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Valued Member
8 Posts |
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I have stamps from Nevis with the overprint "specimen" and "official". Are one or both cinderellas? Thanks so much.
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
7072 Posts |
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There are a couple legitimate "Specimen" overprints on the 1882 issue, which have a nice catalogue value...are you talking about modern issues, though? |
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Valued Member
8 Posts |
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Good question. Sorry for not giving a year. They are from the 1980's, I believe. If it will help I can post pix later. |
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Pillar Of The Community
Canada
1449 Posts |
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Valued Member
Ireland
292 Posts |
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I have a feeling "SPCIMEN" it might be a gift from an English stamp magazine. |
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Pillar Of The Community
2333 Posts |
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The stamps overprinted "Specimen" are not cinderellas at all. Just "normal" stamps aimed for a use other than postal. Early ones, were sent to the UPU headquartes in Bern for them to know the newly issued stamps. Lately, you can see "Specimen" stamps used for propaganda on a number of media.
But, personally, I don't consider them "cincerellas". |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
3224 Posts |
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From this time period, official overprints were for use with mail from governmental offices as would be expected. They are listed in the catalogs, you could buy mint sets. Most governments today would consider them unnecessary, and their issue has been considered a way for Nevis to get a few more bucks from collectors.
Aside from the UPU requirement, the specimen overprints were also used for publicity purposes and were not a gift made by a magazine. In that regard, they would be distributed by the post office for photos in ads and stamp magazines. Specimen sets would be given to larger direct purchasers of mint sets, as well as samples given to collectors, so they're not scarce at all. |
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| Edited by hy-brasil - 02/13/2018 08:42 am |
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Valued Member
United States
100 Posts |
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In the 1970s I bought stamps directly from the postal service in St. Vincent. They would periodically mail me order forms for their new issues along with the stamps overprinted "specimen" for free. I always thought these specimen stamps were actually worth more than the original mint stamps since there were fewer of them than the real thing. The specimen stamps were not valid for postage and therefore are not listed in the Scott catalogue, so I guess their true value is unknown. |
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Replies: 7 / Views: 1,460 |
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Posted 02/12/2018 2:23 pm
