Bohemia and Moravia
Stamps of 1939

Michel 10
"Portraits - Jan Masaryk"

Issued 15th July 1939. Czechoslovak issued stamps with "BÖHMEN u. MÄHREN / ČECHY a MORAVA" overprint. Former country name obliterated using 3 lines. This stamp features Jan Garrigue Masaryk (14-Sep-1886 to 10-Mar-1948) politician and Czechoslovian Foreign Minister (1940-1948).

Mi 10
1 K
blackish pink lilac
Jan Masaryk

Valid until: 15th Dec 1939

Quantities: 603,000

Unlike some other stamps in this set Michel 10 was only ever overprinted on existing stamps.

There are many counterfeit overprints in existance, the genuine overprints can be detected by magnification where it can be seen that the overprint is made up of small dots. The counterfeit examples are typically solid and do not show individual dots. In addition there are many counterfeit cancellations, many of which are backdated and these need to be expertised to ensure they are genuine.

The new printings can be differentiated from the original printings in that there is a coloured dot above the 1st and 20th stamp as well as below the plate numbers on the sheet. None of the original printings have these dots.

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