In
addition, four new stamps of the same design but with different
colors and overprinted with the UPU in a horseshoe
design were also overprinted. And
therein lies one of the strange turns of event of
this war. The
year before, on
September 18, 1880, a Chilean warship had stopped
Pacific Steamship Company’s ship “Islay” on the open
sea, and confiscated several cases of currency and postage
stamps that Peru had previously ordered from the
National (American) Bank Note Company.
The stamps, featuring a
grill and UPU overprint in a “horseshoe” design,
were stored away in Lima for over a year,
and then also overprinted with the Chilean coat of arms.
On December 5, 1881, Chilean administrators of the post office in Lima began selling
the Peruvian stamps that
had been overprinted with the Chilean coat of arms. Printed:
95,000 of the 50 centavos, 48,000 of the 1 sol.