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= Understood to be a current stamp printer.
= company still believed to exist.
MACAO
SAR 
First postage stamp issued: 1884
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: Postage Stamp Printing
House (China), Cartor (France), OSD (Austria),
INCM (Portugal) and Enschedé
(Netherlands).
FYR
MACEDONIA
First postage stamp issued:
1944
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by:11 Oktombri (Macedonia)
11
Oktombri Printing Works, [where?].
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1997 for Macedonia.
Main
printing process(es): Litho
This is the correct name
for the company and not a stamp issue date!
Despite this, it has not been possible
to find out details about the company.
MADAGASCAR
First
postage stamp issued: 1894
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: [unknown printer]
London Missionary Society
Press, Antananarivo.
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1895 for British
Inland Mail use.
MADEIRA
First postage stamp issued:
1868
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: INCM (Portugal) Lito
Maia (Portugal). No
stamps appear to have been produced locally.
MALAGASY
REPUBLIC
First
postage stamp issued: 1958
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: [unknown printer].
No stamps appear to have been produced locally.
MALAWI
(Formerly NYASALAND)
First postage stamp issued: 1908 (For
NYASALAND)
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by:Oriental Press (Bahrain).
No stamps appear to have been produced locally.
MALAYSIA
First postage stamp issued:
1867 (For STRAITS SETTLEMENTS)
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by:National Security Printers
(Malaysia) and Secura (Singapore). Some
local overprinting / surcharging occurred
down the years, but the name of the printer(s)
responsible is unknown.
Government Printing Office,
Sandakan.
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1916 (Surcharges)
for The State of North Borneo.
Government Survey Office, Khota
Bharu.
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1922 (Overprints)
for Kelantan.
Kelantan Printing Department, Khota
Baru.
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1943 for Kelantan
during the Thai Occupation of Malaya.
North Borneo Herald,
Sandakan.
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1886 (Surcharges)
for the British North Borneo Company Administration.
Osmania Logistics Sdn.
Bhd. Sykt., Kuala Lumpur.
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: [when?].
Percetakan
Keselamatan Nasional Sdn. Bhd., Kuala
Lumpur.
First stamp(s) traced by compiler:
2002 for Malaysia
This
is the Malaysian name for Security Printers
(M) Sdn. Bhd and means "National Printing
Corporation".
Ribeiro & Co., Penang.
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1919 (Surcharges)
for Kedah.
Security
Printers (M) Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur.
Abbreviation
known by: SPM.
First stamp(s) traced
by compiler: 1981 for Malaysia.
Main printing process(es):
Litho, embossing
This firm is a subsidiary
of Firma Metal Box Berhad. This printer
has used a unique watermark SPM -See SG
331-334. See Percetakan Keselamatan Nasional
Sdn. Bhd., above
Trengganu Survey Office,
Trengganu.
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1944 in Trengganu
during the Thai Occupation of Malaya.
MALDIVE
ISLANDS
First postage stamp issued: 1906
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: BDT (Ireland), Cartor
(France), Walsall (GB).
MALI
First postage stamp issued:
1959
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: [unknown printer].
No stamps appear to have been produced locally.
MALTA
First postage stamp issued:
1860
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: Bundesdruckerei (Germany)
and Cartor (France).
Government Printing Office,
Valletta.
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1902 (Surcharges),
1925 (Postage Dues) for Malta.
Printex
Limited, Qormi.
Founded:
1970.
First stamp(s) traced
by compiler: 1972 for Malta.
Main
printing process(es): Litho
Printex is Malta’s leading
printing house, established as a subsidiary
of Joinwell Limited. Aside from general
commercial printing, they also print passports
for the Maltese government.
In 1998, Printex Limited
lost its 26-year old contract to print Maltese
postage stamps to the German State Printers,
the Bundesdruckerei. It is good to see that
in 2004 the name of Printex returned to
our stamp albums, as once again they
are producing stamps for the Maltese postal
authorities.
MARSHALL
ISLANDS
First postage stamp issued:
1897
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: Unicover (USA).
MARTINIQUE
First postage stamp issued:
1886
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: ITVF (France).
MAURITANIA
First postage stamp issued:
1960
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: [unknown printer].
No stamps appear to have been produced locally.
MAURITIUS
First postage stamp issued: 1847
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: BDT (Ireland). Local
surcharges and overprints have occurred
at various times, but the printer(s) have
gone unrecorded.
J. O. Barnard, Port
Louis.
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1847 for Mauritius.
The famous and rare ‘Post
office Mauritius’ stamps exist in 1d and
2d values with a catalogue value of around
£1million for the pair. The stamp
catalogues record that he engraved the stamps,
but is also believed to have printed them
as well. Barnard was a half-blind watchmaker
and jeweller and this was his only incursion
in the stamp field.
L. A. Dardenne, [where?].
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1859 for Mauritius.
J. Lapirot,
[where?].
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1859 for Mauritius.
The stamp catalogues record
that he engraved the stamps, but is also
believed to have printed them as well.
R. Sherwin, [where?].
First stamp(s) traced by compiler: [when?]
for Mauritius.
