An overprint is the addition of text (and sometimes graphics) to the face of a postage stamp after it has been printed. Overprints have been used for many purposes over the years. They have been used as surcharges, commemorations, and control marks. This 1974 stamp from Japan depicts a Class 8620 steam locomotive. ...

A surcharge is an overprint that alters or confirms the face value of the stamp. These are commonly used when needed types of stamp are unavailable, whether because new shipments are delayed, because circumstances have changed too quickly to get appropriate new stamps, or simply to use up existing stamps. Face Value is the title of Phil Collins debut solo album, released in 1981. ...

Inflation overprint: Russia, 1922

One famous example of surcharging came in the German hyperinflation of 1921-1923. Stamps in the 10-20 pfennig range were no longer useful for paying postage (hundreds would have been required on a normal letter), so at first the government overprinted existing stamps with values up to 10 marks while it was designing new ones, but by 1923 even its printed stamps ranging up to 75,000 marks became useless and had to be surcharged with higher values, up to 2,000,000 marks and then a round with values up to 10,000,000,000 marks (10 billion) before the financial system was reset. Image File history File links Scan of Russia 7500-ruble overprint stamp of 1922, made by User:Stan Shebs File links The following pages link to this file: Overprint Postage stamps and postal history of Russia User:Stan Shebs/Gallery/Philately ... Image File history File links Scan of Russia 7500-ruble overprint stamp of 1922, made by User:Stan Shebs File links The following pages link to this file: Overprint Postage stamps and postal history of Russia User:Stan Shebs/Gallery/Philately ... A 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) Mark banknote, issued in Bavaria/Germany during the hyperinflation of 1923 (http://www. ... 1921 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The pfennig was a small German coin valued at 1/100 of a Deutsche Mark and other German currencies with the name Mark. ... The Deutsche Mark (DM, DEM) was the official currency of West and, from 1990, unified Germany. ... The word billion, and its equivalents in other languages, refer to one of two different numbers. ...

Local currency overprint: German East Africa, 1893

Many countries have used surcharges when converting to new currencies, for example in many Commonwealth countries chose to convert to decimal currency in the late 1960s. ImageMetadata File history File links Scan of German East Africa 10-para overprint stamp of 1893, made by User:Stan Shebs File links The following pages link to this file: Overprint German East Africa User:Stan Shebs/Gallery/Philately ... ImageMetadata File history File links Scan of German East Africa 10-para overprint stamp of 1893, made by User:Stan Shebs File links The following pages link to this file: Overprint German East Africa User:Stan Shebs/Gallery/Philately ... German East Africa was Germanys colony in East Africa, including what is now Burundi, Rwanda, and the mainland part of Tanzania. ... The Commonwealth of Nations is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former colonies once governed by the United Kingdom as part of the British Empire. ... Decimal currency is the term used to describe any currency for which the ratio between the basic unit of currency and its sub-unit is a power of 10. ... The 1960s, or The Sixties, in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ...

Countries with political instability have frequently had to resort to surcharges because the existing stocks were exhausted and there was no one in charge to order more. In many cases, countries have resorted to overprinting revenue stamps, telegraph stamps, and seemingly anything else they could find that was perforated and gummed - and, in the worst case - stamps that had been previously surcharged. A revenue stamp, or fiscal stamp is a type of adhesive label used to collect taxes or fees on various items. ...

Plebiscite overprint: Olsztyn

Occasionally surcharges have been applied by individual postmasters, especially those in the remotest locations and in the early days of stamps, but because of the possibilities for abuse, this is rarely approved by the national government. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Motto: none Voivodship Warmia i Mazury Municipal government Rada Miasta Olsztyn Mayor CzesÅ‚aw Jerzy MaÅ‚kowski Area 87,9 km² Population  - city  - urban  - density 173 350 - 1972/km² Founded City rights - - Latitude Longitude 53°47 N 20°30 E Area code +48 89 Car plates NO Twin towns - Municipal...

GB World Cup Commemorative overprinted after England's victory (1966)

Overprints have also been used as commemoratives, as a lower-cost alternative to designing and issuing special stamps. The United States, which historically has issued very few overprints, did this in 1928 for issues commemorating Molly Pitcher and the discovery of Hawaii. A special subcategory is overprinting on sports-related stamps in events such as the Olympics. For example, on April 8, 1998 Guyana issued a set of 32 stamps showing team pictures of all the participants in that year's World Cup championships; on August 20, after the tournament, eight of these were reissued with an overprint announcing France as the winner. This practice is frowned upon by many philatelists. An unfortunately common use of commemorative overprints has been due to revolution; the overprint may obscure or even blot out the previous ruler's head, but invariably proclaims the new regime, frequently with the date of its takeover. GB World Cup Commemorative Overprinted after Englands Victory 1964 This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... 1928 was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Molly Pitcher was a generic name applied to women who bravely carried water (usually in pitchers) to men on the battlefield during the American Revolutionary War. ... State nickname: The Aloha State Other U.S. States Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Governor Linda Lingle (R) Official languages Hawaiian and English Area 28,337 km² (43rd)  - Land 16,649 km²  - Water 11,672 km² (41. ... For months before the Olympic Games, runners relay the Olympic Flame from Olympia to the opening ceremony. ... The Football World Cup (official name: FIFA World Cup) is the most important competition in international football (soccer). ...

