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JOURNAL 219 - Iraq, The Official Stamps of 1973
With the Flower Pattern Overprint

 

By: Rainer Fuchs

The modern stamps of Iraq and here especially the Official stamps, are a relatively little researched field despite that they are a very interesting area due the numerous Overprints and its Overprint varieties. Many Overprint varieties and errors are known, however, in the major catalogues it is usually only mentioned “from stamp xyz several errors on the overprints are known”, without going into details.

 

This articles deals with the Official stamps of 1973 (SG-Nos O1130a – O1147a) and here especially with the Nos. O1145, O1142 and O1142b. The catalogues only record here that the Flower pattern exists to the right and to the left and the Flower Pattern Type I is more common without giving details, however, Michel gives the hint that the stamps with the flower pattern to the right is scarcer and gives a premium of 60 % to the normal stamp.

 

Since some time I have each one sheet of the Official stamps, SG-No. O1145, O1142 and O1142b, the 3 Fils carmine, 16 Fils lilac-red and 30 Fils red-orange stamps and now show on which position of the sheet the flower patterns point to the left respectively to the right.

OPAL 219 Iraq, The Official Stamps of 1973 - 2.
OPAL 219 Iraq, The Official Stamps of 1973 - 2.

Pointing left

Pointing right