User:Msrasnw/Postage stamps of Northern Ireland

Postage stamps of Northern Ireland are regional stamps (now refered to as country definitives) issued by the General Post Office (GPO) and Royal Mail of the United Kingdom for use in the province but legal accross the UK.

Issues
The first Northern Irish stamps were issued in 1958. There were percieved to be some particular problems creating the Northern Ireland definitives because of a lack of symbols that might be used to represent Northern Irland that avoid contentious political symbolism. The committee charged with organiseg the choice of design decided on Dorothy Wilding's portrait of the Queen augmented with symbols: the Red Hand of Ulster (the emblem of the O’Neills (the royal house of Ulster)); the Arms of Northern Ireland (without supporters); the six-pointed Crowned Star with the Red Hand; and the Flax Plant (with or without leaves); a Field Gate with Ulster pillars. Several local artists were chosen to present designs and one from each was chosen by the Queen. The artists were: Thomas Collins; Leonard Pilton; William Hollywood; Colin Middleton; Miss T Robinson.

In 1971 the Wilding based designs were replaced with designs similar to the standard British Machin portrait definitives and new regional defintives for Northern Ireland were introduced in 1982

Some regional designs were produced for each of the 4 British home nations including Northern Ireland with these being issued on 6 March 2001.