Editing Overprint (section)

== Private overprints ==
{{main|Private overprint}}
Any overprint that does not originate from a stamp-issuing authority is considered a [[private overprint]] or [[private cancellation]]. Such overprints almost always invalidate a stamp for postal use. Most countries treat unofficial overprints the same way the [[United States Post Office]] does: the USPS Domestic Mail Manual states that stamps "overprinted with an unauthorized design, message or other marking" are not valid for postage.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm300/604.pdf |title=Domestic Mail Manual |author=USPS |year=2010 |publisher=United States Postal Service |access-date=3 September 2011 }}</ref>

Private overprints generally remain outside the formal realm of philately, although individual issues can achieve notoriety through their popularity or aesthetic appeal.  Private overprints are typically political messages or commercial promotion, but can also originate from speculative philatelic purposes produced deliberately with a view to selling them to unsuspecting collectors.

Stamps owned by commercial entities have sometimes privately overprinted the ''backs'' of their purchased stamps. These overprints are usually made as control marks or accounting information. Such overprinting does not invalidate a stamp unless it shows through the front.
<gallery>
File:Suriname fake overprint 1873 N3.jpg|[[Postage stamps and postal history of Suriname|Suriname]], 1873: A private speculative surcharge
File:Moquette ovp NVPH7.jpg|[[Postage stamps and postal history of the Dutch East Indies|Dutch East Indies]], 1881: [[Jean Pierre Moquette|Moquette]] private overprint
File:IXLeipzigerBriefmarken-HandlermesseCentraltheater1926-2.jpg|[[Postage stamps and postal history of Germany|Germany]], 1926: A private commercial overprint
</gallery>