Alderney is the most northerly of the English Channel Islands, just ten miles (16 kilometers) west of the French coast, 20 miles (32 km) to the northeast of Guernsey and 60 miles (97 km) from the south coast of Great Britain. The island is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which has been a British crown territory since the mid-13th century, The Channel Islands was the only part of the British Isles occupied by Germany during the Second World War.
Alderney used the stamps of Guernsey following the release of the first regional issues in August 1958. After it became postally independent and began issuing its own stamps in 1969, Guernsey made Alderney a sub-post office and handled its postal affairs. Alderney’s request to produce separate issues was rejected by Guernsey in 1975, but a later compromise allowed Alderney to issue occasional sets of stamps, the first of which appeared on 14 June 1983. The island’s issues – typically about one commemorative set each year and a definitive set released every decade – are produced under the aegis of the Bailiwick of Guernsey Post Office in consultation with Alderney’s parliamentary finance committee.
I love old maps so I chose Scott #37 as today’s stamp. Released on 7 July 1989 as the low (12 pence) value in a set of five stamps portraying various maps of the island published between the 18th and 20th centuries, it pictures Henry Moll’s map of 1724. It was printed by lithography and perforated 13½x14 by the security printing firm of Royal Joh. Enschedé in Haarlem, Netherlands.
A Stamp A Day 