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Post by clivel on Apr 23, 2023 19:45:56 GMT
Expect everyone will now tell me they have hordes of them. Not hordes but I do collect them.
The first time I came across these coils as a new collector, it was a vertical pair, so I assumed that these, like many Union of SA stamps, should be collected in pairs and have done so ever since, despite these being bilingual.
Clive
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JeffS
Member
Posts: 2,607
What I collect: Oranges Philately, US Slogan Cancels, Cape of Good Hope Triangulars, and Texas poster stamps and cinderellas
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Post by JeffS on Apr 23, 2023 20:24:48 GMT
Expect everyone will now tell me they have hordes of them. Not hordes but I do collect them.
The first time I came across these coils as a new collector, it was a vertical pair, so I assumed that these, like many Union of SA stamps, should be collected in pairs and have done so ever since, despite these being bilingual.
Clive
The 2d with jubilee line is quite nice
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Post by paul1 on Apr 23, 2023 20:32:49 GMT
thanks clivel/JeffS - you have all four of these coil issues from 1913 Clive - some beautiful and desirable stamps - well done, and as you say, individual stamps are bi-lingual, rather than English and Afrikaans showing on separate stamps. I think I'm encouraged to try and get these mint. IIRC, the business of alternate stamps bearing separate languages started around 1926 - though I think it lapsed many years back. I have a fair amount of Union material with errors and flaws - it seems the printers - possibly Pretoria - were less conscientious than London (Waterlow ??)
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Post by paul1 on May 17, 2023 16:06:03 GMT
Here are a couple from the very first group of definitives (Sterling gave way to cents and the Rand) after the Union became a Republic in 1961 - unfortunately, a deceptively difficult series due to several reprints (with re-drawn designs), phosphors, perfs., wmks. and papers, and I don't pretend to understand the complexity. Apparently these same designs continued to be issued until c.1972. These two are seen very commonly, and are here for their flaw/error interest, and suspect these are well known varieties, but for those who may not have seen them, hopefully of interest. Both items are mint unmounted. This 1c. Kafferboom Flower (originally SG 199) has the added small grey ball-shaped addition to the top of the right hand bloom - possibly some unwanted colour from the grey used elsewhere on the stamp. The 5c. Baobab Tree (originally SG 204) looks to have suffered from particles settling on the paper during printing, causing an absence of colour in places, plus the addition of white dots close to the wording at the base of the stamp. Also just noticed that the intensity of the turquoise seems to vary on some of the normal examples I have.
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Post by paul1 on May 17, 2023 17:30:14 GMT
Back to George VI and these two are Coronation issues from May 1937 - the U. of S.A. These show the 'frozen breath' printing flaw - the ha'penny is SG 71 and the shilling is SG 75, but SG appear not to mention them in my GB Commonwealth catalogue.
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Post by clivel on May 17, 2023 21:06:44 GMT
The George Vi Coronation series does seem to have a large number of varieties, as listed in the "Union Handbook". I don't have any of the 'frozen breath' varieties, but do have the 1 1/2d 'mouse flaw' listed as sg73a and the 1/- 'hyphen omitted', sg75a. Clive
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Londonbus1
Moderator
Cinderella Stamp Club Member 3059
Posts: 4,883
What I collect: Cinderellas and some Ephemera from Great Britain, France and Israel plus a few beautiful bits from elsewhere !! Topical interests include Flags & Judaica, the latter with an emphasis on the Jewish National Fund.
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Post by Londonbus1 on May 17, 2023 21:25:44 GMT
clivel.......I love this series ! A South African friend gave me a chart some years ago showing all the varieties with sheet positions and I have put together a bunch of these issues to try and 'fill' the chart ! It's the only Postage Stamp interest I have left. Now to find the time to get cracking on it !!
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Post by paul1 on May 17, 2023 21:30:15 GMT
thanks Clive - the printing quality of these values is very poor plus, possibly, the paper wasn't up to job - are these in fact on chalky paper? Am assuming these things were all produced in Pretoria.
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Post by clivel on May 17, 2023 22:57:17 GMT
thanks Clive - the printing quality of these values is very poor plus, possibly, the paper wasn't up to job - are these in fact on chalky paper? Am assuming these things were all produced in Pretoria.
As far as I am aware they were printed by the Union Government Printers in Pretoria. I think that applies to all Union stamps printed as of 1930 or so. However, I don't know about the paper. Clive
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Post by gstamps on May 17, 2023 23:54:42 GMT
paul1The white/gray dots that appear in your stamps are not necessarily printing defects, they can be plate flaws. A few years ago I started an identification of this kind with the "Berlin Bear" series of stamps, Germany 1945. The stamp shows a white dot that joins the bear's tongue and nose: I already had 2 stamps with the same defect and I also found position 99 in the sheet where it constantly appears (plate B1) I found that it is a plate flaw and even mentioned in the Michel catalog with a value of 170 Euro. I have also identified other plate flaws (constant appearance in the same field of the sheet) for these stamps that are not mentioned in the catalog (in general, the most important/obvious ones are mentioned) You have the advantage that your stamps have selvedge and the search field for stamps with similar defects is reduced. If they are not mentioned in the catalog as plate flaws, it does not mean that they do not exist, but that someone has not yet identified them.
