Posts Tagged ‘old stamps’

The Red Mercury is the rarest of Austrian stamps (stamps issued for sending newspapers).

Austria issued newspaper stamps for the first time in 1851, they represented a profile of Mercury, the Roman messenger god. The Mercury Stamps did not have a denomination printed on them but was specified with the color of the stamp – Blue, Yellow, and Rose. The color of the stamp indicating the value. Blue said 6 / 10 kreuzer rate for a newspaper, yellow for ten newspapers (6kr), and rose for 50 newspapers (30kr).

In 1856, the model has been replicated in the red (or scarlet), and with the rose, was the equivalent of six kreuzer. However, it was soon replaced by a new model that came out in 1858, and only a few copies have survived.

Recent auctions are estimated at approximately $40,000.

Before the discovery of Australia, it was believed that a black swan was impossible. However, after people discovered the existence of black swans in Australia, it soon became the symbol of the continent.

In 1854, Western Australia issued its first stamps, featuring the colony symbol, the Black Swan, as did all WA stamps until 1902. While 1d black was engraved in Britain by Perkins Bacon, other values, including the 4d blue, were produced by Horace Samson in Perth using lithography, and with various settings around the design for each swan value.

The Inverted Swan, a 4-pence blue postage stamp issued in 1855 by Western Australia, was one of the world’s first invert errors. Technically, it is a “frame invert”.

In January 1855, the 4d stamps were needed. When Alfred Hillman had the impression of stone out of storage, it was found that two of the impressions had been damaged, so he had to redo them. One of the replaced frames has been replaced tilted, and one was accidentally redone upside down. The stone block of 60 has been transferred four times to give the impression of stone, and 97 cards were printed before Hillman discovered and corrected the error, resulting in a total of 388 printing errors are produced.

However, the errors went unrecognized and unreported for several years. Only 15 complete copies, plus a part of a stamp in a strip of three, have survived. No unused copies are known.

Estimated value of this stamp is around US$80,000.

Postage stamps are thoroughly used in all parts of the World. Everyday, a huge number of stamps are printed in the World.

The first postage stamp issued in the world was in 1840. The stamp was introduced by the British itself and was called “One Penny Black”. Those postage stamps were integrated or attached and had to be cut with scissors. Printed on it was the picture of England’s Queen Victoria. The unused samples of these stamps are very much rare to find. And if you find one, it is very much expensive to acquire. Although having some of it in their collections means everything to many of stamps enthusiasts.

Other stamp collectors that observe the rise in value of old postage stamps engaged in Philatelic investments. Stamps prove to be the most profitable among other collectibles. Rare postage stamps are investments and also good alternative to art collecting, because they sell fast at a high price and easier to store.

There are eleven most extremely strange and very rare postage stamps in the world today. They are:

1.) The Two Penny Blue Stamps (1840) – these stamps lacked the country’s name. One of the earliest stamps made in Britain.

2.) The ‘Mauritius Post Office Error’ Stamps (1847) – these stamps had the words “Post Office” instead of “Post Paid.”

3.) Hawaii Missionary Stamps (1851) – these are very expensive stamps, an unused set of eight could cost up to $100,000.

4.) British Guiana 1-cent Magenta Stamps (1856) – alleged to be the world’s rarest and most valuable stamps. These stamps were sold at an auction in 1970 for $280,000.

5.) The New Brunswick “Connell’s Folly” (1859) – Postmaster General Charles Connell used his own portrait on the 5 cent stamp, the value most commonly used in the colony.

6.) The Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador “Seebeck Reprints” (1889-1899) – Nicholas F. Seebeck, a representative of the Hamilton Banknote Company in New York, contracted to print stamps for these nations at no charge, provided all unsold stamps were invalidated and returned to him. He sold these and other postage stamps reprinted from the original plates to collectors at a fraction of their face value.

7.) The China “Special Delivery Issue (1913-1914) – It’s the world’s largest stamp, printed in strips with five different designs.

8.) The U.S. “Inverted Airmail” (1918) – Inverted Jenny.

9.) The Germany “Inflation Issue” (1923) – Due to rampant inflation, Germany had to issue stamps at very high values. The stamp valued at 50 million marks represents one of the highest denominations ever to appear on postage stamps. It became one of rare and valuable postage stamps from Germany.

