Postage Stamps of Ireland - Postal Stationery

Postal Stationery

Postal stationery have been produced in the form of registered envelopes, postal cards, envelopes, letter cards, newspaper wrappers, airletters and telegram forms with different designs of impressed stamp applied to show that postage had been pre-paid. With the exception of limited early usage of previously issued British postal stationery, which were not overprinted like the postage stamps, all post-paid impressed stamps before 1984 were based on variations of a design showing the country's name in Irish, Éire, with appropriate values in text and numeral tablets centred around an Irish harp motif. This was initially superseded by a shamrock design that later became loosely based on the logo of wavy lines and the word POST used by An Post from 1984. An Post has also used some designs based on postage stamps as post-paid impressed stamps on Irish postal stationery.

A few early issued items were embossed but generally the post-paid impressed stamps were typographed. The Revenue Stamping Branch, Dublin Castle, applied the impressed indicia until 1984, when An Post employed the typographic printing method.