The stamp catalogues record
that he engraved the stamps, but is also
believed to have printed them as well.
MAYOTTE
First postage stamp issued:
1892
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: ITVF (France).
MEXICO
 First
postage stamp issued: 1856
Click country name or flag
to access this database.
MICRONESIA
First
postage stamp issued: 1984
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: Walsall (GB), Cartor
(France).
MOLDOVA
First postage stamp issued:
[when?]
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: [unknown printer]
MONACO
First postage stamp issued:
1885
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: ITVF (France).
MONGOLIA
First postage stamp issued:
1924
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: [unknown printer]
State Printing Works,
Ulan
Bator.
First stamp(s) traced
by compiler: 1926 for Mongolia.
MONTSERRAT
First postage stamp issued:
1876
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: Cartor (France) and BDT (Ireland). No
stamps have been produced locally, unless
The Mansfield Press recorded under WHAT
COUNTRY? is a Montserrat company.
However, local surcharges and overprints
have occurred at various times, but the
printer(s) name(s) have gone unrecorded.
MOROCCO
First postage stamp issued: 1912
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by:
ITVF (France).
Lecocq Mathorel &
Chr. Bernard, [where?].
First stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1912
for Morocco.
MOZAMBIQUE
First postage stamp issued: 1876
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done by: FVP (Mozambique),
Cartor (France).
Fabrica
de Volores Postals, Maputo.
First
stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1995 for Mozambique.
English Translation: State Printing Works.
Lito Emol, [where?].
First stamp(s) traced by compiler:
1976 for Mozambique.
State
Printing Works, Maputo
First stamp(s) traced
by compiler: 1995 for Mozambique.
Main
printing process(es): Litho
MYANMAR
(Formerly BURMA)
First postage stamp issued:
1937 (For BURMA)
Stamp printing for this country
is primarily done locally by: SPW (Security
Printing Works).Overprinting has occurred
locally, but the name(s) of the printer(s)
have not survived.
Government
Security Printing Works (SPW),
Rangoon,
now at Wazi.
First stamp(s) traced
by compiler: 1940s for Burmese government. In
the August 1988 number of The American Philatelist
there is an article titled ‘Politics and
Philately in Modern Burma’ attributed to
one Warren Sykes, a pseudonym used by a
respected collector for political reasons:
much of the article is based upon information
sent to him by correspondents in Burma,
whose activities would have made them suspect.
One of his friends there was interrogated
by military intelligence because of his
overseas philatelic correspondence.
Starting
at the bottom of p.753, there is an account
of how the Security Printing Works / Security
Paper Works was established at Wazi in Upper
Burma, around 1972 or so, and started printing
Burma's stamps, revenue stamps and papers,
national school examinations, and currency.
A West German company was responsible for
getting the printing works to function.
This company was Fritz Werner GmbH, which
had a significant role in providing Burma
with munitions and small arms factories
in the 1960s and 1970s. Werner’s, a state-owned
company, got out of Burma when the politics
of the regime became too odious to be ignored
at home in Germany.
A
former Fritz Werner employee (a stamp dealer
in Calgary) reported that on the banks of
the Rhine at Geisenheim, headquarters of
the company, there is a fine small Burmese
teak pagoda.
The
printing works is at Wazi, which is not
to be found on any Burmese map as the government
tries to keep its location very hush-hush.
There are several major defence industries
on the west bank of the Irrawaddy in central
Burma, the Wazi printers among them. Wazi
doesn't appear to be on any European-language
map of Burma, either; however, from a table
of postal codes, it is known to be a subsidiary
to the main post office district of Pakkoku,
which gives an indication of the general
location area. Organizationally, there is
a Directorate of Security Printing that
reports to the Military Training General
and then to the Chief of Staff of the Army.
The Security Printing Works is within this
Directorate. The compiler’s source for the
structural information is Andrew Selth,
"Burma's Armed Forces: Power without
Glory," Norwalk Conn, Eastbridge Press,
2002, pp. 56-57.
The
main work at Wazi is the printing of banknotes,
for inflation is propelled by government
spending that is supported by nothing more
than the printing presses. When the compiler
was in Burma in 1995, the free market exchange
rate was Kyat 195 to US $1; the 2004 rate
was around Kyat 1100 to US $1.
A
sleeve from a bundle of postal stationery
that shows both the logo of the printing
works and the hand stamp impressed on the
sleeve is illustrated. This seems to indicate
that there is a security paper works somehow
attached to the security printing works.
Contacts in the country advise that there
are only two paper mills, one in the Sittang
Valley and one near Taungoo, which are far
removed from Wazi. The west bank of the
Irrawaddy is very dry, hardly pulp forest
country, so it is not easy to explain where
the raw material comes from.
G. Kolff and Company,
Batavia.
First stamp(s) traced by compiler:
1943 for Burmese government.
Rangoon Gazette Press, Rangoon.
First stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1942
for Burma.
Page updated
01 September 2008. All material Copyright ©
2000-Date Glenn H Morgan FRPSL. |
