Ireland, 1922
British ten-shilling Seahorse stamp with black overprinted lettering.
Illustration of a historical stamp for learning, shown at screen size. Not valid for postage.
How to read it
A British Seahorse stamp with Irish words printed over it: Ireland in 1922.
- 1Rialtas Sealadach na hÉireann 1922
- Inscription
- Rialtas Sealadach na hÉireann 1922
- Meaning
- Irish for “Provisional Government of Ireland, 1922”, printed over a British stamp.
- Issued by
- Provisional Government of Ireland
- Today
- Ireland Flag of Ireland
- Year
- 1922. Irish overprints on British stamps were issued from 17 February 1922.
- Made by
- Bertram Mackennal (design of the British stamp, died 1931); J. A. C. Harrison (engraving of the British stamp, died 1955)
One fact
Before Ireland had its own designs, it overprinted British stamps. This ten-shilling Seahorse was overprinted by Alex. Thom & Co. in Dublin.
Source and public-domain rule
Creators died more than 70 years ago. The British stamp’s designer (d. 1931) and engraver (d. 1955) died before 1956; the overprint is plain lettering with no new artwork. Also Crown copyright in the base stamp ended in 1963. Copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, counted from 1 January of the year after death. Every named designer and engraver of the stamp died before 1 January 1956; any contributor who was never named counts as anonymous, whose term is 70 years from publication, and the stamp was published before 1956. Legal sources: Directive 2006/116/EC, Art. 1(1) life + 70 years; Art. 1(3) anonymous works 70 years from publication; Art. 7(1) comparison of terms for works from outside the EU; Art. 8 terms run from 1 January, Switzerland, Norway.
Scan: 1922 10s Great Britain Seahorse with Thom overprints (SG Type 3).jpg on Wikimedia Commons (revision 952813602), licence templates {{PD-UKGov}} (a public-domain reason different from ours; both are recorded). Downloaded 2026-10-19, sha256 564c01b71187…; cropped and cleaned for this site. Facts checked 2026-10-19 against source 1 and source 2. Research record, not legal advice; a human rights review is pending. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
.jpg){kind=link}