What is a “First Issue”?

Opinions vary wildly about what constitutes a stamp as a "first issue", and collectors of first issues collect in many different ways. Some collect only stamps with a catalog number of "#1". Others collect the first issue of any country, but not the numerous issues related to government changes that many countries have.

As a club we have come up with a set of rules that we use to define a stamp as a "first issue" and include it as part of our catalog. The following set of guidelines is what we use to deem a stamp a "first issue". 

• The stamp should be an item that was meant to be affixed to a postal item and used for postage. This excludes handstamps, postcards or embossed envelopes from being included.
• The stamp is issued to reflect some change in government or politics and was issued specifically for that purpose or in some way reflects the change. This change in government can be an occupation, new constitution, etc.
• Currency changes alone do not constitute a first issue, however, if the currency change is done with an overprint and is the result of a political change it will be considered a first issue (e.g., Sg53-64 of the Qu’aiti State in the Federation of South Arabia would be considered a first issue because it represents a currency change due to the transition of the Aden Protectorate to the Federation of South Arabia).
• The stamp is issued by a government at some level.  Stamps issued by a local government or sanctioned by a broader government would be included.  This would include some US and Confederate State provisionals, for example.
• The stamp should be issued contemporaneously to the change or have no intermediate issues between the change and issuance of the stamp.
• The stamp was issued for use within a region of a country and specifically designated for such use.  This would define stamps such as the US Kansas and Nebraska overprints as first issues.
• The government need not be universally recognized to be considered a first issue.  This would define stamps such as South Kasai, Katanga and Abkhazia as first issues.
• Issues by a Federation of States will be considered a first issue of the Federation itself.  Issues by individual member States after joining a Federation will be considered first issues only if the stamps designate their inclusion in the Federation (e.g., the issues of the member states of the West Indies Federation are individually considered first issues of the member states themselves, or the Kathiri State under the Federation of South Arabia).