Postage Dues are one of what are called special service stamps, that is stamps issued for special postal purposes. Such stamps include Parcel Posts, which are stamps intended to be used on packages, Officials which are stamps used on government mail and all of the array of Newspapers and postal tax stamps that grace the back of each country's catalog listing. All major countries, with the exception of Germany, have issued Postage Due stamps and they are unusual as they are more of an accounting device than a real prepaid postal label which is what other postage stamps and special service stamps are. Postage dues are issued to facilitate internal post office accounting and to let the carrier know that there is money to collect on delivery. The United States issued more Postage Dues than all but a few countries and the Postage Dues of the United States present a difficult and pricey challenge. It is an odd fact of US philately that our special services stamps-our Postage Dues, Officials, Revenues, Newspapers and Locals- are each among the most difficult and pricey of their specific areas of philately. Many European dealers consider US philately about the most difficult of all countries to master and it is our special service stamps, with postage dues in the forefront, that makes this so.
First of all, what a wonderful blog! Regarding the vast amount of postage due stamps in one country, the Russian Zemstvo stamps come to my mind: they had the particular status to be used both as postage paid and -what many people are not aware of- as postage due stamps as well (when receiving a letter coming from outside the district, they were used as postage due covering the travel from the Imperial post office border to the village) ... which makes about 2500 'postage due' stamps emitted in Russia from 1865 till 1917. Quite a good number as well! Best regards, Mr Maxime Citerne (Rossica, BSRP)
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