It can't be #242 which has an unframed monogram/symbol. Armenian surcharges have rubles or kopecks specified after the value. Not here, and with the "5" done in an odd style besides. This looks to be a made-up overprint.
Thanks to you both. I'd compared the stamp carefully to each of the overprints that Scott includes. Nothing matched and the absence of the usual "r" after the 5 really troubled me. As hy-brasil says, the legitimate surcharges always include it. Hadn't noticed the odd style of the 5, though. That's another fact pointing to the conclusion that the overprint is counterfeit. Again, thanks. Where else could I have got such help so quickly? Eric
Have gone through Souers, Forgeries of Common Stamps after World War I, version 2, 2019, but am still struggling with this stamp. Looks like Scott #38 but surcharged like Scott #202, though without the normal "r." Or like Scott #202 but with the wrong monogram (framed Z rather than the expected "HH"), and again without the normal "r." In any case, I'm calling it counterfeit (or forgery), but would be happy to be told otherwise. (Not sure how this thread came to be in this forum. Thought it was in the Classics forum.) Eric
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