1943 Philippine Guerilla Stamp

Released during WWII, this Philippine guerilla stamp was intended for use on the island of Mindanao. It is referred to as the “Free Philippines Guerilla Stamp”. General Douglas MacArthur approved the creation of the stamp for use in Mindanao. The stamps were printed in Brisbane, Australia in a quantity of only 500 units which were delivered by the U.S.S Narwhal submarine to the 10th Military District at Esperenza, Agusan province, Mindanao. Colonel Wendell Fertig received the stamps on 15th November 1943, at the time he was the commander of the largest group of guerillas in the Philippines.

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All stamps are rouletted and were printed in sheets of 5 x 5 (25 per sheet) on white paper. A brown interleaving sheet of waxed paper sat between each sheet. Stamps measure 1.95 x 3.75cm and were printed via the Letterpress printing process. The stamps were intended to be used for communications among guerilla groups and for correspondence to the U.S. In addition, they were seen as a morale booster to guerilla groups. In reality though they were never offered for sale at Mindanao post offices and were hence used only by military personnel. Letters would make their way from Mindanao to Australia by submarine where they would then be sent on to the U.S.

After the war many unused sheets were destroyed, but Fertig kept a number of full sheets for his own personal collection. Around 96 franked covers are known to exist with this stamp affixed, typically fetching several thousand US dollars each on the rare occasions they are offered for sale. Individual stamps are also quite rare and seldom come up for sale. Some whole sheets also still exist.