Although the Hong Kong Post Office was founded in August 1841, it was not until 8 December 1862 that the first set of postage stamps was issued. The design of the first issue featured a portrait of Queen Victoria engraved by Jean Ferdinand Joubert. There are six denominations; 2c, 8c, 12c, 18c, 24c, 48c, 96c; each value corresponded to a specific postage rate at the time. The stamps were printed by line-engraved method by De La Rue of Great Britain on unwatermarked paper. 1863 saw the release of the same denominations with addition of 4c, 6c and 30c printed on paper bearing Crown CA watermark.

The first set of King Edward VII stamps bearing His Majesty’s portrait by Emil Fuchs was issued in 1903 and it was printed on paper with Crown CA watermark. Subsequent printings were released from 1904 onwards and these were printed on ordinary and chalky paper with Multiple Crown CA watermark.

The first set of King George V definitive stamps was issued in 1912 printed again by De La Rue on paper with watermark Multiple Crown CA. The paper was later changed to Multiple Script CA from 1921 onwards.

In 1917, due to fluctuation in the exchange rates between the Hong Kong Dollar and the Chinese currency, the Crown CA KGV issue was overprinted “CHINA” to be used exclusively in the China Treaty Ports. From 1922 onwards, Hong Kong stamps with Script CA watermark were also overprinted CHINA. When the China Treaty Ports closed in November 1922, the CHINA overprints were used exclusively at the Crown Colony of Wei Hai Wei until its closure in 1930.

King George VI definitive stamps were released by De La Rue in stages from 1938. When the De La Rue factory in London was bombed during the Second World War, Bradbury Wilkinson and Harrison printed the stamps on thinly coated paper; the so-called “Rough paper Wartime printings”. After the war, De La Rue began printing the KGVI stamps again until the King’s death. Unlike Great Britain, the short-lived reign of King Edward VIII did not see stamps produced for Hong Kong.

The first set of Queen Elizabeth II definitive stamps was issued on 5 January 1954 bearing a similar design dated back to Victorian times. The breakthrough came about in 1962 when the multicolour Annigoni designs appeared. The designs of the definitive stamps were changed five times, in 1973 (Machin), 1982 (Lion and Dragon), 1987 (Hong Kong Harbor and Buildings) and 1992 (Calligraphy) before 1997.

The 1954 Wilding issue bears the Script CA watermark and a new watermarked paper bearing Crown Block CA was introduced by the Crown Agents for the 1962 Annigoni issue. A new watermark Crown Spiral CA appeared on the 1975 re-print of the 1973 Machin issue. No watermark paper was used for all subsequent printings and definitive stamps after 1985.

On 26 February 1997, the first set of definitive stamps bearing just the inscriptions HONG KONG, the so-called “Neutral Definitive stamps” was issued prior to returning of sovereignty to China on 1 July 1997.

The Hong Kong SAR first set of definitive stamps depicting landmarks of Hong Kong was issued on 18 October 1999 and it is the first ever pictorial definitive stamps of Hong Kong; the inscription on the stamps now shows HONG KONG, CHINA. The paper used for printing contains security fibres and a new perforator bearing elliptical perforation at each side was introduced for this issue.

On 14 October 2002, another set of pictorial definitive stamps depicting images of Eastern and Western culture was launched and this was quickly followed by the 2006 Bird definitive stamps released on 31 December 2006.  In 2014, Hongkong Post issued a new set of definitive stamps based on the landforms and landscapes of the Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark.

2012 commemorated the 150th anniversary of Hong Kong stamps and the Hong Kong Philatelic Society celebrated this event by a comprehensive display of Hong Kong stamps at its annual stamp show held in March. Hong Kong Post released a special issue to commemorate the 150th anniversary on 8 December. 

In recent years, Hongkong Post has issued commemorative stamps in unconventional shapes.  For examples, the heart shaped stamp on volunteerism in 2011; the shield shaped stamp on the 150th Anniversary of Queen’s College in 2012; the circular stamp on sheetlet for the 57th International Mathematical Olympiad in 2016; the Qipao shaped stamp on sheetlet for Traditional Costumes – Qipao in 2017; the triangular stamps for the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China in 2019; the cinema screen shaped stamp on sheetlet for the World Heritage in China – Qinghai Hoh Xil in 2020; several issues of half-circular stamps on the Twenty-Four Solar Terms since 2020.  In December 2020, Hongkong Post also issued stamps with the theme to combat COVID-19.

For up-to-date information about Hong Kong stamps, please check the Hong Kong Post Stamps website.