Auction 333-341 Western Australia & Great Britain - Day 3

Tangier International Zone 1927 (April 29): ½ d. green, wmk. Block Cypher, eight examples affixed to the sheetlet bearing Essays of the TANGIER surcharge, with "Specimen No. 1" through "No. 4" showing four different sizes of the overprint (the final choice made and issued was in favour of overprint No. 3, Gibbons type 26), each stamp also overprinted SPECIMEN in black (Samuel type GB23). Unusually the Types 3 and 4 are overprinted on vertical pairs of the ½ d. The sheet handstamped at base with circular 'STAMPING DEPARTMENT / PRINTING BRANCH' and dated '20 JAN. 1927' in violet, together with a letter on 'Administracion Internacional de la Zona de Tánger' headed paper addressed to the Director of the 'Poste Anglaise' in Tangier dated November 8, 1926 stating that it is the wish of the Propaganda and Tourist Department that the British stamps are surcharged 'Tanger' for use in the local Post Offices. One of the adhesives with corner fault but this is of no great significance as this item shows the genesis of the "Tangier" overprint, an extraordinary item and unique.