S.A. Reduced size War Effort stamps - 'Bantams'.
Jun 17, 2022 14:13:03 GMT
Ryan, salentin, and 9 more like this
Post by paul1 on Jun 17, 2022 14:13:03 GMT
I notice that SG refer to these things as 'reduced size', and not bantams - so seems it's likely the latter name is a collector description only. As a child my father kept bantams - a chicken of reduced proportions - they do all the things a Rhode Island Red does but being half size they're ideal for those with a smaller garden, though going to work on an egg means less energy I suppose.
I need to replace the camera - so apologies it anyone can see those pinkish lines on the pix - I've done best to avoid them this time.
I'm only guessing, but suppose it's likely the reduced size was seen as a paper saving exercise - in the U.K. we see fair amount of used examples though expect mint are probably thin on the ground now - the youngest are now getting close to eighty years old. It seems to have been commonplace during the '30s and '40s for the Union to issue reduced size examples of many of their standard size stamps.
Like most Union of S.A. stamps, these things are frequently the subject of errors, so can only think Pretoria were less efficient at spotting printing mistakes (believe this group, like most of the Union stamps were printed in Pretoria). For those interested, SG details are:
1/2d. - Infantry - SG 97
1d. Nurse 98
1.1/2d. Airman 99
2d. Sailor 100
3d. Women's Aux.
Service 101
6d. Elec. Welding 102
4d. Heavy gun in
Concrete Turret 103
1/-s. Tank Corp 104
A quirk of design is that the first six stamps follow the wording format of most S.A. stamps from around that period i.e. stamps were issued in joined pairs - one carrying text in English and the other in Africaans - with this set the last two stamps have both languages on each stamp. After this set, it doesn't appear that 'bantam' sized stamps were ever issued in S.A.
I need to replace the camera - so apologies it anyone can see those pinkish lines on the pix - I've done best to avoid them this time.
I'm only guessing, but suppose it's likely the reduced size was seen as a paper saving exercise - in the U.K. we see fair amount of used examples though expect mint are probably thin on the ground now - the youngest are now getting close to eighty years old. It seems to have been commonplace during the '30s and '40s for the Union to issue reduced size examples of many of their standard size stamps.
Like most Union of S.A. stamps, these things are frequently the subject of errors, so can only think Pretoria were less efficient at spotting printing mistakes (believe this group, like most of the Union stamps were printed in Pretoria). For those interested, SG details are:
1/2d. - Infantry - SG 97
1d. Nurse 98
1.1/2d. Airman 99
2d. Sailor 100
3d. Women's Aux.
Service 101
6d. Elec. Welding 102
4d. Heavy gun in
Concrete Turret 103
1/-s. Tank Corp 104
A quirk of design is that the first six stamps follow the wording format of most S.A. stamps from around that period i.e. stamps were issued in joined pairs - one carrying text in English and the other in Africaans - with this set the last two stamps have both languages on each stamp. After this set, it doesn't appear that 'bantam' sized stamps were ever issued in S.A.
