New Zealand Overprints

Thanks for sharing these items.

As with all items that have been overprinted, treat them with caution - especially if they are worth a lot of money if 'Genuine'.
There is nothing easier to do in the stamp world than to create fake items with a fake overprint.

***So 'Caveat Emptor' buyer beware***

My opinions on these 2:

The Victoria Land o/p on the 1d 'Dominion' 'looks' genuine to me. These sell for around NZ$50 to $75 or so if in good condition.

It is part of a small set of 2 stamps released for the 1910 British Antarctic Expedition.

1910 British Antarctic Expedition

The Terra Nova Expedition, officially the British Antarctic Expedition, was an expedition to Antarctica which took place between 1910 and 1913. Led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the expedition had various scientific and geographical objectives. Scott wished to continue the scientific work that he had begun when leading the Discovery Expedition from 1901 to 1904 and wanted to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole.

He and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, where they found that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days. Scott's party of five died on the return journey from the pole; some of their bodies, journals, and photographs were found by a search party eight months later. The expedition, named after its supply ship, was a private venture financed by public contributions and a government grant. It had further backing from the Admiralty, which released experienced seamen to the expedition, and from the Royal Geographical Society. The expedition's team of scientists carried out a comprehensive scientific program, while other parties explored Victoria Land and the Western Mountains. An attempted landing and exploration of King Edward VII Land was unsuccessful. A journey to Cape Crozier in June and July 1911 was the first extended sledging journey in the depths of the Antarctic winter.

For many years after his death, Scott's status as tragic hero was unchallenged, and few questions were asked about the causes of the disaster which overcame his polar party. In the final quarter of the 20th century the expedition came under closer scrutiny, and more critical views were expressed about its organization and management. The degree of Scott's personal culpability and, more recently, the culpability of certain expedition members, remains controversial.


Here are a couple of forgeries that were offered some time ago on Trademe:




O.P.S.O Overprints

Now the O.P.S.O overprints are quite rare  - but - if anyone was wanting to buy these then please, buy them with a certificate from known good sources. There are many, many fakes out there.


An article from the Auckland Philatelic Society (APS): APS Article on the OPSO overprints

O.P.S.O (On Public Service Only) overprinted stamps, Martin noted that little used material on cover is available. He also commented that at Kororareka, in the very early days of colonial government, government mail could be sent free of charge. Franking privileges tended to be abused from the 1860s onwards, and from 1862 onwards government departments were presented with a bill for assessed mail that they had posted.

In 1892 New Zealand entered the Universal Postal Union (U.P.U), and U.P.U regulations did not allow for government mail to be sent through the postal system without stamps. To overcome this problem, stamps were hand stamped with an O.P.S.O. overprint. These stamps should have been used only for letters to foreign countries, though later reprints of O.P.S.O. officials had parcel denominations. Public Service stamps were used on registered mail.

The overprint is usually diagonal, reading upwards, and the usual cancellation is a Wellington circular date stamp. The overprints appeared on the halfpenny newspaper stamp, the second sideface issue, the 1898-1907 pictorials, and the penny Universal. The overprint appears in various colours - violet, rose, magenta and green.

There are examples of cancellations resulting from wound back date stamps, and many stamps were overprinted per favour. There was little overall control of the production of these stamps, they were not commonly collected at the time, and even the Post Office archives are lacking many of the stamps. Around 1902 reprints were printed for collectors. Initially it was an offence to sell official stamps to the general public.

Lots of the O.P.S.O. stamps were used on the same date (!), and it is difficult to tell whether these stamps were genuinely used. O.P.S.O. stamps on cover are scarce and seriously valuable.

In 1907 stocks of O.P.S.O. stamps were destroyed, but in 1913 reprints were made for presentation purposes.


And from member of Stampboards - Chippin - he wrote this :

Used ones should always be expertised and, in my opinion the only experts I would use for these are in New Zealand and part of the RPSNZ expertising group.
I have a number, with Wellington postmarks (anything without you can forget for used copies) that looked good to me but were not accepted as genuine.

Of course if you can find them on cover they are as good as self-certifiable if they are on OPSO cover, to an overseas address, postmarked Wellington and dated (for sidefaces) in the 1890s (after Oct 1891).






Thanks for sharing these sudbury12000


Dave

I have just noted this OPSO o/p for sale in tomorrow's Auckland City Stamps Public Auction 24 - 18 March 2023 - lot 531


Auckland City Stamps Public Auction lot 531 18mar2023







Dave

I know that OPSO overprints are a minefield. I would be interested in any thoughts of 3 of these from my collection. At least the 1898 has a clear Wellington Postmark but I note the overprint shade is slightly different to the Auckland Stamp example from their recent auction. Suspect I will go for RPSNZ certification unless the consensus is that they are forgeries.

Earlier in this thread:



On first looks at your ones, above, they do look quite convincing, but, until you have had them expertized I would think of them as fake. Hopefully the Wellington postmarked one 'may' be ok.

Are you a member of the RPSNZ?



Dave

Similar applies to the Auckland Exhibition set.

They should be of a very crisp print quality as per this scan below. The overprint should be seen on the reverse side, they should be watermarked and the full stop after 1913 should be square.







Dave