Morocco Agencies (Spanish currency)
Morocco used a well-organised system of internal "Sherifien" mail, and all international mail was carried out by foreign postal systems under contract. This led to a large number of competing offices in the main towns (especially the ports) run by Germany, France, Spain, and the UK. At first the British post offices were run by the Gibraltar postmistress (with, it is alleged, a formidable rule of iron) as if the huge country was a sort of sub-office of Gibraltar. The first stamps were therefore Gibraltar stamps simply overprinted "Morocco Agencies" (1898) and retained their Spanish currency.
When control of the Moroccan agency was transferred from Gibraltar to London the overprinted Gibraltar stamps were replaced by British stamps with a Spanish currency overprint in 1907. At first they were used in British post offices throughout Morocco (alongside stamps in British currency), but in 1917 they were replaced by overprints in French currency in the places where that currency was in use, and in 1927 Tangier had a distinctive overprint on the main low values.
Historical note: The presence of foreign post offices in Morocco was not purely about a benevolent desire to give overseas postage facilities to residents, it was also about military control, trading imperatives and even domination. A history of Morocco states that "Attacks on foreigners were frequent and the tribes took power into their own hands. At that time, the French occupied Morocco, The Spaniards, for historical reasons, insisted on sharing the influence on Morocco. In 1906, the Conference of Algeciras (in which 30 nations were present) took place and had the effect of internationalizing the whole affair. Tangier was an international free port, and the whole country was under the protectorate of the French government." Even the delineations between the "French Zone", "British Zone", "Spanish Zone" were fiercely protected by the respective national armed forces, sometimes with the Moroccans as bemused and innocent bystanders; this situation lasted until the middle of the 20th century.
See further under Morocco Agencies British currency, Morocco Agencies French currency and Tangier.
All stamps overprinted "MOROCCO AGENCIES" with new value in Spanish currency.
Note: this numbering system was drawn up by the Society for the website, and may not be used without permission.
King Edward VII
De La Rue printings, ordinary paper unless otherwise stated
1 January 1907 (except as stated)
(temporary picture)
1 "5 CENTIMOS" on ½d pale green
2 "10 CENTIMOS" on 1d red
3 "15 CENTIMOS" on 1½d purple & green, chalky paper
4 "20 CENTIMOS" on 2d green & red, chalky paper
5 "25 CENTIMOS" on 2½d blue (perf 14, see No. 13 below)
6 "40 CENTIMOS" on 4d green & brown, chalky paper (29 October 1907)
7 "50 CENTIMOS" on 5d purple & blue, chalky paper
8 "1 PESETA" on 10d purple and red, chalky paper
9 "3 PESETAS" on 2/6d purple, chalky paper
10 "6 PESETAS" on 5/- red
11 "12 PESETAS" on 10/- blue (30 April 1907)
overprint varieties
1 v1 5c overprint double
1 v1 10c overprint double
1 v2 10c overprint misplaced
3 v1 15c overprint double
3 v2 15c overprint double, one albino
(image ex Rossi auction, courtesy of Warwick & Warwick)
3 v3 15c "1" omitted, reading "5 CENTIMOS"
Note: This variety affects, to a greater or lesser extent, the first vertical column of one sheet and was probably caused by something getting in the way of the overprinting plate; the parts of the "1" that do not show are still there as an albino overprint. As can be seen from the example above, on some of the stamps parts of the "5" are also missing.
4 v1 20c overprint double
watermark varieties
5 wx 25c no watermark
stamp varieties
8 sv1 1P, no cross on crown
Changed colour
12 May 1910
12 "40 CENTIMOS" on 4d orange (ordinary paper)
Harrison printing
1912
13 "25 CENTIMOS" on 2½d blue, perf 15*14 (& see No. 5 above)
overprint varieties
13 v1 overprint double, one albino
Somerset House printing
1912
14 "12 PESETAS" on 10/- blue (ordinary paper)
King George V
Downey head issue die II, watermark crown
1912
15 "5 CENTIMOS" on ½d green
16 "10 CENTIMOS" on 1d red
overprint varieties
15 v1 5c misplaced overprint
stamp varieties
(image courtesy of playpenphilatelics)
16 sv1 10c, no cross on crown
Mackennal head, script cypher watermark,
Seahorses (Waterlow) (22mm wide, normal top tooth, see illustrations below)
1914 unless otherwise stated
Note: unlike the earlier sets, and the other Morocco Agencies currency sets, the post office appears to have had considerable difficulty deciding the best font and layout for the George V overprints; it is worth noting that the 3c and 40c stamps came out in 1917 at the same time as the French currency overprints, and use the same layout as the latter. This was probably useful to distinguish the 3c and 5c stamps (the French currency overprints used different colours instead of different layout).