10.) The U.S. “Dag Hammarskjold Error,” (1962) – Two collectors, one in New Jersey and one in Ohio, each bought a sheet of this commemorative, which had the yellow background inverted. On discovering the existence of the error, the Post Office Dept. reissued the stamp with the error and eliminated the premium value of the original sheets.

11.) The U.S. “Farley’s Follies” (1935) – Postmaster General James A. Farley favored selected friends and VIPs, especially President Franklin D. Roosevelt, by giving them ungummed and imperforated sheets of certain commemorative issues. After strong and continued protests from American stamp collectors, the government was forced to reissue the postage stamps in an ungummed and imperforated form and make them available to the general public.

The value of old postage stamps and the rarest of them are becoming higher and higher as the demands from stamp collectors not just from the United Kingdom but from around the world are increasing rapidly.

The Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill is a 1-cent postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service in 1868 depicting Benjamin Franklin.

The Benjamin Franlink Z-Grill Stamp has the unique feature that there are tiny squares embossed into the paper in the back of the stamp to absorb the ink. This is to prevent people from cheating the postal system by washing out the cancellation marks. The use of grills was not found to be practical and they were soon discontinued.

There are currently only two known 1-cent 1868 Z-Grills. One is owned by the New York Public Library as part of the Benjamin Miller Collection. And only a single Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill is in private hands.

In 1998, Mr. Robert Zoellner’s complete USA collection was sent to auction, and Donald Sundman, president of the Mystic Stamp Company, acquired The Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill for $935,000.

Later, in late October 2005, Sundman traded this Z Grill to financier Bill Gross for a block of four Inverted Jenny stamps worth nearly $3 million. After completing this trade Gross became the owner of the only complete collection of U.S. 19th century stamps.

In previous years, in India, small copper tokens (called tickets); valued at 2 annas (1/8th of a rupee) were generally the medium of payment for postage. Single letters of up to 2-1/2 tolas (29 gm) were charged at the rate of 2 annas for every 100 miles.

Sir Bartle Frere of the East India Company became the Chief Commissioner of Sindh in 1850. Sir Frere was a great admirer of Sir Rowland Hill and the Penny Postage System he had introduced in Great Britain. Frere improved upon the postal system of Sindh by introducing a cheap and uniform rate for postage, independent of distance travelled. In 1851 the runners were replaced with an efficient system using horses and camels, following routes through Scinde province, generally along the valley of the Indus River. The mail was carried quickly and efficiently, connecting government offices and post offices from Karachi through Kotri and Hyderabad up to Shikkur in the north.

With the help of the Postmaster of Karachi, Sir Bartle issued the first postage stamps in Asia – embossed pieces of paper with a circular design in red, white or blue, of ½ Anna denominations. They carried the merchant mark of the East India Company. They were used in the Province of Sindh and also on the Karachi-Bombay route.

The first stamps of India came to be known as “Scinde Dawks”, as they were issued in the Province of Sindh. “Scinde” was how the British spelt the province of Sindh and “Dawk” is the anglicized spelling of the Hindustani word “Dak” or Post.  And so, to this day, India’s first stamps are referred to simply as The Scinde Dawks!

By contrast, the Scinde Dawk (the red stamp in the series) may exchange hands at prices as high as UK Pounds 2500 (US $ 5,000).

The Scinde Dawk stamps are rare classics of philately world.

Forgeries of these rare stamps are plentiful. The most easily detected fakes are not embossed on paper. Other crude fakes show a misalignment of the second letter ‘A’ of ANNA with the ‘K’ of DAWK; and in other fakes the ’1/2′ is not separated from the central heart shaped emblem. So, Philatelists Be care full about these Forgeries.

In 1st July 1852 India became the first country in Asia and the 10th country in world to issue postage stamps, issued by the province of Scinde (a part of India under British rule), by Sir Bartle Frere, then the Governor of Scinde. The shape was circular, with SCINDE DISTRICT DAWK  around the rim, leading the common name Scinde Dawk.  This was intended to use Scinde province only. The colour of the first stamps were red, white and blue and the denomination was ½ anna. This was also among the first circular stamps of the world.

