stamps - Bitter Grounds Magazine

George V St Helena Cleft Rock Flaw

by catpaw | 28 Jan, 2016 | Catpaw's Picks, country Stamps, Espresso fueled mumblings, Stamps

George V St Helena Colony Badge Cleft Rock

Scotts # 79 doesn’t list flaws | SG # SG 97c

St Helena is a tiny speck in the ocean, best known for it’s infamous exile, Napoleon. It’s also home to some beautiful stamps.

The particular issue today is the St. Helena Colony Badge series from 1922-1937. The badge shows a 3 mast ship sailing by two rocks. The stamps were printed on both chalk-surface and regular paper with two different watermarks – either Multiple Crown CA or Multiple Script Ca. These lovelies were designed by Mr. T. Bruce. I’ve tried to find information on the mysterious T. Bruce, but so far I’ve dead ended. I think it’ll take a long trip to the library to source the information.

Watermarks for the St. Helena stamps

The series is collectable on its own. There are 15 stamps in one set – ½ p through to 15 shillings and 5 stamps in the second set. The higher values were printed in smaller numbers because there really wasn’t a big demand for them. The 5-schilling stamp wmk script, for instance, fetches $1300 (Cdn) and higher. Postally used stamps are worth more but beware forged cancels. If you are thinking of a higher valued stamp, stick with reputable sellers and avoid the once in a lifetime bargains often found at eBay.

Multiple Crown Ca watermark

Multiple Script Ca watermark

The catalogue numbers run from SG 97 – 112 or Sc 79 – 93 all bearing the Multiple Script Ca watermark (image on left side of screen) and a second set, with 5 stamps, SG 113-117 or Sc 95-99 with Multiple Crown Ca watermark (image on right).

What makes this series exciting are the plate flaws – torn flag, cleft in rock, broken mast. If you want to explore the flaws, you need to invest in a Stanley Gibbons catalogue. They are far better with British Commonwealth and Empire stamps than Scotts. The Scotts regular catalogue fails to list any of the major flaws. Gibbons Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps 1840-1952 is my go-to catalogue, although I wish they’d issue it in digital format.

Looking at the cleft rock flaw

Although I normally collect airmail and Canadian, I do enjoy wandering through British Empire stamps. I picked up a small lot of British Empire stamps years ago. I read an article on the plate flaws and became frisky thinking “Oh maybe I have one”. Imagine my shock to find I had this one:

Yes, the cleft rock in my lowly mint, unhinged ½ p issue was sitting there in all its glory. It catapulted the price from a couple of bucks (on a good day) to about $60 Cdn in the current market. The catalogue price is wildly overpriced, you’ll never get what’s listed there.

Here’s a close of the flaw – it’s easy to spot if you scan your stamp in and blow the size up to full screen.

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Notes:

If you’re interested in St Helena stamps, check out the St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Philatelic Society. They have a fine Sales & Wants page.

Don’t forget to use online resources to help you figure out what’s in your collection. Stanley Gibbons website is one of the better. It’s chocked a block full of information. Go to their site and do a search for Cleft Rock, Torn Flag or Broken Mast. Any search will pull up decent quality scans you can examine to see what the flaws look like. You’ll also get a good idea about the current going price for quality issues.

Soruth 1868 – two beautiful stamps from a Princely State

by catpaw | 6 Dec, 2015 | Catpaw's Picks, country Stamps, Espresso fueled mumblings, Stamps

Here are a couple of lovelies – Soruth 1868. I acquired them about a year ago at auction. Soruth (or Sorath, Junagadh, and Saurashtra) was a small Princely State in Gujarat until 1947 when it became part of the state of Saurashtra and then part of Bombay State.

These are hand stamped with water colour ink. You can find them in Scotts 9 and 8 respectively. I usually use Stanley Gibbons but I’m having a few problems identifying this set clearly. Too many variations. The only thing clear is both are Type B – you can tell by the bottom left character.