17 "3 CENTIMOS" on ½d green (1917)
18 "5 CENTIMOS" on ½d green
19 "10 CENTIMOS" on 1d red
20 "15 CENTIMOS" on 1½d brown (1915)
21 "20 CENTIMOS" on 2d orange die I
22 "25 CENTIMOS" on 2½d blue
23 "40 CENTIMOS" on 4d grey (1917)
24 "1 PESETA" on 10d blue
25 "6 PESETAS" on 5/- red
26 "12 PESETAS" (in red) on 10/- blue
overprint varieties
20 v1 15c overprint double, one albino
21 v1 20c overprint double, one albino
22 v1 25c overprint double, one albino
23 v1 40c overprint double, one albino
24 v1 Pt1 overprint double, one albino
25 v1 Pt6 overprint double, one albino
25 v2 Pt6 overprint treble, two albino
26 v1 Pt12 overprint double, one albino
26 v2 Pt12 overprint treble, two albino
26 v3 Pt12 overprint misplaced
watermark varieties
19 wi 10c watermark inverted
19 wir 10c watermark inverted & reversed
22 wi 25c watermark inverted
Seahorses, De La Rue printing (22mm wide, wide top tooth, smaller perf holes, see illustrations below)
1918
27 "3 PESETAS" on 2/6d brown
28 "12 PESETAS" (in red) on 10/- blue
overprint varieties
27 v1 Pt3 overprint double, one albino
27 v2 Pt3 overprint misplaced
28 v1 Pt12 overprint double, one albino
28 v2 Pt12 overprint misplaced
Watermark block cypher
Seahorses, Bradbury Wilkinson printing (22¾-23 mm wide, normal top tooth, see illustrations below)
1925-1931
29 "5 CENTIMOS" on ½d green (1931)
30 "10 CENTIMOS" on 1d red (1929)
31 "15 CENTIMOS" on 1½d brown (1925)
32 "20 CENTIMOS" on 2d orange (1931)
33 "25 CENTIMOS" on 2½d blue (1925)
34 "40 CENTIMOS" on 4d grey (1930)
35 "3 PESETAS" on 2/6d brown (1926)
5s (top) Waterlow, 2/6d (middle) De La Rue wide tooth, 2/6d (bottom) Bradbury Wilkinson (wider design)
overprint varieties
32 v1 20c overprint double, one albino
33 v1 25c overprint double, one albino
34 v1 40c overprint double, one albino
watermark varieties
33 wi 25c watermark inverted
Silver Jubilee
8 May 1935
36 "5 CENTIMOS" (in blue) on ½d green
37 "10 CENTIMOS" (in blue) on 1d red
38 "15 CENTIMOS" (in blue) on 1½d brown
39 "25 CENTIMOS" (in red) on 2½d blue
overprint varieties
(image courtesy of Cavendish stamp auctions)
37 v1 10c "10 CENTIMOS" se-tenant with "10 CENTIMES"
This error appears to have arisen when the Spanish overprinting was completed and the overprint plate was being changed to French currency and a French currency cliche was accidentally inserted (or retained) instead of a Spansih one . About 25 copies are known from sheets printed before the error was corrected. The number of copies surviving in the centre of a block of 9 suggests that it was very quickly spotted by collectors.
Photogravure set
1935-1936
1d intermediate and small formats; as well as the difference in size the general appearance of the small format stamp is of denser colour and design.
1½d large and small formats (same comment as above).
40 "5 CENTIMOS" on ½d green, small format (9 June 1936)
41 "10 CENTIMOS" on 1d red, intermediate format (Nov 1936)
42 10c on 1d, small format stamp
43 "15 CENTIMOS" on 1½d brown, large format (April 1935)
44 15c on 1½d, small format stamp
45 "20 CENTIMOS" on 2d orange, small format (26 October 1936)
46 "25 CENTIMOS" on 2½d blue (8 September 1936)
47 "40 CENTIMOS" on 4d grey (8 May 1937)
48 "1 PESETA" on 10d blue (14 April 1937)
Note: the ½d to 2d unoverprinted stamps have several sizes, but only the 1d and 1½d have more than one such format when overprinted with Spanish currency.
overprint varieties
45 v1 20c overprint double
King Edward VIII
26 October 1936
The spacing of "MOROCCO" is most obvious, but "AGENCIES" is also slightly larger.
