In 2019 Nigeria, along with many nations, issued a Stamp to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of the great Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi.
The official date of release was 2nd October 2019. A single stamp of N100 was issued, printed by TACOMS Intl, it featured a silver square for security purposes. Unlike previous releases, this was actually plain foil rather than a hologram.
It also had an “all over” phosphor coating applied to the stamp.
In addition to the stamp a miniature sheet was issued, this was available in 2 versions, a perforated version (rare) and an imperforate one (more common).
Perforated version (less common)
Well, the above was the plan, however when it came to the actual launch of the stamps, the production had been delayed, so they were not available.
Rather than postpone the launch (which is a fairly common event) TACOMS were charged with the objective of producing some emergency stamps that could be used on First Day Covers so there was something to launch.
So, an emergency printing was done, and the stamps were produced on ungummed paper, in sheets of 36 (9 rows by 4 columns). They did not have the silver foil attached, and for some reason they were larger than the standard stamp size.
Unofficial sources say there was approximately 200 stamps produced (so presumably 5 or 6 sheets printed), and these were for use purely for the First Day Covers.
There were 2 types of First Day Covers, one I believe to be used purely for the launch, the other produced by the Philatelic Bureau to use up the remaining emergency print.
It should be noted, that after the official launch, there were First Day Covers issued with the production stamp too.
None of the emergency printing was meant to be released as unused stamps, however one of the sheets of 36 was not used for First Day Covers, and was made available.
With only 36 copies released, this means that this stamp goes down as one of Nigeria’s greatest rarities! Possible second only to the classic Northern Nigeria £25. Obviously with its links to one of the world’s greatest icons – it makes it extremely sought after.
It has been listed in Scotts catalogue (#895), and pending the next issue of a Stanley Gibbons Catalogue it should be assigned an SG number too.