Nigerian Stamps

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Biafra Stamps Sheet – 2

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I don’t know if I’m the only person collecting stamp sheets from Nigeria and Biafra, but it feels like that sometimes.

I’m not sure if that makes me very smart or just a bit obsessed with collecting sheets with their repetitive, slightly hypnotic fascination.

Anyway, I bought this sheet recently from well-known dealer, it’s a full sheet of Biafra SG1, the 2d stamp issued on the 5th February 1968. It features a map of the breakaway Biafra Republic.

For the first time, I have a sheet with “backing paper”. I presume this was to stop the stamp sheets sticking to one another but fifty years later it’s stuck to the stamps, inevitably. But that’s the way things are and I’m happy as it makes a nice sheet. I suspect trying to peel the backing paper off would be a mistake.

It’s a big sheet too, which was a surprise, fully 36cm by 30cm, almost four times the size of the last Biafra overprint sheet I acquired.

biafra stamps SG1

Biafra Stamps Sheet

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I had to play a waiting game for this nice sheet of Biafra, SG4 half-penny overprinted Nigerian stamps.

They debuted on eBay for a certain price. Too expensive. No-one bought. I waited and eventually they came back for sale at half that price. Too expensive still and no-one bought.

Finally they came back at a quarter of the original price, to my relief in case someone else nicked them when I wasn’t looking. I bought the sheet and here it is. It’s quite small at 22.5cm by 15cm.

biafra stamps SG4

During periods of unrest, war and different types of conflict, an administration may find itself with plenty of stamps but none of their particular political unit. Overprinting is a very common solution to this problem until they can get their own stamps designed and printed.

That’s just what happened in Biafra after it seceded from Nigeria in 1967. Later on, stamps became a source of revenue rather than used for postal purposes so today, genuinely used Biafra stamps are more valuable than mint ones.

But we have to look out for the “UMUAHIA” postmark on Biafra stamps as this was often used as a cancel to order or CTO postmark, i.e. it was not a genuinely posted letter or article.

Nigerian Stamps Sheets – 1937 Coronation SG46 to SG48

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The Coronation stamps of 1937 when George 6th came to the throne of Great Britain are repeated all the way across the Commonwealth as in many, many other issues. The people administering the stamps across all the numerous dominions opted to use the same designs and just change the country names and value tablets.

Here are three sheets I got from an auction house. They are 81 years old now and doing pretty well, although they have some toning. They are the 1d carmine, 1 1/2d brown and 3d blue.

SG46 Nigeria Stamp Coronation 1d Carmine

SG 46 Nigeria stamps

 

SG47 Nigeria Stamp Coronation 1 1/2d Brown

SG47 Nigeria stamps

 

SG48 Nigeria Stamp Coronation 3d Blue

SG48 Nigeria stamps

 

A nice trio making the complete set of this issue. The 3d is a bit more fragile than the other two. Again, any weirdnesses spotted on the scans are due to me not being able to stitch two scans together well. The sheets are too big for an A4 scanner but I’m sure I could do a better job with a bit more skill at Photoshop.

Cameroons Stamps Sheet

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I think I’m dysoning up all the stamp sheets for Nigeria that I can get my hands on. I did see a beautiful sheet of Niger Coast 10s purples a while back but that was very expensive. And a George V sheet of 4d brown on yellow is estimated to fetch £1500 or more at an upcoming auction. Shan’t be bidding for that then.

Luckily, Nigerian stamp sheets are very reasonable in price and not in much demand as far as I can see because I’ve collected 15 in a few months without much difficulty. I aim to get as many as I can though getting them all is likely to prove impossible.

Anyway, this sheet is not strictly speaking from Nigeria. The French Trust Territory of Cameroun became independent on the 1st January 1960 but a vote was taken on the country’s future as there was also a British Trust Territory part. Northern Cameroun voted to merge with Nigeria and the south joined the Cameroun Republic. While this was going on, the post office continued to work under British control and issued stamps of Nigeria with the overprint “CAMEROONS U.K.T.T.”

 

Cameroons UKTT stamps

 

The 1/2d stamp is common in both its Nigerian and overprinted form and I have recently acquired this sheet which is in amazing condition. One fold (central), no separations of perforations or toning of the gum. Not bad for a sheet that is 58 years old. I’ll be on the lookout for more Cameroons stamps sheets to continue this series.

Any weirdness in the scan is not due to the stamps being unusual in any way but due to my inability to stitch together two scans perfectly to make one image as I don’t have an A3 scanner. I reckon there is a way of making a better job with Photoshop so that’s something to look into.

 

Nigeria Stamps Sheets 1987 SG539 to SG542

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Yes, I know I really like sheets of stamps and I am on the lookout for any ones available from post-independence (1960) Nigeria. They aren’t abundant but I’ve managed to acquire 12 over the last few months, for prices varying from around £5 each to £14. I don’t know what the price “should be” for such sheets but I think that £60 or even £200 as I see on one site selling stamps are too high for the market as I understand it. And too high for me.

Anyway, back to the latest stamps sheets, coming in from Italy and very nicely packed. They turned out to be in pretty much perfect condition and consist of four sheets of the 1987 set illustrating shells which are SG539 to 542.

This set consists of:

  • 10 kobo multicoloured – Freshwater Clam SG539
  • 20 kobo black, reddish brown and pale rose-pink – Periwinkle SG540
  • 25 kobo multicoloured – Bloody Cockle, but interestingly it is inscribed on the stamps as “BLODDY COCKLE” SG541
  • 30 kobo multicoloured – Mangrove Oyster SG542

SG539 Freshwater Clam 10 Kobo

 

SG540 Periwinkle 20 Kobo

 

SG541 Bloody Cockle 25 Kobo

 

SG542 Mangrove Oyster 30 Kobo