49 "5 CENTIMOS" on ½d green
50 "10 CENTIMOS" on 1d red, 14¼mm overprint
51 "15 CENTIMOS" on 1½d brown
52 "25 CENTIMOS" on 2½d blue
15¼ mm overprint
5 January 1937
(see illustration above)
The longer overprints come from part of the sheets on later printings, largely prepared to meet philatelic demand in London; these printings comprised a mixture of both sizes. Rather remarkably the position of the large overprints varies through the successive printings over a fairly short period of time, allegedly as the overprint in various parts of the sheet wore out and was inadvertently replaced by the larger format.
53 10c 15¼mm overprint
King George VI
Coronation
13 May 1937
54 "15 CENTIMOS" (in blue) on 1½d brown
Definitive set
11 June 1937 unless otherwise stated
55 "5 CENTIMOS" (in blue) on ½d green
56 "10 CENTIMOS" on 1d red
57 "15 CENTIMOS" (in blue) on 1½d brown (4 August 1937)
58 "25 CENTIMOS" on 2½d blue
59 "40 CENTIMOS" on 4d green (3 September 1940)
60 "70 CENTIMOS" on 7d green (Sept 1940)
61 "1 PESETA" on 10d blue (16 June 1952)
Note: the 1 Peseta stamp was actually issued after the "changed colours" set of 1951, but is included here for convenience.
overprint varieties
61 v1 1P: the distance between the top two lines and the value at the foot can vary on some rows.
Stamp Centenary
6 May 1940
62 "5 CENTIMOS" (in blue) on ½d green
63 "10 CENTIMOS" on 1d red (thick overprint, top half-sheet)
64 10c thinner overprint (bottom half of the sheet)
65 "15 CENTIMOS" (in blue) on 1½d brown
66 "25 CENTIMOS" on 2½d blue
overprint varieties
63 v1 10c vertical se-tenant pair, both types
Se-tenant pairs are scarce as sheets were normally torn in half.
The thick overprint is noticeably darker and bulkier, but the main difference is that it has a large square serif on the "1", whereas the thinner overprint has a smaller indistinct serif.
Silver Wedding
26 April 1948
67 "25 CENTIMOS" on 2½d blue
68 "45 PESETAS" on £1 blue
overprint varieties
(illustration from unknown web auction)
68 v1 Pt45 misplaced overprint
Note: the overprint also slopes quite a bit, so the displacement varies from stamp to stamp; the above is from the bottom right corner.
Olympic Games
29 July 1948
69 "25 CENTIMOS" on 2½d blue
70 "30 CENTIMOS" on 3d violet
71 "60 CENTIMOS" on 6d purple
72 "1 PTA 20 CTS" on 1/-
overprint varieties
As the overprint slants slightly the actual position of the extra overprint varies from stamp to stamp, as can be seen from these images.
(images courtesy of Temple Bar auctions,and Warwick & Warwick ex Rossi respectively)
72 v1 Pt1.20 overprint double
Changed colours
The colours of the low values were changed to conform with UPU requirements for standard rates of postage.
3 May 1951
73 "5 CENTIMOS" on ½d orange
74 "10 CENTIMOS" on 1d blue
75 "15 CENTIMOS" on 1½d green
76 "25 CENTIMOS" on 2½d red
77 "40 CENTIMOS" on 4d blue (26 May 1952)
Note: the "1 PESETA" stamp of July 1952 is included in the 1937 set for convenience.
Queen Elizabeth
Watermark Tudor Crown E2R
1954-1955
78 "5 CENTIMOS" on ½d orange (1 September 1954)
79 "10 CENTIMOS" on 1d blue (1 March 1955)
Watermark St Edward's crown E2R
1956
80 "5 CENTIMOS" on ½d orange (June 1956)
81 "40 CENTIMOS" on 4d blue (25 August 1956)
The Spanish currency issues were withdrawn on 31 December 1956 and all offices were closed.
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page last updated on: 11 February 2007, 17 July 2009, 28 Feb 2012, 6 March 2013, 26 June 2017
gbos: GB Overprints Society