Joseph Cottriall, one of our senior philatelists with over 30 years experience at Warwick and Warwick, came across this stamp from Estonia in a mixed collection of Europe. Stamp identification is often of great importance and Joseph recognised this item as being from Tallinn, overprinted in 1919. The Russian Arms 7k stamp has been surcharged “10k” and is on a small piece with a cancel from the first day of issue.
Joseph decided it was either an excellent forgery, or the real thing and so we decided to send it to Thomas Lobbering, the BPP expert for Estonia, for an opinion.
Imagine our delight when the stamp came back with a certificate as “genuine and without faults”. With only 45 examples issued, it is one of the rarities of Estonia philately and will be offered in our January 7th sale.
