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Post by dermmd on Mar 9, 2020 20:13:18 GMT
There has been several threads about "Specimen" overprints on relatively recent Caribbean stamps, but no one has really answered the questions of what the value of these stamps are and if they are collectable. I used to purchase St. Vincent stamps from their philatelic office and they would send along free samples of new issues that had the specimen overprint as an advertising tool. I have since come across other Caribbean stamps with the same overprint. I am thinking that the production numbers of the specimen stamps are a lot less than the actual stamps so would probably be worth more, but since they were not valid for postage and not listed in catalogs they may be considered cinderellas and worth less. I guess it depends on if there is any demand for them. What's your opinion?
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guyana1230
Member 
Posts: 373 
What I collect: GUYANA, Surinam, British Commonwealth, Aland, Denmark Finland, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, USA, Scout Posts, Cinderellas
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Post by guyana1230 on Mar 9, 2020 22:05:06 GMT
I had quite a few Caribbean "Specimen" stamps, I sold some for just 0.10 cents each and gave the rest away.
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,266
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on Mar 9, 2020 23:14:25 GMT
In the 19th century and early 20th century , each stamp producing country was obliged to send samples of their stamps to U P U members so that other postal authorities would recognise genuine issues. These were overprinted “SPECIMEN” or sometimes had the word perforated on the stamp. Sometimes Spanish countries used the word MUESTRA.
These early SPECIMENS really meant something and are often priced quite highly .
Modern SPECIMEN overprints from St Vincent etc I am afraid are quite different, just examples of the stamp cancelled to invalidate any postal use and were usually given away as promotional items with stamp magazines and at stamp shows etc , they really have little intrinsic value , unlike the early specimens they are not sought after and will not be worth listing in any catalogue.
not much more than publicity labels to tempt collectors to get out and buy the regular issued stamps mint at face value .
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Post by dermmd on Mar 10, 2020 4:41:59 GMT
I agree with the above but think that modern specimen overprinted stamps are a strange ilk. In one way they are like CTOs because under the overprint they are real stamps, and both CTOs and specimen stamps have no postal value, but unlike CTOs they were usually not sold but given away. Yet CTOs are collected, but modern specimen stamps are not.
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