Lot 438 Nigeria #292b 2k Multicoloured Natural Gas, 1975-1986 Nigerian Life & Industry Definitive Issue - Watermarked, 2 F/VF NH Lower Left Cylinder 1B Block of 4 & UR Counter Block Upright & Inverted Wmks, Lilac & Deep Bright Purple Shades

2 F/VF NH lower left cylinder 1B block of 4 & ur counter block of the 2k multicoloured Natural Gas from the 1975-1986 Nigerian Life & Industry Definitive Issue - Watermarked upright & inverted Wmks, lilac & deep bright purple shades. The upper right block has the lilac shade and inverted watermark. Black is the top colour of this block. The paper is NF/HF. The lower left block has the sheet number in the left margin, in small antique font. The blue and deep bright purple are the top colours. The paper is LF/MF, and has matte PVA gum.

2017 Scott values the singles at $14 for the basic stamps. However, our estimate of the value, as a multiple is$15.

The watermarked lithographed printings of this issue appeared from 1975 onwards, and constitute the scarcest and most complex of all the stamps in this issue. The initial printings were very similar to the unwatermarked ones, and were on a thicker chalky paper with PVA gum. Later printings became successively blurrier and the paper surfacing in the early 1980's took on a grainy texture. In contrast to the previous printings which were almost exclusively medium to high fluorescent, these cover the full range from dead to hibrite, and the readings on the front and back of the stamps are usually different, often wildly different. Very late printings, made on an emergency basis during the inflation period in the early 1990's are on dull paper containing red-orange fluorescent fibres. In keeping with the earlier unwatermarked printings, the colours were printed separately, and the order in which they were printed differs. Thus, we describe them with reference to what the top colour is. Scott is hopelessly inaccurate on the mint stamps of this issue, which are seldom found in the market. This is why all the values in Scott are in italics. I very highly doubt that any of them are worth just 25c each. In 10 years of daily buing on E-bay and Delcampe I managed to assemble a stock of about 2 dozen sets of the photogravure printings and about as many of the unwatermarked lithographed and even fewer of the watermarked lithographed stamps, plus a few multiples. That's hardly anything at all. used is no problem at all - most were used up for postage, but mint is another story. The sheets of this issue are 50 stamps and had imperforate selvedge at top and bottom. The side selvedge has a single extension perforation hole beyond the outer vertical perforations, on both left and right margins.