Mafeking Besieged Stamps and Postmarks
Does anyone know about these stamps, especially how to tell faked overprints from genuine ones?
I confess do not have any easy answers. I have not done any real research on this popular subject yet. Where does one begin? What is the standard reference work? Your advice will be very useful.
I have never set out to buy Siege of Mafeking stamps. The examples below are ones I have accumulated over the years. I have looked them up in the Stanley Gibbons catalogue. This is about as useful as reading only the opening paragraph in a book of Astronomy in order to understand the stars. That said, it is not really the SG catalogue's job to instruct you in the identification of fakes and forgeries. Varieties and overprints are its stock in trade. It has little to say other than warn you that "there are numerous forgeries of the Mafeking overprints, many of which were bought home by soldiers returning from the Boer War", (South African of 1899 -1902). That said, the SACC (South African Colour Catalogue) is not any more useful although its presentation may be more accessible.
1900. 24 March to 25th April. Examples of SG Type 1 'MAFEKING BESIEGED' overprint on Cape of Good Hope stamps.
Some things one should know in the absence of proper knowledge or research.
1]. The 217 day Siege of Mafeking ran from 13th October 1899 to 17th May 1900. The British garrison under command of Colonel Robert Baden-Powell successfully defended the town against surrounding Boer forces until the siege was lifted by a British relief force.
2]. Cape of Good Hope and Bechunaland Protectorate st5amps were overprinted 'MAFEKING BESIGED' and used between 24 March to 25th April 190o (SACC). Gibbons states use up until 17th May. Anything with a postmark date outside of this timeline - 24 March to 17th May - must be suspect and almost certainly a fake.
3]. The best way to determine if your stamps are forgeries or not is to compare then to genuine postally used Mafeking Siege stamps on cover if you have the deep pockets needed for the purchase of such covers. The alternative is to compare your items to hi-res scans available on-line. You should also seek out recorded forgeries and use them for your caomparisons also.
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Stanley Gibbons Catalogue showing two Types of 'MAFEKING BESIEGED' overprint.
4]. Gibbons shows two types of overprinting, Type 1 and Type 2. Both are found on Cape stamp. The three stamps shown above are all Type 1. Gibbons' Type 2 uses a sans serif font with the value closer to 'MAFEKING' making its spacing taller than Type 1. Working from Gibbons, it appears that the Type 2 overprint is only found on the stamps of the Bechuanaland Protectorate.
5]. 'MAFEKING' is followed by a comma in all three examples below. A Type 1 variety without a comma is known in all values.
I accept that this may be flawed and or partial advice. I await your corrections.
I hope to find some overprints on Bechuanaland Protectorate stamps soon and will continue with this thread when I do. In the meantime, do not hesistate to comment here - no need to like and subscribe - or email me with you comments and examples. Thanks.
Here is a mint example of the extremely rare MAFEKING BESIEGED 6d on 3d Cape of Good Hope with seriffed overprint. In 2009 the SG catalogue value was £38,000. By 2020 when it came up for sale in the David Feldman Auction in Geneva, Switzerland, its SG listing had risen to £45,000. David Ferldman placed "a very attractive estimate of £15’000-20’000" on it. I do not know what it sold for.
1900. 'MAFEKING BESIEGED' SG Type 1 '6d on Three Pence' Cape of Good Hope bright magenta.
David Feldman's Ricky Verra (April 14, 2020, Auction Highlights, Weekly Digest) said "only 840 were printed and seemingly the vast majority were used, as mint examples have been missing from many of the best collections of Mafeking ever formed, including the recent fantastic offering of Mafeking in the “Besançon” collection. So this could well prove to be a “once in a generation” offering in auction."
Verra's article offers useful insights into the 'Mafeking Siege' stamps. He says the "statement that the stamps were overprinted one at a time is incorrect" ie. the surcharge seems to have been set up in a row of six". Thus the minor varieties are repeated all down the sheet. The printing method of these surcharges was described for the first time in the London Philatelist (December 2019?).
“Although the distance between the words ‘MAFEKING’ and ‘BESIEGED’ differs considerably in the different settings used upon different natures of stamps, the type does not appear to have been entirely reset, but ‘only the Spaces increased or reduced ; thus the same broken and damaged letters probably appear in the same positions on the sheets of stamps of each value." (They do so in the blocks Verra examined). See the David Feldman article by clicking here.
Interestingly the SACC 2008/09 catalogue does not list Type 1 and Type 2 overprints as per SG. Instead its illustrations are a mix of Type 1 and 2 with just one listing, No. 6, stating "3d on 1d Bech. Protectorate ovpt. in sans serif letters". It does not fill me with confidence! Also, with regards to the the stamp shown above and the "6d on Three Penny COGH" it offers no value other than to say "For unmounted mint + 100%". This is far less than SG's valuation but consistent with what Verra says, that mint examples are rare.