Gibraltar Chinese New Year Overprints

Last month we looked at how Gibraltar have celebrated the Chinese New Year with their range of Post & Go stamps, writes Stuart Leigh. Whilst researching for the article I was surprised just how many different overprints had been created.

In 2016, when the first Chinese New Year stamps (Year of the Monkey) were launched at the Spring Stampex, on 17 February, the following day they were issued in Gibraltar at The Main Post Office and Parcel Office from kiosks GI02 and GI03, respectively.

When Stampex closed, the Kiosk GI01 was installed at Gibraltar House, 150 Strand, London, but not for long. It was transported to New York for the World Stamp Show (NY 2016) at the end of May and returned to Gibraltar House, London, then a return appearance at Autumn Stampex in September with an overprint of ‘Gorham’s Cave World Heritage’. This was reproduced on the kiosks at the Main Post Office and Parcel Office in Gibraltar, after Stampex GI01 was back to Gibraltar House.

In Gibraltar, the two kiosks celebrated World Post Day in October 2022, both machines initially had a glitch and omitted the location – the overprint reading just ‘World Stamp Day’. In November the Christmas message appeared, ‘Season’s Greetings’.

At Spring Stampex 2017 the Year of the Rooster was launched on kiosk GI01; as previously, the Main Post Office and Parcel Office followed suit a day or so later. After the show the kiosk made its way back to Gibraltar House on the Strand, until the Autumn Stampex returning with an overprint of ‘Autumn Stampex 2017’ and then back to the Strand with an overprint of ‘Gibraltar House – Cancer Research’, which again was replicated on both kiosks in Gibraltar. Later in October 2017 the Gibraltar House kiosk was permanently removed for security reasons.

The year 2018 saw the appearance of the stamp depicting the Year of the Dog at Spring Stampex, as well as the Main Post and Parcel Offices in Gibraltar. In April GI01 was at the 89th Scottish Congress in Perth, before the new Desktop Kiosk Unit (DKU) made its way to the 35th Asian International Stamp Exhibition - MACAO 2018.

The last four years, the Years of the Pig, Rat, Ox and this year the Tiger have all been released from the Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau, with no overprint and from the Desktop Kiosk Unit with ‘Philatelic HQ’.