Unperforated, no watermarks, no gum, laid paper. Nice, large margins on both.

I got lucky at auction and picked them up for a song. The catalogue price hovers around $170 for the pair. I didn’t think I’d have a chance at getting these, but I scooped them up for under $25(Cdn). Sometimes, it’s all about who shows up for the auction. I went with the faint hope of getting them and was surprised to find no one else was interested. Everyone showed up to watch the fight over a great set of Canadian covers and no one was interested in the Indian material. My pair sold early in the auction and which was excellent because everyone was saving their money for the cover dustup. Unless you had over $4,000 for each cover, there wasn’t a hope you’d be able to touch them.

I don’t spend a lot of time or money on Feudatory States – although I’d like to. The problem is they are just too difficult to identify, and many forgeries abound, I know experts who have been snookered on occasion. I have a modest little collection – low values mostly but infinitely enjoyable.

While you’re here don’t forget to support Bitter Grounds via Buy me a Coffee (to the left), PayPal (in the footer) or by merch. You can now subscribe to my newsletter and get new posts directly to your inbox. You can now like and share articles using the pop-up box on the right.

Keep reading about Indian’s great stamps:

3 Rocket mail stamps & explosive packed tubes

Canadian Small Queens – ink variations

by catpaw | 4 Oct, 2015 | Stamps, Catpaw's Picks, Espresso fueled mumblings

While doing research on Canadian small Queens a while ago, I ran into a couple of articles that listed inks were used. Problem is, for the life of me, I can’t remember which book. I suspect it was POSTAGE STAMPS AND POSTAL HISTORY OF CANADA by Winthrop Boggs. At any rate, what’s fascinating is the fact the inks were hand mixed for each run.

Printers had their own recipes, which explains the colour variations in the early stamps. Small Queens are a bonanza for stamp collectors. You can get some good colour charts, but if you’re like me, they still don’t help a lot. I struggle with the different and often subtle variations, plus trying to decide if it’s a changeling or a genuine rare colour. You’d think that someone who’s collected as long as I have would whistle through colour identification, but not so. It’s both maddening and fun. Often, my rare colour is a changeling.

There were 3 printing periods

The 1st Ottawa Period (1870-1872/3) at Wellington St. Ottawa
The Montreal Printing (1873-1889). The printing was moved from Ottawa to Montreal when the printers shifted the company to Montreal
The Second Ottawa Period (1889-1897). The printing was moved back to Ottawa when the government made the printer stick to the original contract location.

Two ink mixtures used in Canadian Small Queens

1c	2c
6lbs lemon chrome yellow	12lbs American chrome green
3lbs orange	4lbs common chrome green
1/2 lb Venetian red — ferric oxide or iron oxide	4lbs white lead
2lb white lead	1lb lemon chrome yellow
2lbs Paris white – aka cliff stone or chalk	4 lbs lime white – limestone

Note the ingredients, they were quite a toxic stew. If you’d like to read a bit about the pigments used in inks and paints, Web Exhibits – Pigments through the Ages has an excellent site that explores the evolution of colour pigments and the historic ingredients and how they were made. The colour variations can be dizzying to keep track of.

Rough Guide to Colour Mixtures

I pulled together a list of the major ones and use it as a rough guide (update – colours are taken from a variety of sources but mostly from Boggs excellent work mentioned above):

1/2c	1c	2c	3c	5c	6c	8c	10c	20c	50c
Black Grey black	yellow Orange Deep red orange Red orange Bright orange Lemon yellow Yellow orange orange yellow Pale dull yellow	green Blue green Deep green Dull sea green	orange red Rose Copper Dull red Dark rose Deep red orange Bright vermillion Deep rose vermillion Orange vermillion Orange Orange red Rose carmine	slate green Deep olive green Grey Pale olive grey Brown grey	yellow brown Dark yellow brown Brown Red brown Chocolate Chestnut Deep chestnut	violet black Blue grey Slate Grey	dull rose lilac Deep lilac rose Dull rose Pale milky rose lilac Light rose lilac Brownish red Pale lilac magenta Deep lilac magenta Carmine pink Magenta	vermillion Brown orange	deep blue

You can spend a life collecting nothing but Small Queens. The price differences are staggering. For instance, a used 3c bright vermillion in VF condition can be had for $1 Cdn while a deep rose carmine variation can run about $40. A VG mint spans from $10 to $200 for the same set. Word of advice, before popping open a bottle of champagne about that rare deep rose carmine, get an expert to check it out.