The history

Scinde was a province in Western India with an area of about 57000 square miles and a population of about 2,500,000. Since the 4th century, Scinde was under several rulers such as Alexander the Great, Chandragupta, Muhammad Khan, Akbar and Nadir Shah of Persia till the British came to on the scene in the 1830’s.
Sir Bartle Frere, son in law of John Arthur, the governor of Bombay, was assigned with task of bringing postal reforms to Scinde. The postal administration was directly under the control of Bombay Presidency. In 1850, there were four post offices in the provinces of scinde, – Sukkur, Shikarpur, Hyderabad and Karachi. The route between Karachi to Bombay had important stages ie. Thatha, Bhuj, Ahemedabad, each route was further divided into small stages ie. 7 to 8 miles apart. The mails from these places were carried to Bombay by runners called Kasids. The distance  was covered these runners handling over the dak to the next  runners  covering the entire  route by successive relays delivering  the mail to Bombay. in about nine days time. They were basically the local tribals.

The stamp & Design

Sir Bartle Frere with the help of Edward Coffey, the postmaster of Karachi, he designed the first postage, which ultimately came to known as the Scinde Dawk. The set comprised of three embossed stamps, round in shape, in white, red and blue.

The most easily detected fakes are not embossed on paper. Other crude fakes show a misalignment of the second letter ‘A’ of ANNA with the ‘K’ of DAWK; and in other fakes the ’1/2′ is not separated from the central heartshaped emblem.

You may have stumbled on a box filled with old postage stamps that maybe your great grandparents had and simply became curious if they are of any value; you have come to the right place. You will be surprised to know as to how much is a stamp worth.  Postage stamps have their own corresponding values; it’s just that older postage stamps are worth a bit more. The value of old postage stamps enormously varies depending on how uncommon the stamps are. The rarer your old postage stamp, the more valuable it will be.

Ways to find the price of postage stamps.  One way of determining the value of stamps, is by simply contacting any stamp dealer in your locality.  There are reliable dealers that can provide you with the price of stamps or the cost of stamps.  Another way would be checking out the online stamp price guide, it can really help you identify your stamps and moreover find out their value.  Stamp prices may vary when consulting with different dealers, because some dealers are fraudulent with their stamp prices in order to make better profits.  Better yet, determine the postage stamp values on your own.

In determining stamp value, it is not just the age of the postage stamp that matters, but several factors need to be considered.  The keys to stamp valuation are centering, condition or grade, rarity, age, provenance, material, and catalogues or periodicals.

Identify the old postage stamp.  You need to fully identify the stamp itself, including the catalog number.  You can do this by looking it up in a catalogue, like the Scott Specialized Catalog of United States Stamps and Covers or the Stanley Gibbons catalogue used in Great Britain. There you will find photographs and the cost of stamps or postage stamp prices, sorted by date of issue.

Determine the centering.  Centering is the first step in determining the stamp’s value.  Here you can see the balance of the stamp design within its margins.  Centering can be determined as poor, average, fine, very fine, superb and jumbo.  There is no established system for grading the stamp’s center, so naturally it is done through eyeballing.  The basic technique to see the true centering of the stamp is to simply look at it upside down. When the stamp is turned upside down, your eyes needs to adjust as they are not used to seeing words or designs upside down.  As a result, you can impartially asses the stamp’s centering.

Study the condition or grade.  The Condition or Grade of your stamp is one of the most important factors in determining its value.  The higher the grade of the stamp condition, the more desirable and valuable it will be.

Give attention to gum. The Gum is the glue found on the backside of a stamp.  For “Mint” postage stamps, the gum must be perfect, the gum must be original and the stamp must not have gum skips or heavy natural gum creases. You cannot find gum on used postage stamps.

Note the degree of cancellation.  The condition of used stamps is judged differently and priced on the degree of cancellation.  It may be lightly cancelled, wherein the main design of the stamp is visible and moderately cancelled; or heavily cancelled, wherein the main design is barely visible and the cancel is dark, therefore making it less valuable than the lightly cancelled stamp.

Determine the perforation condition of your stamps.  Perforations are the circular cutouts punched into a printed stamp to relieve its separation from other surrounding stamps. They vary in size and number, but all should have full teeth and clean holes.

Rarity.  The rarity of the stamp is based on its visibility in the market. When it comes to determining the value of postage stamps, rarity may surpass condition or grade in importance for the reason that some buyers would rather have a rare postage stamp or not have it at all.  Auctions can often be considered as reliable sources in knowing the rarity and value of a postage stamp.

Age and material are also essential factors as it often adds value to the stamps.  The origin of the old postage stamp can simply tell what period the stamp was produced, where it was manufactured and the type of material used.  These factors alone can add value to the stamps but if coupled with traceable history and other factors, may make the stamps desirable.

Catalogues.  Several stamps are listed in catalogues or periodicals, most are meant for reference purposes and often used in order to classify and categorize stamps.

