Azerbaijan gained independence in 1918, until which point Russian Empire stamps were used. In 1919, Azerbaijan issued its own stamps as the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. These stamps showed the country’s name in French and in Azerbaijani, which at the time used the Perso-Arabic script.
This era of Azerbaijan’s history (including its stamp history) was short-lived; in 1920, Russia took control and the republic became the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Stamps were issued in 1921 and 1922. A 1921 Azeri stamp depicted hunger relief, and some 1922 stamps had local overprints.
Soon, history was on the move again in Azerbaijan: with Georgia and Armenia, Azerbaijan became part of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. At first, existing Azerbaijan stamps with overprints were used, then Russian stamps with overprints, and finally special stamps of the Transcaucasian SFSR. Eventually regular Russian stamps were used throughout the area, until 1991.
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The Azerbaijani stamps from this era are fun to collect, as they are from a unique time in history. Check the current selection of stamps used between 1918 and 1922 when the small country flirted with independence for the first time. Listings are updated daily.
