Blessed Peter To Rot and the Year of the Horse - Post PNG's overprint dilemma

Overprints & Problems @ PNG Post

During 2020 Post PNG's Philatelic Bureau issued six thematic sets of stamps; in 2021 this was down to one set; and as of 22 December 2022 there have been no sets issued during the year. The sorry state of the stamp issuing and collector support program in PNG was no doubt exacerbated by the retirement early in 2022 of Philatelic Manager Banian Mosiboda after 15 years with the Bureau. This dilemma arose due to a variety of factors which the current author can only speculate upon, namely a decrease in stamp usage over the last decade, replaced by generic printed labeling machines and personalised, or 'privately' printed stamps issued by Post PNG (which, as of January 2024, appear to be the only type of stamps being issued by PNG); a general bureaucratic managerial malaise across government services in PNG, due in part to ongoing political instabilities; and the precarious financial sustainability of the philatelic program arising over many years from a lack of resourcing, despite the building up of a good international reputation during the second half of the twentieth century. These issues are not unique to PNG, but present internationally with, for example, Australia Post expanding its product line in recent years to areas such as postal numismatic covers, pop culture labels featuring Star Wars and The Avengers, and a diverse range of non-philatelic products and services which definitely do not align with traditional post office services.

In the case of PNG, one manifestation of the problem had been the release of numerous stamp overprints and, ultimately, the recent inability to issue stamp sets. Evidence of the former can be seen as far back as 1993 with the issue of 4 emergency overprints, followed by 29 such overprints during 1994-5 and 27 during 2014-15. These numbers do not include printing varieties and errors arising from the rushed overprinting, and the fact that generally there were no precise dates of issue or official first day covers released for the overprinted stamps. The author has listed and discussed the history of PNG stamp overprints elsewhere. The aim of this blog, however, is to focus on two examples in order to highlight the issuing process and associated problems for both Post PNG and the international collecting community. The examples are the 1995-2001 Peter To Rot Beatification issue, and the 2014 Year of the Horse issue.

1995 Peter To Rot Beatification

During early 1995 provisional overprints were issued by Post PNG as a result of a parliamentary legislative holdup which was not alleviated until mid year. The implementation of new postal rates resulted in the overprinting of stamps that had been printed during the second half of 1994 for release later that year. Promotional material prepared for the release was also caught up in these delays. In the case of the Peter To Rot Beatification issue, during the intervening period between initial printing (?September-October 1994) and release (January 1995), the sheets were overprinted. Furthermore, during 2001 there was a second overprinting, supposedly of those remaining sheets which had already received the first overprint. The two initial Beatification of Peter To Rot 21t and 90t stamps were eventually overprinted due to shortages in the 50t and K1.00 letter rates. This gave rise to four different states of the Peter To Rot Beatification stamps.

Four states of the 1995 Beatification issue.

The initial printing of a strip of three stamps - the 21t, a non-denominational image of a cross, and the 90t - were eventually known in four states, with three printed and one never printed. One state - the initial printing, with no overprinting - was never officially issued, though copies exist in circulation among collectors. Two states were subject to overprinting and issued on 11 January 1995 and 1 December 2001. A fourth state was illustrated in a pre-release information brochure (leaflet) included with the 1995 first day cover, but never printed. This has been the case with other stamp issues, such as the Tourism set also issued on 11 January 1995, wherein the brochure included images of the stamps with the updated denominations and no overprinting. In that case, six of the eight stamps as released bore overprinting.

Print numbers for the initial printing of the Peter To Rot Beatification issue in late 1994 are not known, as is common for modern PNG stamp issues, due to the failure by Post PNG to regularly issue such figures. However, in a 2001 leaflet describing the 1 December series of overprintings, it is stated that 15,842 sheets of the Peter ToRot series were subject to overprinting of the 21t stamp to 50t by Imprint of Port Moresby.

The four states

[a] 1st state - No overprint. Initial printing, unissued, though copies are in circulation. Stamps include: 1) 21t Peter To Rot - SG745, and 2) 90t Pope John Paul II - uncatalogued variant of SG746. These two stamps were printed in a row of three, with a non-denominational information stamp in between, containing a drawing of a mountain and a cross. The strip illustrated below is rare.

1st state - no overprint. Unissued. Source: Phoenix Auctions, August 2022.

