The early stamp history of Barbados dates from 1852, when Barbados was a British colony. Unlike many other such colonies of the time, however, Barbados always had its own stamps inscribed with the county’s name, making Barbadian stamps a particularly complex and busy area of collecting today with a history much longer than many British colonies, which tended to use British India or regular British stamps with overprints.
Early Barbados stamps used a design based on Britannia, the female personification of Great Britain, and Queen Victoria stamps were also quite ubiquitous at the time.
In 1901, Barbados continued to issue stamps under new King Edward VII, and saw its first relief fund stamps in 1907, which raised money to aid earthquake-struck Jamaica. After King George V took over in 1910, Barbados stamps continued to expand, including a war tax issue in 1917 for the World War I effort, and the first postage due stamps in Barbados in 1934.
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King George VI began his reign in 1936, and Barbados continued to issue some postage due stamps alongside its regular postal stamps. When Queen Elizabeth II came to power in 1952, the modern history of Barbados soon changed significantly, reflected in its stamp history.
In 1960, Barbados gained the ability to self-govern, and full independence followed in 1966. Since then, Barbados has issued a large number of stamps, many aimed at international collectors. Maximum cards, airmail pieces, souvenir sheets, and first day covers are just some of the interesting subcategories that interest Barbadian stamp collectors now.
See our various subcategories for certain types of Barbados stamps for sale now. Note that new offers in this section are added several times per day; check back often to see the newest.
