Italy colonized Eritrea in the nineteenth century, issuing stamps as early as 1893. From that time until 1936, the area was known as the colony of Eritrea, or Colonie Italiane Eritrea. That latter phrase was imprinted on some Italian Eritrea stamps of this time. Other stamps used Eritrea Poste Italiane for the inscription.
Other than these actual Eritrean stamps, regular issues from the Kingdom of Italy were used. These were overprinted for Italian Eritrea. Italy maintained a dedicated stamp program for Eritrea until 1936, when the Kingdom gathered Eritrea, Ethiopia, Italian Somaliland (now Somalia), and later British Somaliland (also part of modern-day Somalia) into a new unified colonial group. This new colony was collectively known as Italian East Africa, or in Italian, Africa Orientale Italiana.
French Somaliland rare stamps (Côte Française des Somalis)
Collecting Italian Eritrea stamps today
Collecting stamps from Eritrea today almost requires collecting some of the issues from the long Italian era.. There are quite a few interesting issues, overprints, and related philatelic items to be found for enthusiastic and interested collectors. The online marketplace is booming with great and rare items. The good news is that this little-known area may see less competition from other buyers.