The sheets were printed during late 1994 (September-October?) at Leigh-Mardon, Melbourne, Australia, with a planned release date of 11 January 1991. However, problems arose with the announcement during November 1994 of planned increases in selected postage rates effective 1 January 1995, but not formalised until their passage through parliament. It appears that some of these 1st state stamps - without any overprint - were later released to the collecting public. A quick look on eBay during January 2022 revealed a 1st state strip of three selling for UK£71.50, whilst in August 2022 a top of sheet two rows (8 stamps - illustrated above) sold for $380 at Phoenix Auctions. The 90t stamp without overprint is therefore rare as this is the only instance of its release.

[b] 2nd state - K1.00 original stamp. Not printed. The artwork for the 11 January 1995 release publicity brochure included with first day covers shows a version of the Pope John Paul II stamp without overprint and the 90t replaced therein by a K1.00 in red.

2nd state - K.100 Pope John Paul II. Post PNG brochure c.November 1994, front & rear.

This stamp was never printed, either singularly or in line with the other two stamps, likely due to the fact that the 90t stamp had already been printed and it was deemed cheaper to overprint the single stamp rather than reprint the whole sheet. Such wastage was economically out of the question.

[c] 3rd state - K1.00 on 90t overprint. Issued 11 January 1995. The two stamps are catalogued by Stanley Gibbons as: SG745 - 21t and SG746 - 1.00K on 90t. Sufficient notice of the increased rates was given to allow for local overprinting of the 90t stamp by Imprint of Port Moresby, in time for the 11 January 1995 release. The 90t was covered by a rectangle and K1.00 was printed in black in the lower left corner of the stamp, as seen in the se-tenant of three strip and first day cover below. The 21t stamp was not overprinted at this stage.

3rd state as issued and on first day cover, 11 January 1995.

The overprinting on the first day cover K1.00 stamp appears slightly different to that on those issued generally, suggesting more than one such initial overprinting by Imprint. The stamps were also made available at Australian post offices in an official Australia Post Shop / Philatelic Preferred Stock cellophane package.

[d] 4th state - 50t on 21t overprint. Issued 1 December 2001, this comprised the overprinting of the 21t denomination by a thinner and taller rectangle and 50t printed in the lower left corner of the stamp to meet "increasing needs" for that denomination. 15,842 sheets were overprinted at this time. The K1.00 stamp had previously been overprinted, as in the third state described above.

4th state, issued 1 December 2001.

This overprinting took place on those sheets left over from the 3rd state overprint described above, and new sheets were not printed by Leigh-Mardon. The stamps are catalogued by Stanley Gibbons as: SG745a - 50t on 21t; SG746a - 1.00K on 90t, though the latter is identical to SG746. A first day cover was sold for K9.90 and included all five overprinted stamps issued on 1 December 2001.

4th state strip on official overprints first day cover, 1 December 2001.

The Peter To Rot Beatification stamps are a good example of the problems arising from delays in subjecting stamp price changes to legislation. Post PNG cannot be held to blame for this, as they obviously are informed of upcoming changes and told to have stamps ready and available for these. When the changes are then varied, and dates held back by the parliamentary bureaucracy, the only fiscal option is to overprint the supplies on hand, rather then print new stamps and destroy the unused sheets. Unfortunately, this rather chaotic situation did not disappear overnight but continued to arise, right up until the most recent Tuna and APEC issues in 2020, with overprinting remaining an all too common occurrence. The 2014 Year of the Horse stamp series is a case in point, not only with regards to overprinting, but also the proliferation of variants to generate income from collectors.

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2014 Year of the Horse

During 2014 Post PNG issued a series of stamps to commemorate the Chinese Year of the Horse. The series was produced and released in close cooperation with China, and the stamps appeared with the flags of both Papua New Guinea and China on the lower left corner. Though initially comprising the release of four stamps on the first day cover (K1.70 x 2, K6.00 and K8.70), eleven varieties of the multicoloured horse stamps eventually appeared (K1.30 x 2, K1.70 x 2, K5.00 x 2, K6.00 x 2, K8.70 x 2 and K10), along with a first day cover utilised on two occasions (initial release and subsequent overprinting), plus a sheetlet, miniature sheet and stamp pack. The production and release of the stamps was a complex affair. They were designed by Lo Dongzhou of Henan Post in China, and printed by Henan Post Printer, China, during the latter part of 2013. A single design was used, and it was similar to those other Year of the Horse stamps issued internationally. The series was also the first PNG release for the year. The official release date was 2 January 2014. Initial values were as follows:

1) K1.70 - Green horse with light purple background

2) K1.70 - Blue horse with brown background

3) K6.00 - Brown horse with red background

4) K8.70 - White horse with dark purple background

The first day covers were postmarked on 1 January 2014 with a special circular date stamp, dated for some reason a day before the official release date, but possibly to coincide with the commencement of the Year of the Horse.

