Nigeria SC#374var 5k Multicolored 1979 Murtala Airport Issue, A F/VFNH Single Printed On The Gummed Side, Click on Listing to See ALL Pictures, Estimated Value $10 USD

A F/VFNH example of the 5k multicolored from the 1979 Murtala Airport Issue, printed on the gummed side. 2020 Gibbons cat. 11 GBP. Our estimate of the value based on the condition is $10.

Starting in 1975, all Nigerian stamp issues are watermarked with the word "Nigeria" that repeats in wavy lines. It appears that no attention whatsoever was paid to the orientation of the paper in the press, so that inverted watermarks appear to be just as common as upright ones. I have not seen any reversed watermarks or inverted and reversed watermarks. Sideways watermarks are common on the vertical format stamps, but I have not seen them on horizontal format stamps. Consequently I have not made any attempt to describe the orientation of the watermarks.

One aspect of the modern commemorative issues of Nigeria that is not apparent from the relatively low catalogue values is their scarcity. From the new issue bulletins I have seen, there are very few commemorative issues that were produced in quantities as high as 1 million. In fact between 50,000 and 100,000 of every stamp is the most common figure I recall seeing. For a country that has a population that is almost as large as the USA, that is not very many at all. This should be borne in mind when looking at the listings and the relatively low catalogue values.