1980 Scouting Movement Set of SPECIMEN Postage Stamps Only 1k Ever Printed 40s ERRROR Controling #’s

1982, February 22. Scouting Movement – 75th Anniversary
40s, 2p 1,000 sets
Does Appear Lord Robert Baden Powel is ERROR
It’s Missing SPECIMEN Handstamp (Not Faded, Just Not There)

Scott# 1577-1578

100% Authentic, 100% Genuine.
Overprint Types and Control Numbers

There are many types of these SPECIMEN overprints which differ in sizes and fonts, which may be diagonally placed or horizontally positioned. There are also some that were hand- stamped only

What are Specimen Stamps?
Specimen stamps have the word “specimen” printed across them and usually have the face value struck out since they are not intended for postal use. Early specimen stamps would have the word “specimen” (or equivalent) applied via handstamp whereas later stamps were overprinted. Non English speaking countries would apply the word in their native language – for example “muestra” is used on Spanish era specimen stamps of the Philippines. Specimen stamps were once an important tool for member countries of the UPU (Universal Postal Union). Member countries of the UPU would send specimen stamps to each other so postmasters in each country could identify new international stamps. This helped postmasters to reduce the use of fraudulent stamps on international postage coming into their country. The sharing of specimen stamps across member nations started in 1879.

It should also be noted that not all specimen stamps were produced for the sole purpose of distribution to UPU members. Final proof stamps, sample stamps, exhibition stamps and reference stamps for archive were often overprinted as specimen stamps to ensure they were invalidated for postal use. Some specimen stamps will also bear a serial number, you can see this on later Philippine specimens (and in the examples above). Other countries have at times used perforations (perfins to be precise) to identify the stamp as a specimen though this was not a practice in the Philippines as far as can be ascertained.