The double circle "PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK / OB" overprints is the third chapter of the "back of the book" collections to be featured on  this site. The two being the "Philippine Constabulary Officials" and the "The Tagle Officials According to Sim."

Very little is known about the double circle "PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK / OB" overprints which were used from mid 1917 to early 1921. There used to a a ton of off cover stamps in the mid 1970s but suddenly they disappeared from the market. Sadly only a few covers, especially local circulating ones, survived the soaking basins of the 1960s and 1970s. Although there are five Manila circulating covers in this small collection, I consider them scarce to very scarce. 

There are six types in this small collection plus a couple of 1918 - 1920 covers. The typing of the overprints is simplified: based on the diameter of the outer circle. From the illustrated examples one can see that a metal die was employed, done in a rather precise manner making the diameter measurement relatively accurate. Most of the incomplete examples have intact inner ring and partial outer ring. The space between the two circles was taken then added on the missing side to obtain the full diameter of the overprint.

It is highly possible that more types exist. If one is in your collection please do your peers a favor by providing us with an image so it can be added to this collection.

Your comments and suggestions will be appreciated.

As always, enjoy!

AQL
Manila, Philippines
November 24, 2004