Varieties. What is a Real Variety?

Transcription

1 Varieties What is a Real Variety? Riverside Stamp Club Steve Wimpenny May 14 th, 2012

2 What is a Real Variety? Definition: A variant of a normal issue. They come in many forms and they can be worth much more than the original stamps. Real examples: - different printings, paper or adhesive variations - effects of damage and/or repairs to printing plates (major and minor) Problem areas (things to be wary of): - reprints, forgeries, facsimiles - false varieties produced by action of light exposure and/or chemicals

3 i.) d Black & 2d Blue Great Britain Imperf Issues

4 ii.) d Red Great Britain Imperf Issues This example and the previous page are modern facsimiles sold as Forgeries on the internet. A quick inspection easily shows that these are not the genuine stamps Originals: Line engraved / rough toned paper Facsimiles: Surface printed / smooth off-white paper

5 1881 1d. Lilac What about these two? Varieties or not?

6 1881 1d. Lilac 14 dots in each corner Initial Printings (July-Dec 1881) major variety, moderately difficult to find mint or used 16 dots in each corner Printings from Dec one of the most common of - the Queen Victoria stamps

7 1881 1d. Lilac Further inspection è this isn t the normal stamp, it s actually a variety of it. Regular stamp plain white paper This stamp white laid paper quite scarce è value ~ 100 x price - of regular stamp

8 Ink Variations Ink color variations can be difficult to assess when you start out Yellow-green inks before ~1920 are particularly difficult

9 These are usually the result of soaking stamps with non-fugitive inks. This is what these stamps looked like originally Clean, used copies in these colors are hard to find and command premium prices. Yellow-green copies (previous page) are common and are only worth a small fraction of the catalog prices.

10 Another tricky one is the blue/blue-green ink from the same period These are also not the correct colors, but this is not the result of soaking. These are classified as color changelings and may be the result of light damage and/or chemical exposure.

11 These are the true green colors They started out as blue-green (1/2d.) and Green (1 1/2d.) Color changelings are more collectible than the washed out yellow-green inks, mainly as curiosities. These stamps used in their true colors are not difficult to find.

12 Issues: The WWI Period Blue ( ) Powder Blue (1918) Indigo-blue/toned (1920) Due to the shortage of the correct ingredients for inks, many genuine shade varieties exist for the Issue. Some of these are quite hard to find and can be quite costly. (The used copy on the right is listed at ~ 400 x the mint copy on the left.)

13 The Mackennel Issues Some varieties are a bit less obvious. These stamps appear to be the same but actually the ones on the right are varieties and list for ~ 30 times the one on the left.

14 Normal No Cross on Crown Variety This variety occurs in some of the stamps from the top and bottom rows of the sheets and is the result of plate wear/damage

15 Modern Printing Varieties Leg of N in Union on top stamp has a large flaw attached. 1.) Non-constant Positional Flaws These are usually the result of material getting attached to the paper and/or printing drum during the printing process. They are one-offs and do not appear at the same position on all sheets.

16 Modern Printing Varieties Doctor Blade Flaw The doctor blade cleans excess ink from the printing plate/cylinder between print runs. If it gets damaged, ink remains on the surface of the plate and a doctor blade flaw like this one can result.

17 Modern Printing Varieties Normal Inscription Missing T Variety 2.) Minor Constant Positional Flaws These are quite common. Some are more interesting (collectible) than others. They occur in the same sheet position for all or part of the full print run.

18 Modern Printing Varieties 1980 Charlotte Bronte Stamp Missing p in 12p on upper stamp This is one of only two major print varieties/errors on the stamps from the period ) Major Flaws & Errors These are the result of errors in typesetting and usually get caught quickly by the printer. Unlike the minor flaws, they are quite scarce and can command a significant premium.

19 Modern Printing Varieties: 4.) Machin Head Diffinitives (1967-date) These are literally thousand of small variations in these issues. (5 printers x 4 papers x 4 gums x 3 phosphors x 5 perfs etc.) Collecting these is a major exercise in itself! So what s so interesting about these two???

20 Of all the many varieties from standard printings, these are the scarcest 1.) 1/2p left side phosphor band 1 copy per 2 Story of Wedgwood Booklet A significant fraction of these have trimmed perfs. Copies like this one command a premium price.

21 Of all the many varieties from standard printings, these are the scarcest 6p two side phosphor bands Printed in Lithography by House of Questa 1 copy per 6 Northern Ireland Prestige Booklet This is the scarcest of the syncopated perf stamps. It is especially tough to find in f/vf condition.