Rocafuerte

 Aristocrats weren't always as bad as history books would have us believe from the civil strife during their era. Vicente Rocafuerte seen here was such a man. Born into aristocracy in Ecuador in 1783 and schooled in Madrid, he returned to Ecuador to become the second President and rewrite a new constitution and give more freedoms to Native Americans. Quite a righteous fellow, wouldn't you say?
 This is a regular stamp which was overprinted "FRANQUEO OFICIAL" making it an "Official" stamp. Official stamps were used by government officials and departments. Generally these stamps are used to aid in accountability in government expenditures.
 I have read that these stamps of the 1894-1895 era were reprinted on thick paper and thus those have a minimal value. Ecuador joined the Universal Postal Union in 1890 and for some time placed U.P.U. on it's stamps. This stamp still has most of it's gum and appears to have been very lightly hinged at one time.

 JimmyB