page_title: Postage stamps and postal history of the Canal Zone
section_title: First issues
hierarchical_section_title: Postage stamps and postal history of the Canal Zone / First issues
caption_attribution_description: English: Canal Zone postage, over printed on Panama postage
context_page_description: Postage stamps and postal history of the Canal Zone is a subject that covers the postal system, postage stamps used and mail sent to and from the Panama Canal Zone from 1904 up until October 1978, after the United States relinquished its authority of the Zone in compliance with the treaty it reached with Panama.
  The Canal Zone was a strip of territory 50 miles long and 10 miles wide across the Isthmus of Panama, and was ceded to the United States for the purpose of constructing and operating the canal which connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Upon the establishment of the Canal Zone in 1903, seventeen Post Offices had also been established and were operated by the U.S. Government. The Canal Zone and its post offices, with the main distributing office in Cristobal, operated as an independent government agency under the direct authority of the President of the United States. In the towns where there were railroad stations, the station agents of the Panama Railroad functioned as postmasters. Along with ships and freight, domestic mail and mail from around the world moved through the canal.
context_section_description: The Republic of Panama was formally part of Colombia, and after it broke away from Colombia, with assistance from the United States, it established itself as a separate nation where it immediately became necessary to establish its own post offices and issue its own postage stamps. The Canal Zone Post Office was inaugurated on June 25, 1904. Beforehand the domestic rates of postage in the United States were made applicable to all possessions of the United States on June 20, 1904, which henceforth included the Canal Zone.
  The first Panama stamps consisted of existing Colombian stamps, which were overprinted with Panama. These in turn were used for Canal Zone postage and were again, overprinted with CANAL ZONE with a red bar at top blocking out the name Colombia. Many varieties of the overprinting of PANAMA and CANAL ZONE exist, including doubled overprinting, complete inverts and stamps with the letter A inverted or completely missing.  The coloring of the overprinting varies from violet to bluish-violet, with the overprinting measuring 18 mm. The first comprehensive study of these issues was conducted by George L. Toppan, and his classification of the various varieties that occur in these issues is the most feasible one yet presented.
  The first stamps issued for Canal Zone postage consisted of three values, 2c, 5c and 10c, which were first issued on June 24, 1904, but were only used for twenty-four days, until July 17, 1904, and were removed from sale after that date. They were overprinted with a rubber handstamp. Dr. J. C. Perry, a surgeon in the U. S. Marine Hospital, and a philatelic student was stationed at Ancon at this time, whose investigations provided much information concerning this and some of the later series. In regard to the first stamp issues he said:
  The first issue of stamps was authorized by executive order of the Governor of the Canal Zone, which provided that a limited number of stamps of the Panama Republic should be secured and surcharged "Canal Zone" in order to meet the demands of the postal service until the United States stamps properly surcharged could be obtained from Washington.
  These first issues were carefully guarded and purchases were limited to the amount of one dollar in silver or fifty cents in U.S. currency. The executive order also cautioned anyone about buying or keeping large quantities of these stamps, as they would not be available for postage after the above date. However, this cautionary measure was unnecessary.  This first series of Canal Zone overprint issues is the one with the most plentiful fakes.
caption: 10-cent, Issue of 1904
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