Nigeria #297avar 10k Multicoloured Yankari Game Reserve, 1973 Nigerian Life & Industry Definitive Issue, A VFNH Single Photogravure Printing With Dark Green Foliage, Short P In Imprint, Resembling A "D"

A VFNH single of the 10k multicoloured Yankari Game Reserve from the 1973 Nigerian Life & Industry Definitive Issue photogravure printing with dark green foliage, short "P" in imprint, resembling a "D". A few stamps on some sheets appear with a "P" in the imprint that is very short, missing most of the stem, and appearing more like a "D". It would seem that this is a constant flaw, but further study of full sheets, which are few and far between would be necessary to establish this. The stamp is on MF/MF paper and has shiny gum Arabic.

2017 Scott values the single at just $1 for the basic stamp. However, our estimate of the value, with the variety is$5.

The photogravure printings of this issue were the first to appear in April 1973, though first day covers prove that some of the lithographed printings were produced and issued at the same time. The photograure stamps were all issued with shiny gum Arabic, on a bright white chalk-surfaced paper that typically glows medium fluorescent (MF) under long-wave UV light. The NSP&M Co. Ltd. imprints at bottom left on each stamp typically show very fine periods in between all the letters, but on a few stamps in each 50 stamp sheet, there will be some where the periods are either so faint that they appear to be missing, or they are missing entirely. 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.