Rhodesia Overprints Churchill

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31530, 18 November 1967, Page 16

Rhodesia Overprints Churchill

<Speciallv written /or “The Press” by KENNETH ANTHONY) Few stamps can underline a political conflict as well as this one. When it was first issued it was straightforward enough. It was Rhodesia’s philatelic tribute to the memory of Sir Winston Churchill. It stood out from the Churchill issues of other countries by including in the design the Houses of Parliament at Westminster, a quill pen, and a sword—these signifying his three occupations as statesman, writer and soldier. Three months after it was issued, the Prime Minister, Mr lan Smith, made Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence. The occasion was marked by an independence stamp which was the first stamp ever printed in Rhodesia. All previous issues were the work of British printers, work which was lost by the British Government’s embargo on trade with Rhodesia after U.D.I. Rhodesia’s next move was to overprint existing stocks of

the regular stamps to denote independent status. Supplies of the 5s value were low, so the number was made up by including .the left-over stock of the Churchill stamp, duly surcharged with the new value. In its new version the stamp was released in January, 1966.

And so Rhodesia produced one of the album’s outstanding curiosities: a stamp portraying perhaps the greatest Englishman of the age. though issued by what was regarded in Britain as a rebel government.