Azores--Overprint Damaged .

New addition to my collection ,a damaged overprint the "ES"

of ACORES is crooked

Sorry, but I'm thinking that your "find" may be a forgery. I've got several copies of the 2 centavo parcel post; as well as a dozen plus of the other values in the set. None of the overprints look like yours.

The same overprint was used on the 1912-1931 Ceres set; stamps of Portugal overprinted for use in the Azores. In his book, "Forgeries of Portugal and Colonies," D.J. Davies describes this overprint. In particular, the left facing comma, or "cedilla," under the letter C has a round head on genuine stamps. Compare your two stamps. The upper one with the cancel has a round head. The lower one, with the crooked E & S, clearly has a rectangular head.

The letter C also seems to be rather overinked. I did find one Ceres with overinking like this. None of my other Ceres that I checked; nor the parcel posts; has an overinked C like this one.

I was thinking forgery when I first saw it but was hesitant to respond since I am by no means an expert on the Azores. Then I read your comment which makes me certain now.

Not sure about your comments about it being a fake ,it looks like a later overprint done by a worn printing plate .Really not a stamp that someone would want to fake ,since its so plentiful and cheap ,so no reason to make a forgery.I have no reference source but will look around for more information.

more fun with AZORES overprints ----the heavey overprint cause the ES to smash together.

"so no reason to make a forgery......." Even common stamps can get forged, probably so the forger can make money. I can't give you a quick reference. But I do know that two common US definitives, #1213 & #1393, have been forged.

So, your Azores parcel post could have a forged overprint and maybe not. For me, the "cedilla" is a dead giveaway; who knows. But I also see that you have discovered the fine art of "fly-specking." The Ceres issues of Portugal and colonies are great for such finds. By the way, your two Azores 50 centavo stamps scanned above are different in another way; the color shade.