The Era of Surcharges

1881 – 1888

Postage Stamps	Revenue Stamps	Telegraph Stamps	Summary
Scott #s 89 - 111	Scott #s 112 -131	Scott #s 132 - 136	Home

Introduction

This section has been created to provide a comprehensive listing of all genuine types of surcharges applied on issues covering the period between 1881 and 1888. It is aimed at assisting collectors compare stamps in their collections against known types of surcharges in order to assess their authenticity. In order to provide a logical approach to this section, the Scott listing and numbering system has been adopted.

The surcharge types referenced are those listed in “The Postage Stamps of the Philippines Including a List of Telegraph and Revenue Stamps Issued Under Spanish Dominion” by J. Murray Bartels, F. Apthorp Foster, and Captain F. L. Palmer, Boston, USA, 1904 (referred to herein as “Bartels Surcharge Types”). Additional genuine Surcharge Types, not listed in Bartels, are included with the use of a letter suffix after the Bartels Surcharge Type (eg. Type XXXa).

The black and white illustrations on the website are purely a guide to the type of surcharge and are not meant to imply an actual valid surcharge type. Reference to the actual Surcharge Types should be obtained from the actual stamps depicted on each page, or on the Summary Tab above, with the corresponding Scott and Bartels Types noted.

There are a number of recorded surcharged stamps in addition to those listed by Scott, which may have been genuine issues or produced as favours. Many of these can be found in the “Unlisted Scott Catalogue Surcharged Stamps of the 1881-1888 Spanish Philippine Period” by Don Peterson, Washington DC. 1997. In addition, numerous forgeries are known on both listed and non-listed surcharges. Neither of these are included in this section.

Special thanks to Don Peterson and Rick Miggins for sharing with me their wealth of knowledge in this period as well as allowing the use of stamp scans from their respective collections.

Please click on the following tab to upload a pdf file containing the summary table and surcharge types:

Brief History

Beginning in the 1880's, the Philippine Islands were plagued by a shortage of stamps resulting from delayed shipments from Spain, and greatly increased usage of stamps for both postage and prepayment of telegraph services. The shortage was remedied by surcharging existing stamp stock with the denominations most needed for those services.

With the exception of the first overprint (Types V and VI - Habilitado Para Correos), it is believed all of the surcharges were applied by hand. With a large number of surcharges being applied to numerous stamps and often in more than one colour, the beleaguered postal employee sometimes misapplied the surcharge. The result is a group of stamps with surcharges which are found inverted, doubled, tripled or sometimes even completely omitted.

Summary of Issues and Surcharge Types

Surcharged on Postage Stamps

Scott #	Surcharge Description	Base Stamp	Bartels Types
89	2c Black	2½c Brown	IX
91	10c Black	2-4/8c Ultramarine (2^nd Retouch)	XXX XXXa XXXI
92	20c Black	8c Brown	XVI
93	1r Black	2c Carmine	XI XIII
94	2r Black	2-4/8c Ultramarine (Original State)	XVIII XIX XX XXII
94a	2r Black	2-4/8c Ultramarine (1^st Retouch)	XVIII XX
94b	2r Black	2-4/8c Ultramarine (2^nd Retouch)	XVIII
95	8c Green	2c Carmine	XXIV
95A	8c Green on 1r Green	2c Carmine	XXIV on XI XXIV on XII
96	10c Green	2c Carmine	XXV
97	1r Green	2c Carmine	XIII XIV
98	1r Green	5c Gray-Blue	XI
99	1r Green	8c Brown	XI
100	1c Red	2-4/8c Ultramarine (1^st Retouch)	XXIX
101	1c Red	2-4/8c Ultramarine (2^nd Retouch)	XXIX
102	16c Red	2-4/8c Ultramarine (Original State)	XXVI
103	1r Red	2c Carmine	XI XII XIII
104	1r Red	5c Blue-Gray	XII
105	8c Magenta	2-4/8c Ultramarine (1^st Retouch)	XXXII XXXIII XXXIV XXXV
106	8c Magenta	2-4/8c Ultramarine (2^nd Retouch)	XXXII XXXIII XXXV
107	2-4/8c Magenta	1c Gray-Green	XXXVI
108	2-4/8c Magenta	5c Blue-Gray	XXXVI
109	2-4/8c Magenta	1/8c Green	XXXVI
110	2-4/8c Magenta	50m Bistre	XXXVI
111	2-4/8c Magenta	10c Green	XXXVI

Surcharged on Revenue Stamps

Scott #	Surcharge Description	Base Stamp	Bartels Types
112	2c Black	10c Bistre	IX
113	2-4/8c Black	10c Bistre	VII VIIa VIIb VIIc VIId
114	2-4/8c Black	2r Blue	VII VIIa VIIb VIIc VIId
115	8c Black	10c Bistre	VIII VIIIa
116	8c Black	2r Blue	VIII
118	1r Black	12-4/8c Gray Blue	XII
119	1r Black	10c Bistre	XI
120	2c Yellow	200m Green	X
121	16c Yellow	2r Blue	XXIII
122	1r Green	10c Bistre	XI
123	2r Red on 8c Red	2r Blue	XXVII on XXIV
123a	2r Red on 8c Red	2r Blue	XXVII on XXIVa
124	1r Red	12-4/8c Gray Blue	XII
125	6-2/8c Red	12-4/8c Gray Blue	XXVIII
126	1r Red	10p Bistre	XII
127	Habilitado Para Correos (Red)	1r Green	V or VI
127A	Habilitado Para Correos (Red)	2r Blue	V
127B	1r Red	1r Green	XII
128	1r Red	1p Green	XII
129	1r Red	200m Green	XV
129A	2r Red	2r Blue	XVIII XX XXVII
129B	Habilitado Para Correos (Blue)	10c Bistre	V or VI
130	2-4/8c Magenta	200m Green	XXXVI
131	2-4/8c Magenta	20c Brown	XXXVI

Surcharged on Telegraph Stamps

Scott #	Surcharge Description	Base Stamp	Bartels Types
132	2r Red	250m Ultramarine	XXVII
133	20c Black	250m Ultramarine	XVI
134	2r Black	250m Ultramarine	XIX
135	1r Red on 20c Black	250m Ultramarine	XII on XVI
136	2-4/8c Magenta	1c Bistre	XXXVI

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