Philippines Fort Santiago 10 Centavos

I ran across this stamp, but I can't seem to find much on it. My book doesn't have many Philippine stamps, and I haven't found much online other than it is from 1935. Does anyone know about this stamp? This one is in pretty bad shape.

The original stamp (no overprint) was issued 15Feb1935.

Afterwards, it was reissued with 2 types of COMMONWEALTH overprints (large tighter-spaced lettering, smaller wider-spaced lettering).

It looks like you have the latter type of overprint. The latter overprint was issued on 12May1939 with a total printing of 2695242 stamps. I don't know why the printing is not a multiple of the sheet size. They may have deducted for printer's waste, rejects, or damage/loss.

In the Scott catalog, your stamp is Philippines #437. It is a relatively common stamp. Nevertheless, thanks for posting. I haven't looked at my Philippines stamps in quite a while!

k

The wider overprint should be 18.5mm long. If it is tighter than that, it is probably #415 (also at the lower end of catalogue value).

Measuring from the relatively straight edges of the C to the H should be a piece of cake. (I hate it when I need to be accurate to the quarter mm, or so, and ending on As or Ks or periods.)

Wow! hey asanders0001 you've got a great looking stamp there!

I haven't seen that in any dealer store here. khj mentioned the date and that's the key item over here. Common Philippine stamps here are the post war stamps 1945 up. Pre war stamps, especially just before 1941, are the ones most difficult to find. That's a 1939 stamp, just two years before Pearl Harbor.

By the way, as a historical fact. That stamp shows Fort Santiago, built by Spain in the colonial years of 1800.

In 1942 that fort became headquarters for the Japanese army and also served as main prison for local fighters captured.

Today it is one of the tourist spots, a must-visit place for a Manila tour, with lots of tourist buses. It's about 7,000sq meters of area inside the walls with some souvenir stores, shops and restaurants

now nice place, during the war not-so-nice

Thanks for the background info, nic!

k

yeah thanks for all the good information