28-03-2021, 10:00 PM
Many of these are catalogued by Gibbons (notably Australia).
The UPU requires SPECIMEN overprinted copies for distribution to its member nations so they (supposedly) can recognize legitimate postage. That was the original source of specimen issues.
However, these modern topical omnibus sets are created and distributed by philatelic companies such as Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation which represent many "third world" countries and do all their new issues for them. They wouldn't pass up the chance to create additional "collectibles" to sell to their subscription customer base, given half an excuse.
Roy
The UPU requires SPECIMEN overprinted copies for distribution to its member nations so they (supposedly) can recognize legitimate postage. That was the original source of specimen issues.
However, these modern topical omnibus sets are created and distributed by philatelic companies such as Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation which represent many "third world" countries and do all their new issues for them. They wouldn't pass up the chance to create additional "collectibles" to sell to their subscription customer base, given half an excuse.
Roy