![PH 410 (reprint)](http://www.phil-philately.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1936_410-reprint.jpg)
1936 Quezon Dark Blue Stamp Mystery
As I was organizing some old stock into sets for sale on eBay I noticed something that I’d not seen before. A clearly darker shade of blue on the 1936 PH 410 stamp depicting President Quezon. Is it an error, an oddity, a fake? This was a mystery that had to be solved and after much research, here’s what I found….
The original set of 3 stamps was released on 15th November 1936 to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the presidency of Manuel Quezon (Scott #’s PH 408, PH 409, PH 410). It is a fairly common set found in most Philippine collections and can be purchased for just a few dollars. The distinctly darker shade is easily identifiable to the average collector but does not receive a mention in the Scott catalogs that I’ve inspected. I did find a short article in the IPPS’s Philippine Philatelic News publication from 1989 indicating that the darker stamp is actually a reprint. The mystery starts to unravel.
![PH 408](http://www.phil-philately.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1936_408.jpg)
![PH 409](http://www.phil-philately.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1936_409.jpg)
![PH 410](http://www.phil-philately.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1936_410.jpg)
As it turns out, a second printing was conducted in 1943 with #410 being printed in Royal Blue instead of Light Ultramarine. All 3 stamps in the set were reprinted but only the blue 12c stamp received such a significant color change. There were 20,016 sets of these stamps reprinted in 1943. In actual fact, many stamps from the late 1930’s (even up to 1941) were reprinted by the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving between 1942 and 1943 – though most reprints are not easily identifiable.
![PH 410](http://www.phil-philately.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1936_410.jpg)
![PH 410 (reprint)](http://www.phil-philately.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1936_410-reprint.jpg)
But why did they need to reprint these stamps almost 7 years after they were initially issued? It’s actually pretty simple. WWII was still raging and Quezon had established (with the support of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt) the “Commonwealth Government in Exile” operating out of Washington D.C. In order to support and legitimize his government he needed postage stamps for official communications. Given the original printings came from the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving it was relatively easy to reprint these stamps from the original plates.
Mystery solved – it is a 1943 reprint in a deliberately darker shade.
Thanks for reading, happy hunting and have fun with your collection!