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Post by paul1 on May 18, 2023 7:52:40 GMT
clivel - I like the description 'mouse flaw' - and the degree of 'ink bleeding' on the value figures on both of your Coronation stamps is abysmal, which is why I thought the paper to blame though always possible it might have been an ink issue. Unrelated really, but I know that the Parker Pen Company spent vast amounts of time and money experimenting with inks in order to find the right mix of indelibility and drying time.
gstamps - you're right of course as to uncertainty of exactly what caused the defect - some good sleuthing work on your part to run down the exact location on the sheet, and comforting to know its catalogue value. As you say, plate flaws are constant and thus easier to analyse their origin and cause, and the 'joined tongue' effect spoils the stencilled appearance. You say position 99 - does this mean there are both ten vertical and ten horizontal columns (per sheet) making position 99 the last but one stamp?
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Post by gstamps on May 18, 2023 21:18:12 GMT
The sheet is 10 x 10. Field 1 is top left....10 is top right...and 100 is bottom right.
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kgvistamps
Member
Posts: 201
What I collect: British Colonies - King George VI from all countries and King Edward VII & King George V from the West Indies.
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Post by kgvistamps on May 19, 2023 13:26:41 GMT
I think some of the most complex stamps to identify are the South Africa stamps that were used from the 1920's thru the early 1950's. There are a number of options including the text, color, method of printing and in some cases the perforation. I created ID charts for each of these issues and will share them in the next few posts.
Here is the 1/2d value. Notice that the early version of the Afrikaans text shows SUIDAFRIKA with no hyphen, and later it was added. You might also note that the later stamps were printed using a series of dots. Here is my chart with the various catalog numbers associated with each pair.
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kgvistamps
Member
Posts: 201
What I collect: British Colonies - King George VI from all countries and King Edward VII & King George V from the West Indies.
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Post by kgvistamps on May 19, 2023 13:28:35 GMT
Here is the ID chart for the 1d values. Feel free to save any of these charts to your PC for use. I find them very helpful when I am viewing stamps in on-line auctions.
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kgvistamps
Member
Posts: 201
What I collect: British Colonies - King George VI from all countries and King Edward VII & King George V from the West Indies.
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Post by kgvistamps on May 19, 2023 13:30:23 GMT
Here is the 2d value chart. Notice that the design changed from the first to the second version of the stamp.
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kgvistamps
Member
Posts: 201
What I collect: British Colonies - King George VI from all countries and King Edward VII & King George V from the West Indies.
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Post by kgvistamps on May 19, 2023 13:32:03 GMT
The 3d value changed color so it is pretty easy to spot the early issues of this value.
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kgvistamps
Member
Posts: 201
What I collect: British Colonies - King George VI from all countries and King Edward VII & King George V from the West Indies.
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Post by kgvistamps on May 19, 2023 13:36:17 GMT
The 4d value kept the original spelling of SUIDAFRIKA much longer than all the other values. There is a valuable version (SG 46), and many that are inexpensive. I look at the scroll work to identify the various versions. Also, like many of the other issues, the watermark can appear upright or inverted. It matters for some values, so if you are buying SG 46 be sure the watermark is upright or you are paying too much for it.
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kgvistamps
Member
Posts: 201
What I collect: British Colonies - King George VI from all countries and King Edward VII & King George V from the West Indies.
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Post by kgvistamps on May 19, 2023 13:38:07 GMT
Here is the 6d value. There are changes in the text as well as the actual size of the printed portion of the stamp and the scroll work that will help you identify these stamps.
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kgvistamps
Member
Posts: 201
What I collect: British Colonies - King George VI from all countries and King Edward VII & King George V from the West Indies.
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Post by kgvistamps on May 19, 2023 13:40:30 GMT
The 1/ value seems to come in a large number of color shades, most of which are not listed in the catalogs. So don't be surprised if two of the same catalog number stamps don't look the same. I am just showing the catalog listed stamps here, but have more in my collection.
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kgvistamps
Member
Posts: 201
What I collect: British Colonies - King George VI from all countries and King Edward VII & King George V from the West Indies.
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Post by kgvistamps on May 19, 2023 13:43:38 GMT
The 2/6 values have a number of variations in the color that are listed in the Scott Catalog but are ignored in the Commonwealth and Stanley Gibbons Catalogue. This is unusual but makes this an interesting stamp to identify. I am just showing the primary issues here, and not the color shades.
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kgvistamps
Member
Posts: 201
What I collect: British Colonies - King George VI from all countries and King Edward VII & King George V from the West Indies.
