Overprint

An overprint is just that, printing on top of an existing stamp design.

It is done to indicate:
 * publicity of an event
 * a change in government
 * usage specifically in a region or another country
 * a change in usage type
 * a change in face value or currency. These are called surcharges (see: Surcharge).

An overprint can be done by printing, handstamping or even by pen.

 File:Burundi A.jpg|Burundi first issue stamp with provisional overprint on an obsolete Ruanda-Urundi stamp. File:Trieste A.A.webp|Italian stamp overprinted for use in Trieste. File:China occup N china.jpg|Japanese occupation of China issue overprinted for use in North China (1943), used. File:Croatia shield ovpt.jpg|Croatia overprint used after declaration of independence from Yugoslavia (1941). File:Crete HELLAS A.jpg|ΕΛΛΑΣ ("Greece") on stamp of Crete, declaring its union with Greece (1908), used. File:Qatar Apollo ovpt.jpg|Qatar, commemorating the Gemini VI and VII rendezvous in 1965. 

Forgery detection, variety detection
Not every overprint or surcharge has been forged; there's no need to be paranoid. Still, one should always be suspicious of errors and major EFOs without being already expertized. However, when Concise Stamp Encyclopedia or your favorite full stamp catalog notes that forgeries can exist of certain overprints or surcharges, caution is needed in buying such stamps.

There are also overprint/surcharge varieties, major or not, that are not immediately easily told apart. The method below can help with those situations, too.


 * First, if you don't have a written illustrated reference work, you must start with a known genuine example. That genuine example could be a cheap low value from a set (more than one is better) for comparison with a possibly genuine high value or inverted overprint. Online large images of certified stamps (and not necessarily just mentioned as being "signed") can be used. Starting with an unverified stamp and comparing it with a forgery or even several forgeries only is ridiculous. It doesn't prove what you have in front of you is genuine, does it? So then, compare:
 * shiny vs. dull/matte ink
 * method of overprint printing. Typography will often (but not always) leave telltale dents/impressions in paper, light or heavy, whereas lithography will never do that.
 * precise measurement, if those are given in references. See: How to measure. Most people are doing it wrong because they have never been taught the right way.
 * A stamp catalog will probably prove useful. There, if multiple watermarks or perfs are possible with the underlying stamp, you might be able to catch forgeries based on the wrong characteristics. Still, be aware that photos in catalogs may be of reprints with different characteristics or even might not be of genuine stamps at all.
 * We now come down to comparison of letterforms. If you are not a commercial artist familiar with typefaces, comparison of the genuine with your "patient" will probably fail. And sometimes the differences can be very subtle. To avoid the distraction of trying to read overprint text even though you have no familiarity with the language or alphabet used, 'turn everything upside down. Then carefully compare the individual shapes of letters/letterforms – thinness vs. thickness in spots, shapes of serifs, spacing of letters, comparison of bars or ornamental figures that are not letters. And you do examine the whole overprint/surcharge. "Looks close enough" will not do since there are some excellent forgeries out there.

Clearly, manuscript/pen overprints require more skill to figure out, so certification of those is best left to the experts.

See

 * Invert
 * Underprint

[[Category:O]]