920”
        (11) lead spacing bar shows indistinctly after “1920” (12) lower part of top bar of left quads thickened and jutting downwards (13) inverted “1” in “1920”
        (15) italic “2” in “1920”
        (14) “1” of “1920” directly over the ends of the left quads if an imaginary vertical line is drawn;
        only stamp with the date so far left
        (16) lead spacing bar shows clearly after “1920”, usually shaped like “Ǝ” (17) (18) both bars in right hand quads badly broken at center (19) “9” of “1920” broken off at base (20) italic “9” in “1920”
        (21) two smaller short bars in front of bars to right hand quads (22) left quad bars vertical (23) lead spacing bar in front of “1920” showing clearly as an “E” rather than a solid bar (24) left quad comprises a thin and a thick bar with wide spacing between them (25) left quad comprises two extra thick bars with little space between
        181
        1920
        ♦♦♦♦

        Robertsport
        (1) “920” of “1920” shows small breaks in all figures due to faulty type (2) top bar of right quads is cut off diagonally at left (3) “0” of “1920” damaged just right of base of curve, shows up later as a break
        (5) broken “2” in “1920” making it appear larger
        (4) wide spacing between thinner bars of left quads; bottom bar of right quads has lower left hand corner cut off diagonally
        (6) top bar of right quads has end cut off diagonally (7) left quads thick and close together while right quads are thin with wide space between them (8) top bar of left quads damaged and sloping like a step (9) “92” of “1920” joined by a black blob of ink due to faulty type (10) small blob of ink on left inner curve of ball of “9” in “1920”
        (11) lead spacing bar shows indistinctly after “1920” (12) lower part of top bar of left quads thickened and jutting downwards (13) inverted “1” in “1920”
        (15) italic “2” in “1920”
        (14) “1” of “1920” directly over the ends of the left quads if an imaginary vertical line is drawn;
        only stamp with the date so far left
        (16) lead spacing bar shows clearly after “1920”, usually shaped like “Ǝ” (17) (18) both bars in right hand quads badly broken at center (19) “9” of “1920” broken off at base (20) italic “9” in “1920”
        (21) two smaller short bars in front of bars to right hand quads (22) left quad bars vertical (23) lead spacing bar in front of “1920” showing clearly as an “E” rather than a solid bar (24) left quad comprises a thin and a thick bar with wide spacing between them (25) left quad comprises two extra thick bars with little space between
        182
        1920
        ♦♦♦ - ♦♦♦♦

        • 179_italic_1
          1920
        • 179a_italic_1
          1920
        • 180_italic_1
          1920
        • 180_10x30
          1920

      • printing errors

        • 178a_invert_ovpt_invert_1_blind_perfs
          1920
        • 178b_double_ovpt_italic_2
          1920
        • 178c
          1920
          ♦♦♦♦♦
        • 178c_one_5_missing
          1920
        • 179d
          1920
          ♦♦♦♦♦
        • 179g
          1920
          ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ - 
        • 179a_inverted_ovpt
          1920
        • 179a_dbl_ovpt_one_inv
          1920
        • 180a
          1920
          ♦♦♦♦♦
        • 180b
          1920
          ♦♦♦♦♦
        • 180c
          1920
           - ♦♦♦♦♦
        • 180f
          1920
        • 181a
          1920
          ♦♦♦♦♦
        • 182a
          1920
          ♦♦♦♦♦
        • 182b
          1920
          ♦♦♦♦♦
        • 182c
          1920
          ♦♦♦♦♦ -