Cochin is a small state in the south-west of the Indian peninsula, which is presently known as Kerala Sate. Malayalam is the language of this region and all the stamps of this State are bilingual, displaying both Malayalam and English.

Cochin had the highest literacy rate of any state during the British period, and the people of Cochin were very fond of writing letters.

For collectors who use the Scott catalogue, there are 112 varieties of regular and 116 varieties of official (overprinted). And the Stanley Gibbons catalogue examines the series of portraits in more detail, resulting in 179 varieties of regular and 197 varieties of official issues.  And still there are many varieties which are not listed in these catalogues.

1865-1895

Raja Kerala Varma is not represented on the stamps of Cochin. In Cochin Postage were introduced in 1865, and the first adhesive Stamps were issued during the reign of Kerala Varma in 1892.

1895-1914

Raja Rama Varma I resigned in 1914 because of differences with the British Empire. A set of eight values (2p, 3p, 4p, 9p, 1, 1 ½, 2, 3a) were printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co. From 1911 to 1913. Inverted and sideways watermarks are frequently found in the 1898 and 1902-3 issues. Advanced collectors can look into the inverted and sideways watermarks.  Nine stamps were overprinted for official use, in 1913.

1914-1932

Raja Rama Varma II, from 1921 his name was changed as Maharaja Rama Varma II. A set of 11 values (2p, 4p, 6p, 8p, 9p, 10p, 1 bis, 1 ½, 2 bis, 2 ¼, 3a) were printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co. From 1916 to 1930.
Between 1922 and 1933, a range of supplements were overprinted on Rama Varma II stamps. Four varieties of 2p surcharges were overprinted on 3p blue (1922-29), a type 1a surcharge is found on the 2 ¼ of a yellow-green (1928), a surcharge 3p appears both on the green and 4p the 8p sepia (1932 – 33), a surcharge 9p was overprinted on 10p blue (1932-33), and finally an additional 6 pa been on the sepia 8p and 10p blue (1934).
A large number of Rama Varma II stamps are found overprinted for official use. The entire base (1919-33) is composed of 12 values. 2p and the 1a have never used for officials, and 6a, 12a and 1½r are only found overprinted.
1932-1941

Maharaja Rama Varma III, In 1938 Perkins, Bacon & Co. stop the contract with the state of Cochin, and an Indian firm began by printing stamps lithographic printing. Thus, two very different impressions are found during the reign of King Rama Varma III- those nicely printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co., and those less attractive offset printed variety.  Cochin’s all stamps after 1938 were offset printing.

Between 1933 and 1938, 11 values (2p, 4p, 6p, 1a, 1a8p, 2a, 2 ¼, 3a, 3a4p, 6a8p, 10a) were printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co. The ensemble is quite feasible in both used and unused condition. In 1938, five values (2p, 4p, 6p, 1a, 2 ¼ a) were offset printed by The Associated Printers of Madras. The brown-orange 1a is rare.
In 1939, 1a stamps were overprinted ‘ANCHAL’ for postal purposes (those who are not overprinted were used for revenue purposes).

1941-1943

Maharaja Kerala Varma II, was the younger brother of the former leader. His portrait on stamps gross rather unfortunate, because its true appearance is much more clean and elegant. He had a short white beard, which had to be difficult to illustrate. Kerala Varma II reigned for two years. The stamps were printed in 1943 and then overprinted for official use in 1944.

Six values (2p, 4p, 6p, 9p, 1a, 2 ¼ a) were offset printed by The Associated Printers. The 2p, 4p, and 1a values were first printed on paper with the watermark umbrella of the earlier stamps. A new watermark was then presented and used with all six values in this together. The new watermark had a broad conception, resulting in stamps showing various parts or none of the watermark.
All Nine varieties of surcharge overprints are common.
1943-46

Maharaja Ravi Varma was the younger brother of the former leader, who was, in turn, the younger brother of the ruler before him. Like the previous leader, his reign was short-only three years. From 1944 to 1948 the three values (9p, 1a3p, and 1a9p) were offset printed by The Associated Printers. In this set, the Maharaja is shown with head turned slightly toward the right side of the stamp design. Between 1946 and 1948, eight values (2p, 3p, 4p, 6p, 9p, 1a, 2a, 3a) were printed with the Maharaja’s head is slightly turned to the left side of the design. The first set of three is fairly common. And the second set in mint condition is rare and valuable.