Year of the Horse first day cover, 1 January 2014.

A sheetlet containing four different coloured stamps was also issued at the time, with in tow instances different denominations to the original four stamps used on the first day cover. It is unclear whether this sheetlet was also made available attached to an official first day cover.

Year of the Horse sheetlet.

The sheetlet stamps were:

5) K1.70 - Yellow horse with purple background

6) K1.70 - Red horse with dark yellow background

7) K6.00 - Black horse with grey background

8) K8.70 - Brown horse with teal background

In addition, there was a miniature sheet released containing a single K10 stamp.

Year of the Horse miniature sheet.

This stamp was also of a different colour, as follows:

9) K10 - Blue horse with light grey-green background

Once again, it is not known if this was issued attached to the first day cover.

As part of the initial release program, a stamp pack was issued, containing the original four stamps, but not the K10 stamp.

As noted by Post PNG on their website, an overprint was subsequently required to accommodate a K5.00 rate. This was carried out by Biz Print, PNG. The two overprinted stamps were issued on 12 February 2014. They are described as follows:

10) K5.00 - Green horse with purple background - overprinted in black with red strike-through of the original K1.70 stamp

11) K5.00 - Blue horse with brown background - overprinted in black with red strike-through of the original K1.70 stamp

The original Year of the Horse first day cover was also used for the release of the overprints, with a new circular date stamp.

Overprints first day cover, 12 February 2014.

The circumstances for the issue of the overprinted stamps was outlined by Post PNG as follows, substantially repeating the situation seen in 1994-5 with the Peter To Rot Beatification stamps:

The overprinting of the ‘Year of the Horse stamps’ was a direct result of a late change of postal rates by the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC). The Year of the Horse, as the first issue for 2014, ferried the transition of rates from 2013 to 2014. The Year of the Horse issue carried the 2013 rates, purposely to change buttons in 2014, when the 2014 rates were made known. After the release of 2014 rates, the K1.70 ‘Year of the Horse’ stamps became invalid, thus, prompting the Bureau to overprint them with K5.00, a denomination commonly used for international destinations. There were two different types of K1.70 printed (one with a brown back-ground and a blue horse, while the other had a purple back-ground with a green horse). Each of them was overprinted with 825 sheets of 20 x K5.00 stamps [total = 16,500 stamps]. These stamps saw the post offices going until the release of the Nelson Mandela stamps issue on 31/03/14.

The aforementioned statement highlights the common problem facing Post PNG's Philatelic Branch in regard to end of year and new year rate changes, and the fact of post offices being caught short of stamps with an appropriate currency. Whereas previous stamp issues in the dim distant past would have likely only comprised the four, or five, single Year of the Horse stamps and a first day cover appropriately postmarked, by 2014 we can see the expansion of philatelic products to the eleven stamps and five items of associated material, all of which is compounded by the overprintings. Collectors, dealers, and cataloguers are therefore faced with a complex and costly collection of material if they seek to be comprehensive for the 2014 PNG Year of the Horse issue. In addition, the rarity of the varieties would add to the woes of completists. It is precisely situations such as this (i.e. issue complexity and cost) that have led to a diminution of the reputation of Papua & New Guinea amongst the international philatelic collecting community. As a result of the post-2020 problems with the issuing of stamp sets and definitives, in their place we have seen the proliferation of privately printed stamps, and labels, all released by Post PNG. These items are often released without any prior notice or adherence to traditional and well known philatelic protocols. Confusions reigns, and with it disenchantment by long suffering collectors. It is hoped that stability is restored in the short-term to the Philatelic Section, Post PNG.

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Last updated: 3 March 2023

Michael Organ, Australia (Home)

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