Poland: 1976 Modern Aviation definitives
Jul 3, 2023 20:57:49 GMT
Londonbus1, Ryan, and 9 more like this
Post by ameis33 on Jul 3, 2023 20:57:49 GMT
In the late 1970s the Polish Post issued a series of definitive stamps entitled "Modern Aviation". I have always thought that these stamps were airmail stamps, both because they represented planes (reminding the previous airmail issues), and because of the slightly more generous format compared to other ordinary stamps, always reminding to previous airmail stamps... In reality, none of this.
The series included four stamps, issued between 1976 and 1978.
At that time, stamp collecting was more popular, and i think i can say a small collection could be found in every house (i also inherited the collections of my wife and my mother-in-law). Like today, it was possible to subscribe to Poczta Polska to receive new issues, the "kolekcja abonamentowa" with a term that always makes me smile (BTW! Previous stamps come from my kolekcja abonamentowa...). Subscription shipments were normally composed with the first issues printed. But it was common, even if in my opinion less than in other countries, the search for variety. So much so that in the "Filatelista" magazine it's not difficult to find reports from collectors who highlighted defects or what they could find. It is precisely in this magazine, in particular the number 4 of 1996, that you can read an article by Stanislaw Walish on the 20zl stamp.
With the inflation of the 1980s, the demand for postage stamps to frank letters with significantly higher rates than in the past grew steadily and instead of the introduction of new series, existing stamp with a high face value but with a more limited usage in the previous period has been reprinted, like the values by 20 and 50zl.
For the 20zl value, the new printing was carried out with different forms, with cylinders of three sectors and sheets always of 50 stamps (10 x 5), without accounting numbers on the margins, but with the sector marking in the form of dots placed under the 50th stamp of each sector. In addition to this marking, each single sector has a date typographically printed in red ink in the upper margin (above the 5th stamp) and a sequential sheet number (above the 7th and 8th stamp). Besides the fact that these stamps are printed with different cylinders, there are other differences with the stamps issued in 1977. The color of the stamps in the new edition is gray-olive green, not olive green (well, tonality name litterally translated from italian, which was previously litterally translated from polish...). Furthermore, the stamps are block perforated instead of a comb perforation, even if the measure of the perforation is the same, probably printed with the new Goebel machine, which arrived at PWPW in 1978.
One of the whole sheet in my collection
The dots identifying which of the three sectors
The date
The sheet number
The (slight) color difference
The 1985 specialized catalog gives a total number of 96 million of 20zl stamps printed. This quantity is 94.46 million greater than the one reported in the similar catalog four years earlier and this difference is probably the print run of the new stamps. With 150 stamps per sheet, this means around 630,000 sheets printed. Given the large number of sheets printed, the printing cylinder had to be maintained, renewed or replaced with a new one as the plate wore out. A symptom of the considerable wear of the printing plate is the appearance of a specific variety, the almost total disappearance of the second level of the forest in the image. This defect is particularly evident in the stamps in the center of the sheet. They are likely to come from a plate with a significant degree of wear towards the final stages of the cylinder's life, where the engraved parts flattened and could no longer collect ink during the printing process.
The series included four stamps, issued between 1976 and 1978.
At that time, stamp collecting was more popular, and i think i can say a small collection could be found in every house (i also inherited the collections of my wife and my mother-in-law). Like today, it was possible to subscribe to Poczta Polska to receive new issues, the "kolekcja abonamentowa" with a term that always makes me smile (BTW! Previous stamps come from my kolekcja abonamentowa...). Subscription shipments were normally composed with the first issues printed. But it was common, even if in my opinion less than in other countries, the search for variety. So much so that in the "Filatelista" magazine it's not difficult to find reports from collectors who highlighted defects or what they could find. It is precisely in this magazine, in particular the number 4 of 1996, that you can read an article by Stanislaw Walish on the 20zl stamp.
With the inflation of the 1980s, the demand for postage stamps to frank letters with significantly higher rates than in the past grew steadily and instead of the introduction of new series, existing stamp with a high face value but with a more limited usage in the previous period has been reprinted, like the values by 20 and 50zl.
For the 20zl value, the new printing was carried out with different forms, with cylinders of three sectors and sheets always of 50 stamps (10 x 5), without accounting numbers on the margins, but with the sector marking in the form of dots placed under the 50th stamp of each sector. In addition to this marking, each single sector has a date typographically printed in red ink in the upper margin (above the 5th stamp) and a sequential sheet number (above the 7th and 8th stamp). Besides the fact that these stamps are printed with different cylinders, there are other differences with the stamps issued in 1977. The color of the stamps in the new edition is gray-olive green, not olive green (well, tonality name litterally translated from italian, which was previously litterally translated from polish...). Furthermore, the stamps are block perforated instead of a comb perforation, even if the measure of the perforation is the same, probably printed with the new Goebel machine, which arrived at PWPW in 1978.
One of the whole sheet in my collection
The dots identifying which of the three sectors
The date
The sheet number
The (slight) color difference
The 1985 specialized catalog gives a total number of 96 million of 20zl stamps printed. This quantity is 94.46 million greater than the one reported in the similar catalog four years earlier and this difference is probably the print run of the new stamps. With 150 stamps per sheet, this means around 630,000 sheets printed. Given the large number of sheets printed, the printing cylinder had to be maintained, renewed or replaced with a new one as the plate wore out. A symptom of the considerable wear of the printing plate is the appearance of a specific variety, the almost total disappearance of the second level of the forest in the image. This defect is particularly evident in the stamps in the center of the sheet. They are likely to come from a plate with a significant degree of wear towards the final stages of the cylinder's life, where the engraved parts flattened and could no longer collect ink during the printing process.
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