1895 Provisional Surcharge Universal Postal Union Specimen 2½ on 1½a. sepia Type 14 in brown-red, See S.G.64 footnote,

This special printing was made to satisfy the U.P.U. requirement for 730 'specimens' of each stamp issued by a member country. These specimen stamps were to be distributed from the U.P.U. headquarters in Berne in a circular dated 24 April 1897. Apart from the brown-red of the surcharge, as opposed to the bright red of the issued stamps, the surcharge is characteristically weak and the basic stamp is a dark sepia-brown shade

PROVENANCE
John Minns, April 2001
Sir Gawaine Baillie, November 2005