From the Library

A short article tucked in an old philatelic magazine was recently passed to me by our librarian, John Dennett. I thought the contents would appeal to other members as well. The article concerned overprints affecting the value of stamps and the need to take a close look. In some cases, the overprints on stamps can be very small and a magnifying glass is certainly required. Reproductions of USA Newspaper Stamps were cited as a good example because the word facsimile is minute. Genuine versions would be prized items.

Liberia has OS on most of its Official stamps but the overprint on the 1892 issue has a very small word OFFICIAL, often missed if it appears with a postmark or surcharge mark. It would appear the designer had not reckoned on these later additions and on some issues the overprint appears twice. Japanese definitives of the period 1900 to 1919 come with a two character overprint for used in post offices in China. There is a similar type, but in different characters, for use in Korea. They are very small and can be overlooked especially in used condition. The Korean versions were only used for 15 months and come at a substantial premium.