jimd52
**Member** 
Inactive
Posts: 9 
What I collect: Belgium, US, Great Britain
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Post by jimd52 on May 21, 2020 4:17:58 GMT
I have recently discovered an interesting new facet to collecting Great Britain .... in addition to prestige books and presentation packs that I've discovered in the last year or so I've come across something called traffic light gutter pairs.
Is there a better reference source than Stanley Gibbons Great Britain concise annual catalogue .?
And is anyone aware of a source of album Pages for these ?
Maybe even a specialist group or study circle ?
Any and all help and information is greatly appreciated thanks
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vikingeck
Member 
Posts: 2,811
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on May 21, 2020 8:14:47 GMT
These became quite sought after in the heady days of the 1970s /1980s collecting boom, the coloured dots in the sheet selvedge and in the gutter between the sheet panes .
Used to allow checkers to spot poor registration of the colours used for print run... and to show up any missing colours they made attractive blocks. I don’t recall any great premium over regular stamps as most collectors simply got them at face through their local P.O. or ordered them from the philatelic bureau . Following the market crash in the late 1980s, many collectors quit and by the millennium as their collections came on the market mint stamps of the period produced a flood of supply which outstripped the market and they could be had at a fraction 50% to 75% of the original face value. Many were simply broken up for cheap postage. I know I have been guilty of such..
They are attractive when well presented but largely out of favour, I don’t think any printed pages are available , you would need do do your own . A set of 4 stamps as gutter pairs or gutter 4 blocks takes up a lot of space.
I note they are listed between 1973 and 1979 in the GBConcise, but know of no other information . The traffic lights continue in the selvedge but the gutters are blank.
If you are interested in pursuing these I suggest you ask dealers at trade fairs or stamp shows, York, Stafford, Midpex, Stampex etc they should be around for much less than the SGCatalogue prices.
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stanley64
Member
Posts: 1,589
What I collect: Canada, USA, Netherlands, Portugal & Colonies, Antarctic Territories and anything that catches my eye...
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Post by stanley64 on May 21, 2020 9:56:09 GMT
Always the fountain of information; thanks for posting vikingeck!
I like the idea jimd52 of a collection devoted to these and think it would be quite attractive. Myself, I do not collect them specifically but do keep them intact on those sets I have acquired that have them such as the Fiordland Crested Penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus) set from New Zealand shared here. They do required custom pages though as I have yet to see any commercial pages that a lot for them. As for pricing. I would not consider paying a premium for the printer's marks alone and only have them when the price is the comparable for a 'regular' block, pair or issue.
If you do find a specialist group or study circle, please do share...
Thanks and happy collecting!
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brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110
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Post by brightonpete on May 21, 2020 12:23:47 GMT
jimd52: if you do a search on 'traffic lights' here, you'll find a lot of info. Use the "Search" button in the above button bar, NOT the google search one...
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