Churchill Airmail Overprint

1966, 10 May

Printer: Harrisons & Sons, Ltd., London
Designer: Unknown
Sheet Size: 5 x 5, plus an imperforate souvenir sheet
Perf.: 14 x 14 1/2

Apparantly after the original Churchill stamps were printed and perforated, it was decided to reissue the set as an airmail set. This was done by printing a black border around the stamps and the words "AIR MAIL" vertically on the left side of the stamps in the white panel.

It is not known who did the secondary printing as the printer at Harrison's does not remember them doing it. He pointed out an unusual feature of the printing and that was that it was done after the stamps had been perforated, as evidenced by the small white circles in many of the black borders. This was due to the loose circles in the original perforations that were on the stamps and then fell off later, exposing the wite area underneath.

Years ago I remember several errors being reported but I have not been able to locate any further information. One of the values had an inverted overprint.

• A very scarce cover with an unknown generic Churchill cachet.

• This is a very scarce cover as the Churchill Airmail is used on a private cover, not a government cover. While there has to be others, this is the only one I have ever encountered.

• The postal announcement for the overprinted Airmail stamps, minus the order form at the bottom.

Third Definitives

Churchill

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