Albania #305 W/Inverted Overprint

Found this nice MNH example in one of my stock books today. Scott makes no mention of inverted overprints in this series but they obviously exist. Does anyone have any info on this? Quantity issued? Approximate value? Thanks to all of you who are willing to share your expertise on this site!!

According to this site (below), the inverted overprint is apparently listed as SG 343ab. Check item AL0405

http://www.sismondostamps.com/World...Albania.html

Yes, this is listed as SG 343ab but unpriced in the 2009 SG Balkans catalogue.

It is also listed in my old 1998/99 Michel catalogue where it's priced mint at 500 marks.

There were 40,000 sets issued but I've no idea how many stamps had the inverted overprint.

There are differences in the overprint between these two examples. This may be down to careless type setting but I'd be cautious about this.

it's a forgery , the fonts are not in line and different, look at the 2 in 12, ..notice also how to fonts of the 12 don't match the fonts on the 1939 on the inverted ....

the one Nigel link seems also a fake , look at my last pic for the 12

in my 2005/2006 Michel, it's not listed anymore.....

Hi JPMG,

Thanks for posting a picture of the complete set. Very nice.

I'd noticed the type differences you've mentioned but I wondered if this were a poorly set overprint with mixed type.

It certainly appears that both examples are fakes.

The fact Michel remove it from their catalogue make me thing they discover that all inverted was fake.

Thanks for the response on this issue. I can see the difference in font (especially the 2) as pointed out by JPMG. However, tt's interesting to note that the inverted overprint on the Sismondo site (linked above by 22crows) matches mine...and isn't Sismondo an 'EXPERT'? Were there 2 font types as previously suggested by nigel? Are ALL inverted overprint fakes? Where do we find the definitive answer? I appreciate all of your expertise and opinions very much. This is why I love SCF.