GB Overprints Society

Until 1948, during the continued British occupation, the wartime MEF (Middle East Forces) stamps were used in Eritrea, and were sold in local currency equivalents (East Africa shillings). They were then replaced by issues overprinted with the country name and local currency. The first set was for the British Military Administration (“B.M.A.”), but with the change to civilian government and wider public use of the posts the overprint was changed to “B.A.” – British Administration.

Some stamps can be found used with a penline across them: these are collectable in this state as the penline was used as a sort of “perfin” to prevent petty theft; they were probably not used to indicate a concessionary rate as though at one time (The Overprinter 2/03 p.31) since they can be found on several denominations.

Overprinted stamps used on telegraph forms were perforated “PAGATO” (“PAID”) in large font over several stamps; complete forms are very collectable but loose stamps taken off them are of no special value.

     

1^st issue, BMA Eritrea, 1948-49

(SG №)	denomination	colour	date of issue	number issued
E1	5 CENTS on ½d	green	27 May 1948	171,141
E2	10 CENTS on 1d	red	27 May 1948	232,179
E3	20 CENTS on 2d	orange	27 May 1948	327,677
E4	25 CENTS on 2½d	blue	27 May 1948	434,917
E5	30 CENTS on 3d	violet	27 May 1948	218,741
E6	40 CENTS on 5d	brown	27 May 1948	319,432
E7	50 CENTS on 6d	purple	27 May 1948	338,946
E8	65 CENTS on 8d	magenta	1 February 1949	316,958
E8a	75 CENTS on 9d	green	27 May 1948	173,926
E9	1 SHILLING on 1/-	brlown	27 May 1948	213,267
E10	2 SH. 50 CTS on 2/6d	green	27 May 1948	71,608
E11	5 SHILLINGS on 5/-	red	27 May 1948	70,864
E12	10 SHILLINGS on 10/-	blue	27 May 1948	89,912

The “misplaced dot after 2SH” variety is philatelically very important as exactly the same error occurs, in the same place on the sheet, in both the Eritrea and Somalia stamp, showing that the same basic overprinting plate was used for both, but either replacing one country name with the other or applying the country name as a separate operation.

The bars at the top of the stamp on the variety are close together, like on the later “B.A.” issue. At the time of writing only a handful of copies are know, apparently from different positions on the sheet, which suggests that they may come a modified overprinting plate in a late batch, rather than on individual stamps on the sole overprinting plate. The BPMA registration sheet does not show narrow bars on any of the stamps. As can be seen from the illustrations above it is not so much that the bars are now more closely together, but the whole overprint is shorter, as if the part of the overprint from the bottom bar downwards has been shifted upwards as a unit. The “B.A.” issue shown above for comparison.

Varieties
E2.v1	10c	overprint badly misplaced
E4.v1	25c	overprint badly misplaced
E11.v1	2sh50	misplaced dot after “2SH”
E12.v1	5sh	narrow bars

2^nd issue, BA Eritrea, 1950

(SG №)	denomination	colour	date of issue	number issued
E13	5c on ½d	Pale Green	06/02/1950	116,664
E14	10c on 1d	Pale Scarlet	06/02/1950	169,469
E15	20c on 2d	Pale Orange	06/02/1950	313,389
E16	25c on 2½d	Light Ultramarine	06/02/1950	248,558
E17	30c on 3d	Pale Violet	06/02/1950	310,202
E18	40c on 5d	Brown	06/02/1950	198,134
E19	50c on 6d	Purple	06/02/1950	536,347
E20	65c on 8d	Bright Carmine	06/02/1950	715,228
E21	75c on 9d	Deep Olive Green	06/02/1950	277,165
E22	1s on 1s	Bistre Brown	06/02/1950	394,870
E23	2s50c on 2s6d	Yellow Green	06/02/1950	98,367
E24	5s on 5s	Red	06/02/1950	78,823
E25	10s on 10s	Ultramarine	06/02/1950	111,647

Varieties

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3^rd issue, new colours and high value designs, 1951

(SG №)	denomination	colour	date of issue	number issued
E26	5c on ½d	Pale Green	28/05/1951	131,716
E27	10c on 1d	Light Ultramarine	28/05/1951	174,181
E28	20c on 2d	Pale Red Brown	28/05/1951	261,294
E29	25c on 2½d	Pale Scarlet	28/05/1951	261,712
E30	2s50c on 2s6d	Yellow Green	28/05/1951	51,655
E31	5s on 5s	Red	28/05/1951	50,176
E32	10s on 10s	Ultramarine	28/05/1951	49,121

Varieties

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Postage dues: BMA Eritrea

(SG №)	denomination	colour	date of issue	number issued
ED1	5c on ½d	Emerald	27/05/1948	22,991
ED2	10c on 1d	Carmine	27/05/1948	26,164
ED3	20c on 2d	Agate	27/05/1948	40,436
ED4	30c on 3d	Violet	27/05/1948	52,000
ED5	1s on 1s	Deep Blue	27/05/1948	22,264

Varieties
ED1.v1	5c on ½d	dot missing after ‘A’
ED2.v1	10c on 1d	dot missing after “B”
ED3.v1	20c on 2d	dot missing after “A”
ED3.v2	20c on 2d	dot missing after “B”

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Postage dues: BA Eritrea

(SG №)	denomination	colour	date of issue	number issued
ED6	5c on ½d	Emerald	06/02/1950	19,917
ED7	10c on 1d	Carmine	06/02/1950	32,761
ED8	20c on 2d	Agate	06/02/1950	40,349
ED9	30c on 3d	Violet	06/02/1950	39,267
ED10	1s on 1s	Deep Blue	06/02/1950	26,234

Varieties
ED7.v1	10c on 1d	‘C’ of CENTS missing
ED7.v2	10c on 1d	‘C’ of CENTS missing and vertical oblong of ‘E’ of CENTS
ED8.v1	20c on 2d	missing dot after ‘A’
ED9.v1	30c on 3d	Watermark Sideways Inverted
ED10.v1	1s on 1s	missing dot after ‘A’

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References specific to this and related chapters

GBOS GB Overprints Compendium edition 8, Dr John Gledhill (12/4/2020)

Particular thanks go to Stanley Gibbons Ltd, for permission to quote their catalogue numbers and numerous other contributors who are mentioned in the Appendix section.

All content is copyright, Dr John Gledhill and the GB Overprints Society, May 2025.