Specimen and Muestra Overprints

There were about a dozen or so "Sales Cards" as I call them that have:

• The stamps being sold
• A small sticker with the Scott Number(s)
• A small sticker with the price of the item
• A sticker with the message:
  THIS "SPECIMEN" OVERPRINT SIGNED "MARTIN" IS GUARENTEED GENUINE. DO NOT CONFUSE IT WITH CHEAP FAKES PLENTIFUL ON THE MARKET

Below is an examples of a "Sales Card". About half the items have the SPECIMEN overprint and the other half have the MUESTRA (which translates of SAMPLE or SPECIMEN in Englsih) overprint.

So, now the question is "Who is M. W. Martin?" M. W. Martin was known for writing numerous articles on stamps for publications like the New York Times and Cycle World, and authored the book Topical Stamp Collecting, published in the 1970s. This book discusses the hobby of collecting stamps based on many specific themes or topics. The book can sometimes be found for sale through online booksellers like Amazon or eBay.


Sales Card with Iran Scott 1156, 1157, and 1158 with SPECIMEN overprint and with M W Martin Message

Iran Scott 1157 with Specimen Overprint - with M. W. Martin

Closeup of "M. W. Martin""

Below are all of the stamps in the Bindie Collection that had the SPECIMEN or MUESTRA overprint and the H. W. Martin on the back.


Afghanistan 588 Specimen


Afghanistan 519 Specimen

Costa Rica C345 Muestra

Costa Rica C346 Muestra

Costa Rica C347 Muestra

Costa Rica C348 Muestra

Costa Rica C349 Muestra

Dominican CB25A Muestra

Ecuador C401 Muestra

Ecuador C402 Muestra

Ecuador C403 Muestra

Haiti B25 Specimen	Haiti B26 Specimen
Haiti B27 Specimen	Haiti CB42 Specimen
Haiti CB43 Specimen	Haiti CB44 Specimen

Iran 1156 Specimen

Iran 1157 Specimen

Iran 1158 Specimen

Iran 1204 Specimen

Iran 1205 Specimen

Iran 1206 Specimen

Korea 350 Specimen


Korea 351 Specimen

Lebanon C349 Specimen

Lebanon C350 Specimen

Syria C267 Specimen

Syria C268 Specimen