The world's first stamp to depict an oil well as its primary theme
(above) was issued in 1921-22 by the Azerbaijan S.S.R. It
exists only in imperforate form and shows an oil well
blowout (a gusher) emerging from the top of a wood-
sheathed derrick. The well is from the Baku area.
The offset block below has a reversed image that
was imprinted on the back of a sheet because,
during the lithographic printing process, it was
placed on top of another sheet on which the
ink had not yet dried.
© Peter A. Scholle, 2000
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