British King George V Definitive, Profile Head and Seahorse Stamps Overprinted for NAURU

Nauru is the smallest state in the South Pacific, only 8.1 sq miles. The front cover of the book is a representation of their flag: blue for the Pacific Ocean, yellow for the Equator and the white star is symbolic of the 12 tribes of Nauru. Although small in size it has a diverse and interesting philatelic history, initially using German Marshall Island stamps, followed by Australian North West Pacific Islands overprints and from 1916 to 1924 the NAURU overprints on GB stamps before having their own designs from 1924. This study provides a detailed examination covering production from design, paper and ink, to printer, and distribution to Nauru for the definitive King George V Profile Head (½d to 1s) and Seahorse (2/6 to 10/-) stamps of Great Britain overprinted for use in Nauru. Profile Head controls are key to the study. They establish a chronological series of samples to which other stamps were organised and compared. The sample included all press runs believed to survive. They identify the individual printings within the controls. The book is relevant to a wider audience than just Nauru collectors, it is more about the production of British stamps supervised by the GB Inland Revenue Stamping Department.…