Hello, I saw a post somewhere showing a couple of Great Britain GV stamps. One was the 1½d Red Brown, SG 441 (Scott 212 ) This (see image shown) is from the 1934-36 definitive issue and it, along with some others in this issue, offers something interesting for collectors to look for. Well in my view anyway.

In addition to watermark differences (ie sideways, inverted and sideways inverted) there are also various colour shades and printing flaws and three “formats” to this stamp and the 1d Scarlet. (NB The ½d and 2d were printed in only two formats and all other values in one format) These are termed Large Format, Intermediate Format and Small Format. The sizing refers to the size of the design on the stamp.

The Large Format has a stamp design of 18.7 x 22.5 mm thus there is a very small white edge around the design. The Intermediate size is 18.4 x 22.2 mm and the Small format has a design of 17.9 c 21.7, thus a wider and more pronounced white edge around the stamp. This is also a simplified view because there are watermark varieties and various flaws. All in all, an interesting issue to collect and study.

I have one stamp missing from my GV 1934-36 definitive collection, one I have been searching for, on and off, for 20 years: the 1d Large Format inverted watermark in Used condition. It is not actually catalogued, as far as I can tell, and is reported to have only been used at two Post Offices in 1934.

I mention this because every time I see a 1d Scarlet I always check it - such a basic issue yet one stamp that eludes me. Check yours – it is worth a few Pounds!. A mint never hinged copy is catalogued at £175 for example

As for the 1½d shown, the Large format is catalogued at 60p used, the Intermediate at £2 used and the Small format at 50p used. That is assuming very fine condition of course, so not really of any value, but interesting to have in your collection.

Enjoy your philately. Michael cddstamps.com

Hello I hope everyone is having a great philatelic weekend.  I found this booklet sheet and thought I would continue with my Machin and phosphor band theme.   Perhaps of interest to some.

This is from the 1988 Financial Times booklet, SG 1006l.   It is interesting because it has some harder to find Machin side band and 2 band varieties and is printed Litho by Questa.

The 13p value is quite common in the Harrison printing with 1 center phosphor band but these are Litho printings with left and right phosphor bands as I hope you can see from the images.

The 18p value (SG 1010) is a 2 phosphor band printing and, with a catalogue value of £8 is far more collectible than its more common Harrison printing,  SG X955 which has a catalogue value of 60p.

The 22p is similar. It has a catalogue value of £9 (SG X1015) compared to is Harrison printing (SG X963) of £1. The 34p, as you can see from the image, has 2 bands  but I do not believe there is an exact colour comparison for this in the Harrison printings. The Harrison colour being described by SG as ochre brown rather than the bistre brown of the Questa printing. The Questa issue (SG X1021) has a catalogue value of £8 and the Harrison all over phosphor (SG X985) is catalogued at £1.75

So perhaps this is interesting?  Sometimes you might find a 13p Machin, or one of the other values and you won’t necessarily know if it was from a booklet sheet or regular counter sheet issue. They have been broken up for postage I believe - worth checking?.  

Have a great philatelic weekend.  Michael  cddstamps.com

Hello, perhaps you will enjoy seeing this from a 1989 booklet sheet.   In my view it is always worth looking out for these at stamp fairs and club tables because you can find a few of the more difficult to get Machin phosphor band variations from them.

 This one is the Scotland issue, SG S55l in the SG Concise catalogue.   One stamp in particular I will point out is the 23p value; the bright green one, which is listed as SG S68 with a catalogue value of  £12. I point this out because it has 2 phosphor bands, and the more normal counter issue SG S67, also bright green which is on phosphorised paper has a catalogue value of £1.10. Perhaps worth checking your Scotland 23p stamps if only to make sure you have both in your collection. And, so you don’t accidentally swap or trade a 2 phosphor band stamp without knowing it!

The phosphor bands should be easy enough to see under normal light but with the ultra violet light they show up clearly. Well I tried to picture that in the image below.You can see the two phosphor bands running from top to bottom of the left vertical line of stamps.  You can also see the left bands on the centre and right vertical strips. 

This booklet sheet with a lovely Inverness first day of issue cancel also contains  2 x S55 (the 14p dark blue value – actually this also has a  different phosphor band to the more normal issue as well;   2 x S63 (the 19p value, again 2 phosphor bands instead of phosphorised paper as found on the more common issue) and as I mentioned the S68 23p bright green with 2 bands. All in all a very useful booklet sheet to look out for I think.

Enjoy your stamps       Michael  cddstamps.com or visit our online store here  

February brings us Valentines day. Treat yourself as we are doing a Valentine special J   14% off all Canada stock - some 1500 items - from now until end of day of 14th February 

AND with every order of $25 and over including postage - what ever stamps are purchased -  even if not only Canada, you will receive a free pair of cddstamps tweezers.

I know many of you already have our tweezers but an extra pair will always come in handy.    Enjoy visiting our store, where we now have over 37,000 lots to help you fill some gaps in your collection.

Best wishes   Happy Valentines Day  ......  Michael  cddstamps.com

Hello and welcome to the cddstamps blog,  especially if you are a new reader.

I have been adding more stock to the cddstamps online store and the above strip of 5 is one that I thought I would show you. Issued 25 years ago to celebrate the then 100th anniversary of the publication of "The Final Problem"  It is SG 1784a (Scott 1519a)

 I really enjoy seeing these stamps and whenever I do I am encourage to once again watch the Sherlock TV series, or movies - perhaps will watch a move tonight now I think of it.

If you collect GB and have some gaps in your collection please take a few minutes to look at our stamps.   We just loaded 1200 more GB (from 1975 through 1996 - so pretty good chance for you to fill a few gaps in your collection especially for this higher values.  Just visit here  and type the SG number, or the Scott number, into the  search keywords box (shown below as "search in this store") you will find on the home page of our store.    type SG1784a and you will find the stamps.  or type 1519a and you will also find the stamps      strips like this are not folded I should add.   Enjoy your philately..
Best wishes  Michael  cddstamps.com

Search Keywords