i didn't look up the year, its from the french colony on madagascar, its the only one i've seen in the 21 years i collected, i'm like you, i don't know much about stamps but i liked collecting them, i'm sorry i don't have more information for you, i could find tons of info online or in the scott book but i don't have the time, i'm only asking a little over a penny for it so i can't spend a lot of time on it.