Here’s a sampling of some of the variations from my own collection:

To date, I’ve collected a couple hundred small queen stamps. Of all the early QV stamps, they are my favourite.

3 Queen Victoria Small Queen Cancels

by catpaw | 23 Jul, 2015 | Catpaw's Picks, country Stamps, Espresso fueled mumblings, Stamps

Not in a pithy mood lately so I’ll just share some of my Small Queen cancels with you. I have a couple hundred – collected mostly for the various cancels and colour variations. Good fun on a cold miserable winter day. I spent a week, in the spring, scanning them all in to my laptop and cataloguing them.

Scanning them gave me an opportunity to examine them up close. The details are much easier to appreciate on a screen rather than squinting through a magnifying glass. So … two bulls-eye and a fancy leaf cancel. If I weren’t so lazy, I’d tell you about them. But …. just enjoy the beauty of them instead.

While you’re here don’t forget to support Bitter Grounds via Buy me a Coffee (to the left), PayPal (in the footer) or by merch. You can now subscribe to my newsletter and get new posts directly to your inbox. You can now like and share articles using the pop-up box on the right.

Are you a fan of Small Queens? I cobbled together some info on the various inks used a few years back. Check out this article.

Canadian Small Queens – Ink Variations | Bitter Grounds Magazine

Territory of New Guinea airmails 1932

by catpaw | 12 Mar, 2015 | Airmail & Aviation, Catpaw's Picks, Espresso fueled mumblings, Stamps

One of my favourite sets of stamps comes are the New Guinea airmails. The former German colonies were taken by Australian forces in WW1 and remained an Australian protectorate until the Japanese invasion in WW2 and renamed the Territory of New Guinea in ’25.

The Raggiana Bird of Paradise stamps were issued in 1925 and overprinted for airmail use August 1931 and (reissued) 1932-34. Now, this can be a pricey set, which is why I have only a handful of them. The stamps can trip you up if you aren’t paying attention. The first series was printed with date scrolls on either side of the stamp price. The second series didn’t have them and are often referred to as “undated airmails”. It’s easy to spot, but just as easy to miss. In the upper values, this translates into a big price difference – almost double the value. Good quality used ones are more valuable, and if you find one on a cover, well, that’s hitting airmail bingo. There are 14 stamps in the dated set and 16 in the undated.

New Guinea airmails – bargains to be had

The low denomination stamps can be had for a real bargain – you can pick up the first 7 stamps in the series for about $5 to $10. If you want space fillers, you can grab them for less. Occasionally the 4 – 9 pence issues can be had for around $20, but I’ve seen them go for up to $50. Once you hit the shilling issues, then you have to dish out serious money. I recently saw the 1932 mint 10/ stamp go for $145. If you are patient, you can sometimes get the complete set for under $300. As usual, it really depends on the day and who else is bidding against you.

The ones below are part of the Undated set. 3 mint, one used. Unfortunately, the 1p (light green) has a heavy hinge mark on the back that caused the stamp to bow a bit, really detracts from the value. Bit of a shame. The 3p (gray blue) used is nice, no noticeable flaws, lightly hinged and a light cancel. I found them in a big old book of stamps I purchased at a show a few years back. I paid the princely sum of $75 for the full collection and have found many, many little gems inside. These were a pleasant surprise to find. Not worth a lot, but fun to have in an airmail collection.