In October 1995, the Caribbean island of Nevis commemorated the 10th Anniversary of Skantel (St. Kitts and Nevis Telecommunications Ltd) with a set of two stamps and a souvenir sheet. Nevis had first issued stamps between 1861 and 1890, and only returned to being a separate postal administration as recently as 1980. Saint Kitts and Nevis is the smallest independent country in the Western Hemisphere, being just 267 square kilometres - with the smaller island of Nevis just a 15 minute ferry ride from neighbouring Saint Kitts.
 |
| Public phone repairman at work |
The $1 stamp is an illustration of a repairman fixing a public telephone - perhaps the only stamp to have ever been issued with such an image. The $1.50 stamp is a rather uninspired photo of a Skantel sign outside their office in Nevis. Again another unusual design, which has unlikely been attempted many times either before or since. But it's already a slice of history as telecommunications on the islands is now administered by a company called Flow, having previously been run by LIME (formerly Cable and Wireless).
 |
| Skantel sign, Nevis office |
Saving the best stamp in the set for the souvenir sheet, the $5 issue presents a street scene with a photograph showing wall-mounted public telephone booths outside the Skantel office in St Kitts.
Are they still there?
 |
| Skantel, St. Kitts Office |
No comments:
Post a Comment