1971-74 Bangladesh 500 Different Mint NH 1971-74 Provisional Overprints

Item Specifics

Country

Bangladesh

Condition

Mint (NH)

Stamp Format

Single

Year of Issue

1971-1974

Item Description

500 different 1971-1974 Bangladesh বাংলাদেশ Independence Provisional Overprints on Pakistani Stamps. Due to lack of ability for the new Bangladesh government to issue new stamps in its own name after liberation from Pakistan, over 200 postal sub-divisions overprinted their holdings of the various varieties of Pakistan stamps on hand to have stamps available for mailings. During the transition period, more than 1,000,000 overprinted stamps were used a day, each with the distinct overprint of the local postal unit issuing them.  

These 500 different overprinted stamps were recently rediscovered in the over 40 year old "new issue" stock of Fatoullah & Lazar that we purchased at auction in the late 1970s and put away untouched. The stamps are mint never hinged.  On Bangladesh independence from Pakistan, the Pakistani stamp stock in each separate liberated post office was locally overprinted for use. That means that though these provisional stamps are in mint never hinged condition, they received more handling by postal clerks doing the overprinting process than a normal stamp would have had if just torn from a sheet.  A few may have minor faults or show signs of aging. 

This Bangladesh provisionally overprinted lot of Pakistani stamps includes definitives, pictorials, commemoratives, and officials. The scans are a representation of the lot, which comes packaged in glassine envelopes.

The brutal and bloody war for the independence of Bangladesh ended on December 16, 1971 with the unconditional surrender of Pakistan to the combined forces of India and Bangladesh. An estimated 10 million Bengali refugees had fled to neighboring India, while 30 million were internally displaced. Casualty estimates vary greatly from 300,000 to 3,000,000. Stamps for millions of daily communications were needed immediately. Most Bengali officials (including Postmasters) of the Pakistan Government defected at first opportunity. Some districts bordering India were liberated before December 16th and the head post offices in those districts started functioning immediately. For example, the Jessore Head Post Office started functioning on December 8th and since no Bangladesh stamps were available, the postmaster in charge had machine printed (not rubber stamped) an overprint on nine of Pakistan stamps available in his stock and put them to public use through his subordinate post offices.

Internally and internationally, Bangladesh (Eastern Pakistan) was no longer a part of Pakistan. On December 19, 1971, just three days after Pakistan surrendered, the new Bangladesh government issued a circular to all former Pakistan post offices in Bangladesh to use their own initiative in making and using rubber stamps to impress all Pakistan postage stamps and postal stationary available at their disposal with a Bangladesh overprint. This postal transition from the name "Pakistan" to "Bangladesh" was consistent with the new government's general handout that instructed all offices to strike out the word "Pakistan" from all printed papers, signboards and names wherever applicable and replace it by "Bangladesh." The postal authority realized that it was impractical to instruct about specific or common design, type size of the rubber stamp, and color of the overprints to be used. The designs and colors of the rubber stamps varied considerably. The most common color was purple (violet), then black, with less in red or blue and a few in green. Not only did these instructions required hand-stamping of the overprint, they also banned further machine pre-printing of overprints but permitted the continued use of those stamps already pre-printed until February 4, 1972.

Stamps with Bangladesh rubber-stamped overprints remained valid for use until April 27, 1974, with overprinted postal stationery valid until October 7, 1974. At the end of the validity period, the post office called in the rubber-stamps. 186 different ones were received, though a few had already been destroyed. Evaluations of stamps and covers over the past 50 years have found that perhaps up to 232 different hand-stamped overprinting devices had been in use throughout Bangladesh during this transitional period.

We ship by U.S. Postal Service with USPS Tracking and can combine multiple items purchased the same day into the same package to save on shipping.

NOTICE: Since insurance covers only the goods but not the costs of shipping them, the buyer agrees that once we have proof of delivery of the package to the post office, that if it is lost in the mails and not delivered or is damaged in shipping that the refund is limited to only the purchase price and any sales tax (if applicable) and does not include a refund of the shipping. For international buyers, we label our customs tags as "merchandise" and you are responsible for all customs, duties or other import fees into your country.

Copyright 2020 by Michael Fried, P.O. Box 27521, Oakland, California 94602-0521

Seller Information

Seller

abctoo (12)

Registered Since

02/25/2020

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Item Location

California, United States

Ships To

Worldwide

Item Weight

0 Lbs 13 oz

Returns Accepted

No