ALFONSO XIII - BABY HEAD stamps of the PHILIPPINES
La Union Provisionals
Overprints for La Union Provisionals of 1898
The stamps were first described in an article published in the August 1902 issue of the American Journal of Philately. The author of this article considered the stamps to be spurious and for some years do not appear to have been taken seriously by philatelists and little was recorded about them. Perhaps as a consequence of this these stamps are amongst the rarest and least known of the Philippine postage stamps.
It was not until Don Enrique Zobel of Manila purchased the famous stamp collection of Count Ferrari at public auction in Paris after the end of the first World War which included the original copy of the resolution of the Municipal Council of San Fernando authorizing the issue of the stamps were their validity acknowledged.
Between 1 May and September 1898, local Filipino revolutionary forces seized control of the municipal and provincial governments in many parts of the Islands. Under these unsettled conditions, it was not possible to obtain from Manila postage stamps to replenish the dwindling supply in the post office at San Fernando. On 1 June 1898 local officials of the Municipal Government of San Fernando, facing a shortage of available stamps, signed a decree permitting the overprinting of the Spanish stamps still available. Amongst the stamps available for over printing were a number of the Alfonso XIII babyhead series. Evenso, there were insufficient supplies available and the decree provided for any available supplies of paper to also be used. The stamps remained in use until as late as December 1898.
The La Union Provsional Overprints utilised other stamps than the 1890 Babyhead Series. Most likely using whatever supplies remained in the Post Office stock. New stamps were also created on plain paper, these were perforated using a sewing machine. The original collection of Ferrari was reported to include 132 loose stamps. This collection was split up and in part destroyed by fire in 1945. It was reported that after the fire only 36 loose stamps were in existence in Manila in the collection of Don Jesus Cacho at at that time.
An article on the Provisionals led to Victor James reporting in ‘Philatelic Notes and Offers’, published in London, 30 April 1938 that he had a collection of 42 different varieties of these Provisionals. This collection includes some of the early Philippine stamps with their top and/or bottom labels cut off.
A second account exists, this time from the USA, by Robert Griffin (originally reported in the Western Stamp Collector, 2 Jan and 5 Jan 1971 and reproduced in the Philippine Philatelic Journal in 2004) who in 1970 was contacted by Maurice Schwartz (a stamp and coin dealer) where he produced two covers with these stamps and a collection of 144 loose stamps. The original collector was suggested to have been a Frenchman and was very meticulous in describing his treasures. Part of this collection of loose stamps appears to have been included in the Corinphila, December 2019 Auction.
There appears to be more La Union Provisionals in circulation than the 222 reported by the accounts above, in particular those surcharged on plain paper. However, the La Union Provisionals remain rare and for some only one or two examples are currently known to exsit.
The stamps remaining in the Post Office were surcharged or made valid, with the values or prices of 2 cent., 3 cent., 4 cent., 5 cent., 6 cent., 8 cent., 10 cent., and 25 cent., in colors black, violet and red. In addition, various blank pieces of paper were surcharged or validated in said same values and colours.
There are eight types of surcharge known, although only two were used for overprinting of the babyhead series.
Type 1: The surcharge comprises of “98” in the upper left corner, “CORREOS” is applied diagonally across the centre and the value is in the bottom right corner. The overall height of the surcharge is 20 to 21 mm. “CORREOS” is 15 mm long. Considerable variation in the relative positions of the three elements exist. CORREOS may be applied diagonally at approximately 60 degrees to the horizontal (Type 1A) or at 45 degrees (Type 1B)
Type 2: The surcharge consists of three horizontal lines with “CORREOS” at the the top, “98” in the centre and the value at the bottom. The overall height is between 17mm and 20mm, “CORREOS” is 15mm long. The Type 2 surcharge is normally applied to overprinted stamps such that the text reads upwards (Type 2A) or downwards (Type 2B).
Type 6: The surcharge consists of two horizontal lines with “CORREOS” at the the top, and the value at the bottom.