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Post by kgvistamps on May 19, 2023 13:45:45 GMT
Finally the two higher values which were not printed as frequently as the lower value issues. There are color shades of both values that are not shown in this chart.
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Post by paul1 on May 19, 2023 17:23:38 GMT
thanks to kgvistamps for this expose and very informative lists of the Union stamps - very helpful. All this of course is in addition to the myriad of flaws and errors that affect S.A. during the period mentioned - of which two more will follow in the next post.
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Post by paul1 on May 19, 2023 17:48:32 GMT
Some of the earliest definitives issued after the inauguration of the 'Union' (1910) - typo by D.L.R., so mistakes not always the fault of Pretoria - were George V values, two of which as in the attached pix, with rather obvious problems. They're inscribed bilingually and the full run is SG 3 to 17, with Springbok watermark, and look to have been issued from 1913 to 1924 This 2d. (S.G. 6) is apparently found in dull purple and deep purple - but likely I have the more common of the two - whichever this one is, and the fault here is the rather obvious wide vertical pale line, about two thirds of the distance across the stamp. The other value is the chestnut 1.1/2d. (S.G. 20) - one of the four coil issues (S.G. 18 to 21) from aforementioned group - I think this chestnut is a warm and attractive colour, and the fault is the very noticeable pale blotch with spot, on the monarch's hair. I'm not aware of any trendy names for these particular faults - please shout if they do exist - I only have the S.G. ordinary Commonwealth catalogue. Apologies for the slight lens distortion in the photos - trying to magnify the pix leads to slightly concave edges - but don't think it affects the overall quality of the stamps.
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Post by paul1 on May 19, 2023 20:24:55 GMT
Hi kgvistamps - coming back to your post re SG 105 for the 1/2d. 1943 Springbok vertical coils issue - am assuming this is very unusual in the sense of having side perfs. - not something that coil issues normally have. Was there a reason for this do you know?
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Post by clivel on May 20, 2023 7:15:56 GMT
Hi kgvistamps - coming back to your post re SG 105 for the 1/2d. 1943 Springbok vertical coils issue - am assuming this is very unusual in the sense of having side perfs. - not something that coil issues normally have. Was there a reason for this do you know? If I recall correctly, the 1913 coils were the only South African coils issued with the sides imperforate. I believe that it depended on the method used to create the coil strips from sheets of stamps. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will jump in. The mono-coloured 1/2d and 1d coil stamps, sg105 and sg106 respectively, were printed from screened cylinders, with two issues of each, which may be differentiated by fine or coarse screening. Clive
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kgvistamps
Member
Posts: 201
What I collect: British Colonies - King George VI from all countries and King Edward VII & King George V from the West Indies.
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Post by kgvistamps on May 20, 2023 13:41:49 GMT
Hi kgvistamps - coming back to your post re SG 105 for the 1/2d. 1943 Springbok vertical coils issue - am assuming this is very unusual in the sense of having side perfs. - not something that coil issues normally have. Was there a reason for this do you know? Although the early South African coils did not have side perfs, many King George V and almost all of the King George VI era Colonial coil stamps did have side perfs. I have to assume that the design changed on the coil dispensers to allow strips of stamps to be used. This would be more convenient than having the sides be imperforate. They cut the strips from sheets of stamps and joined them into rolls of 480 stamps. I posted an example of a King George V Leeward Islands Coil Join below.
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Post by paul1 on May 20, 2023 15:44:56 GMT
very informative, and interesting - thanks for posting.
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Linda
Member
Ex-mathematician turned visual artist and touring cyclist to bike across Canada, Europe, Japan etc.
Posts: 1,262
What I collect: Mostly Canadian and European stamps about art / science / landscape
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Post by Linda on May 29, 2023 22:01:42 GMT
I received my first South African stamps lately. There are things I don't quite understand on this mini-sheet: Each stamp in this sheet has a textual spot (circled in red) that blurred out. Is this intentional design of the stamp or is this some kind of forgery?
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Post by daniel on May 30, 2023 0:40:02 GMT
I received my first South African stamps lately. There are things I don't quite understand on this mini-sheet: Each stamp in this sheet has a textual spot (circled in red) that blurred out. Is this intentional design of the stamp or is this some kind of forgery? I have that sheet too. They are actually postage stamps, each denominated at a 'Standard Postage ' rate. Supposedly celebrating design techniques of postage stamps issued over the years. So, for example, the white stamp was originally issued in Braille and the Biblia stamp was originally issued with gold foil, others would be engraved etc. However, none of the original printing techniques (all are described on each stamp but in such tiny letters as to be unreadable) are reproduced for the sheet and coupled with the fact that the original denominations are pixilated, I would consider the sheet a design fail. Daniel
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Post by clivel on May 30, 2023 3:30:25 GMT
I would consider the sheet a design fail. Daniel Absolutely, they should have just left the original denomination of each stamp blank instead of pixellating it. It would have been a lot less ugly and less confusing especially for those stamps that were already marked "Standard Postage".
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