Occupation overprint: Batumi

A more obscure use of overprints has been as control devices to deal with theft. In the 19th century Mexico was plagued by theft of stamps on their way to remote post offices, so every stamp was overprinted with the town name and a number. The United States used this strategy to deal with thefts in Kansas and Nebraska in 1929, overprinting the common stamps of the time with "Kans." and "Nebr." (surviving examples are scarce and prized, the 10c priced at over $100 in 2000). British Empire Batumi occupation overprint stamps, public domain This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... British Empire Batumi occupation overprint stamps, public domain This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... A view of Batumi, circa, 1911, towards the mountains Batumi (also Batum or Batoum) is a seaside city (population: approximately 137,000) on the Black Sea coast and capital of Ajaria, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Small-town post office and town hall in Lockhart, Alabama A post office is a facility (in most countries, a government one) where the public can purchase postage stamps for mailing correspondence or merchandise, and also drop off or pick up packages or other special-delivery items. ... State nickname: The Sunflower State Other U.S. States Capital Topeka Largest city Wichita Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D) Official languages None Area 82,277 mi²; 213,096 km² (15th)  - Land 81,815 mi²; 211,900 km²  - Water 462 mi²; 1,196 km² (0. ... State nickname: Cornhusker State Other U.S. States Capital Lincoln Largest city Omaha Governor Dave Heineman (R) Official languages English Area 200,520 km² (16th)  - Land 199,099 km²  - Water 1,247 km² (0. ... 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Despite their temporary and expedient nature, many overprints were produced by the millions, and thus readily available to collectors today. Others are rare and desirable, but all too easy to fake by printing on a copy of the original stamps, and expert authentication is mandatory for valuable overprints.

British stamps are encountered with the word SPECIMEN or CANCELLED applied as an overprint. These were usually applied in black, but other colours are known. These overprints were applied either by the printers as colour standards for matching later printings or by the authorities, (at somerset House), as reference copies or on examples which were being sent to other members of the UPU, (Universal Postal Union). In addition to this booklet panes were cancelled by the use of a punched hole applied by a ticket punch. This was applied by folding the stamps and punching across the fold in addition to the word CANCELLED. These were used in booklets sent out to companies which had advertising within the booklets, so that they could see the finished results but were unable to use the stamp.

In 1930 the British Post Office set up the Post Office Training Schools. These were designed to ensure that staff in all the different offices worked in a standard manner. For these training courses, stamps, as well as other items in general use by the Post Office at the given time, were overprinted in various ways. The most common of these is vertical black bars applied to the face of the stamps in use at the time. These were applied to stop the theft of stamps, as they would be unusable, as well as to save on the problem of having to account for the items in the normal manner. The overprint SCHOOL SPECIMEN has also been applied to stamps, but is more commonly found on items of postal stationery and form, as is FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY in three lines.

Haitian Currency Overprint.

Overprints have occasionally been used on currency such as the overprints found on Haitian Gourdes at the end of the Baby Doc Duvalier regime. The overprint consisted of a red circle with a slash across it with the date of the end of the Duvalier regime—February 7, 1986—printed below in red. The overprint was placed over the image of Baby Doc and his father the infamous Papa Doc, François Duvalier that was subsequently replaced with images of figures from the history of the Haitian Republic. ImageMetadata File history File links Overprint of Haitian gourde at end of Duvalier regime. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Overprint of Haitian gourde at end of Duvalier regime. ... 25 gourdes banknote overprinted after the fall of the Duvailer regime The gourde is the currency of Haiti. ... Jean-Claude Duvalier (nicknamed Bébé Doc or Baby Doc) (born July 3, 1951) succeeded his father, François Papa Doc Duvalier as the dictator of Haiti from his fathers death in 1971 until his overthrow by a popular uprising in 1986. ... February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... François Duvalier known as Papa Doc (possibly April 14, 1907 - April 21, 1971) was the President of Haiti from 1957 and later dictator (President for Life) from 1964 until his death. ...

Overprints applied by an entity other than an official stamp-issuing entity are called "private overprints." Private overprints are overprints (pictures, text, or a combination of the two), rubberstamped or applied by some other method, to postage stamps (or, occasionally, postal stationary) used by some person or entity other than a government or other official stamp-issuing entity. ...