Type 1 and Type 2 surchages (these examples are on white paper with sewing machine perforations)
Type 1 surcharge in violet
LU-01: 3 cent surcharge on 1/8c green newspaper issue (Type 1A)
LU-02: 3 cent surcharge on 5mil olive grey newspaper issue (Type 1A)
LU-03: 5 cent surcharge on 5mil olive grey newspaper issue (Type 1B)
Type 1 surcharge in dark violet
LU-11: 2 cent surcharge on 2 4/8c dull blue postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-12: 2 cent surcharge on 6c violet brown postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-13: 2 cent surcharge on 10c yellow brown postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-14: 2 cent surcharge on 1/8c orange brown newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-15: 2 cent surcharge on 1mil dark violet newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-16: 2 cent surcharge on 5mil olive grey newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-17: 3 cent surcharge on (1896) 2c grey brown postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-18: 3 cent surcharge on 12 4/8c yellow green postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-19: 3 cent surcharge on 1mil dark violet newspaper issue (Type 1B)
Type 1 surcharge in black
LU-31: 2 cent surcharge on 8c yellow green postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-32: 2 cent surcharge on 15c red brown postal issue (Type 1A)
LU-33: 2 cent surcharge on 1mil dark violet newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-34: 2 cent surcharge on 2mil dark violet newspaper issue (Type 1A)
LU-41: 3 cent surcharge on 2c violet postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-42: 3 cent surcharge on (1894) 2c grey brown postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-43: 3 cent surcharge on 5c green postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-44: 3 cent surcharge on 10c pale claret postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-45: 3 cent surcharge on 12 4/8c green postal issue (Type 1A)
LU-46: 3 cent surcharge on 1mil dark violet newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-47: 3 cent surcharge on 2mil brown newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-51: 5 cent surcharge on 1/8c green newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-52: 5 cent surcharge on 1mil brown newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-53: 5 cent surcharge on 2mil green newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-54: 5 cent surcharge on 2mil brown newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-55: 10 cent surcharge on 1mil blue newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-56: 10 cent surcharge on 1c violet newspaper stamp (Type 1B)
Type 1 surcharge in red
LU-61: 2 cent surcharge on 2c violet postal issue (Type 1) (not illustrated)
LU-62: 2 cent surcharge on 2c claret postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-63: 2 cent surcharge on 20c orange postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-64: 2 cent surcharge on 1mil dark violet newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-65: 3 cent surcharge on 10c dark claret postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-66: 3 cent surcharge on 12 4/8c orange postal issue (Type 1B)
LU-67: 3 cent surcharge on 1mil dark violet newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-68 3 cent surcharge on 1mil blue newspaper issue (Type 1B)
LU-69: 10 cent surcharge on 1mil olive grey newspaper issue (Type 1A) (not illustrated)
Type 2 surcharge in violet
LU-71: 3 cent surcharge on 1/8c brown newspaper issue (Type 2A)
Type 2 surcharge in dark violet
LU-72: 5 cent surcharge on 2mil dark violet newspaper issue (Type 2)
Type 2 surcharge in black
LU-81: 25 cent surcharge on 10c claret postal issue (Type 2)
LU-82: 25 cent surcharge on 1/8c brown newspaper issue (Type 2A)
Type 2 surcharge in red
LU-91: 3 cent surcharge on 2c blue postal issue (Type 2A)
LU-92: 3 cent surcharge on 1/8c blue newspaper issue (Type 2A)
LU-93: 3 cent surcharge on 5mil olive grey newspaper issue (Type 2A)
LU-94: 3 cent surcharge on 1mil blue newspaper issue (Type 2B)
Type 6 surcharge in black
LU-95: 5 cent surcharge on 2mil dark violet newspaper issue
Covers
Warren (PPJ 2003-3) notes that Don Enrique Zobel of Manila purchased the famous stamp collection of Count Ferrari at public auction in Paris after the end of the first World War. The Ferrari collection contained the original copy of the resolution of the Municipal Council of San Fernando authorizing the issue of the stamps together with 132 loose stamps and four covers bearing 15 stamps.
After he returned to Manila, Don Enrique Zobel sold a portion of the loose stamps to Mr. Carlos Young and to Don Jesus Cacho. The covers and the original copy of the resolution authorizing the issue of the stamps Senor Zobel retained for his own collection. When Don Enrique Zobel died, his collection passed to his son, Don Jacobo Zobel. During the burning of Manila in 1945 the collections of both Mr. Carlos Young and Don Jacobo Zobel were destroyed.
Covers showing postal use of these stamps are exceedingly rare. The four covers which were brought to Manila with the Ferrari Collection were destroyed during the burning of Manila in 1945.
Only one cover is known to exsit which shows use of an overprinted stamp from the baby head Series (and one other cover which shows other overprinted stamps). The Tows collection of Philippine stamps, which was sold at public auction in New York during November, 1948, contained one cover which bears four specimens of the San Fernando, La Union, local postage stamps. The postmarks indicate that it was mailed on Aug. 2, 1898. The French cancellation date "5 Nov. 98". The date of the French Paquet boat postmark "18 (illegible) 98" The final letter of the month is "T" which could be either Sept. or Oct.
Extract from the Tows (1948) auction catalogue. with LU-11: 3 cent surcharge on 12 4/8c green
References
Warren (PPJ 2003-3)
Griffin (PPJ 2004-1)