Tonga 1962 (7 Feb) "Emancipation" Air 5s orange-yellow and slate-lilac Official, type O3 overprint, upper left corner block of 4, SGO14.
A fine unmounted mint block with full original gum.
A rare and exquisite quality positional multiple of this key value within the Centenary of the Emancipation Air Mail issue. Only 2,100 issued (= 35 sheets) and most were used.
An attractive stamp featuring the "Mutiny on the Bounty".
The overprinted Air Mail stamps were issued in celebration of the Centenary of Emancipation. Emancipation Day remains a public holiday in the Kingdom of Tonga to this day celebrating the abolition of the system of serfdom which had been used by the local chiefs for centuries as a means of forced labour. On June 4th 1862, Tonga's first Christian king, George Tupuo I declared the abolition of serfdom in the official emancipation edict as part of his 1862 Code of Laws.
The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £600+.
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