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GB Overprints Society

Why have GB stamps and postal stationery been overprinted?


GB Overprints Society (GBOS) helps members and collectors to explore the many ways in which, and reasons why, British stamps and other postal material have been overprinted, whether it is for use outside the UK or for special functions within the UK.

This opens up a wide variety of avenues, which will interest not only GB collectors who want to find out other uses of their favourite stamps, but also collectors of particular countries or themes.


"The Aims and Objects of the Society shall be: ... the study of the stamps, postal markings, postal stationery and all philatelic material overprinted on the issues of Great Britain, of all countries that have at any time used the foregoing ..."


These pages will help you see some of these areas and, we hope, encourage you to join the Society. Please note that the Society only studies overprints on British stamps etc, not overprints on material of other countries.

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Please join is in the GBOS forum: click here (you will have to register your name on that site before you can contribute to it, but you only need to "register" the first time you use it, not every time).


Except as noted all images and other contents are © copyright GBOS; enquiries regarding copyright should be addressed to the webmanager.

The Society expresses its thanks to Realpoint for the use of the software used to manage the content of this website, and to a pleasing number of dealers and collectors who have given permission for images of their items to be included.

The Society is affiliated to the ABPS and the APS. APS

gbos: GB Overprints Society, Great Britain Overprints Society

page last updated: 12 May 2010, 22 Sept 2010, 4 July 2011, 2 Oct 2011, 19 Oct 2012, 2 Feb 2013, 9 July 2018, 7 Sept 2020, 12 Feb 2021