1930 2c Jose Rizal, Green, Guam Guard Mail, Black Overprint

Scarce Guam Guard Mail Stamps

Very scarce Guam Guard Mail stamps were issued in extremely low quantities over 80 years ago.  Only 1,000 of the 1¢ stamps were produced – and every stamp sold out on the first day of issue.  Today, Guam Guard Mail stamps are very scarce – and this stamp is the key to owning a complete set.

The stamp is a standard Philippine Islands issue featuring a portrait of José Rizal, the beloved Filipino nationalist and martyr whose likeness appeared on the 2-centavo denomination for many years. 

Guam became a US territory following the Spanish-American War.  The Guam Guard Mail was created by Commander Willis W. Bradley Jr., the military governor of Guam, to solve a real problem: the U.S. Post Office Department did not deliver mail to homes or businesses anywhere on the island. To remedy this, Bradley established a local carrier service on April 8, 1930, using Bordallo's Taxi to make mail runs twice daily, six days a week along a 15-mile route from Agana to Agat with stops at several villages in between. Commissioners in each village were responsible for handling local distribution. The service was a genuine community necessity, and stamps were needed immediately — which is why existing Philippine stamps were overprinted on short notice rather than waiting for a custom design to be produced.

The resulting Guam Guard Mail stamps were produced in sheets of 25 in a labor-intensive, two-step process.  The amateur technique required 50 separate impressions for every sheet of 25 stamps – the first for the Seal of Guam and another in a second color ink for the logo and denomination.  

The Guam Guard Mail operated for less than a year before the U.S. Post Office Department took over home delivery on the island in 1931, ending the need for the local service. In that brief window, eleven stamps were issued across several printings, but GM1 stands apart from all of them in terms of rarity.