Gambia 1905 (6 Apr) watermark CA 1s6d, 2s6d (rejoined horizontal pair), 3s, and watermark MCA 7½d (rejoined horizontal pair) and 10d (rejoined vertical pair), five of the six new values, each with unrecorded local "SPECIMEN" handstamp (12x1.5mm), and identifiable part strikes of the receiving handstamp "COLONIE du GABON et du CONGO FRANCAIS/DIRECTION DE L'INTERIEUR", SG53/66.
Without gum as usual and odd imperfections, but an extraordinary group of the highest importance and rarity, from the Gabon Universal Postal Union (UPU) archive which was dispersed c.1975.
These parallel local "SPECIMEN" handstamps of Hong Kong and Rhodesia (see Samuel p.60) which were produced at the request of the UPU and sent to Gabon at the same period, as a result of this newly established French colony requiring examples of current stamps no longer available from Bern. Probably five of each value originally existed, with the pairs undoubtedly unique.
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