In 1949, five were overprinted surcharges on stamps of Ravi Varma – 6p (on 1a3p) and 1a (on 1a9p) with the right head, and 3p (on 9p), 6p (on 1a3p), and 1a (on 1a9p) Head facing to the left. Later that same year, another type of surcharge was introduced – 6p (on 1a) and 9p (on 1a), the head facing left. These are rare in mint condition and even rarer in used condition.

The three values in the first category (head facing right) has been overprinted for official use. Nine values in the second category (head facing left) are overprinted for the official use.

1946-1948

Maharaja Kerala Varma III, was the last ruler of Cochin to represent on the stamps. As the two leaders before him, his reign is also two years only. Eight values (2p, 3p, 4p, 6p, 9p, 2a, 3a, 3a4p) were offset printed by The Associated Madras Printers from 1948-1950. Several values in this set are rare in mint condition. Surcharges are found two types of 3p (on 9p) and 6p (on 9p).
Eight values were overprinted for official use in 1949, 2p was not overprinted, and an additional 2 ¼ value was only issued with the official overprint. In the same year, three have been overprinted surcharges on 6p (on 3p), 9p (on 4p) and 3p (on 9p).
In 1949, two new stamps were introduced, which are like no other in the series of portraits of the Maharaja. They are in the horizontal format, and the leader of the image is reduced to the upper right corner. The main part of the design pictorial showing fishnets on a Chinese (2a value) and a Dutch palace on the other (2 ¼ value). They are not surcharged or overprinted for official use.

1948-1949

Maharaja Rama Varma IV, was the last official leader of the Empire Cochin. He is not represented on the stamps of the State. Some stamps depicting the former leader was still in production during his reign. In 1949 Travancore and Cochin merged and his kingdom has ended. He ruled for only one year. Under the Reorganization Act of 1956 the State, Travancore-Cochin lost a few districts, and gained a few others, to form a new state, Kerala, which is still in existence today.

The 24 cent Jenny Stamp was created for delivery of mail by air – a new concept in 1918. This is a large sum compared to the 3 cents that it costs for ground delivery.

The Jenny Stamps were printed in sheets of 100, but each sheet had to be fed through the printing machine twice. Therefore, it’s very easy to accidently flip the sheet on the second pass, and this is exactly what happened. The 24c airmails are red and blue, and on the invert stamps the airplane in the middle of the stamp’s design is upside down.  One of these sheets were printed with the jenny plane upside down, and sold before it was noticed, creating the Inverted Jenny error.

W.T. Robey, a collector in Washington, D.C., Purchased a sheet of 100 of these stamps at the post office for $24 on their first day of issue on May 14th, 1918. One week later he sold them for $15,000.  The buyer was Eugene Klein, a stamp dealer in Philadelphia.  Within days, multi-millionaire Colonel Edward (Ned) Green, son of Hetty (the “Witch of Wall Street”) Green, pays Klein $20,000 for the 100 Jenny Inverts.  Green Separated the sheet into blocks of four and single stamps to be sold individually. April, 1982 – A single Inverted Jenny sells for $198,000. September, 1991 – Unique Jenny Invert plate block sells for 1.2 million dollars to broadcast executive. And in 2005 Jenny Invert block sold for $2.97 million. The single stamp of “Inverted Jenny” stamp was sold for $825,000.

Recently this mistakenly printed with an illustration of an upside down plane has been sold for £184,000 at auction in Warwick & Warwick.

The country every stamp collector wanted to begin was Great Britain, since it was the world’s first country to issue adhesive stamps. There are collectors all over the world who want at least one copy of the Penny Black simply because it is the world’s first stamp.

The Penny Black and Penny Post were the brain child of Sir Rowland Hill often called the father of modern post office. The introduction of Penny posts revolutionized the letter service making it possible to send a letter anywhere in Britain for a pre-paid postage. In 1837 Sir Rowland Hill, a school master, published a pamphlet entitled “Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability”. In this he claimed that the true cost of delivering a letter from London to Edinburgh was only about 1/36 of a Penny. If the post office charged one penny postage on every letter, more people would write letters and the post office would make more profit. Helped by wide spread public support Hill eventually persuaded the post office to adopt his plan.

Until Rowland Hill introduced his reform the postage on a letter was usually paid by the person who received it, not by the person who posted it .The postman had the task of collecting the postage when he delivered the mail. Hill proposed that letters be prepaid either in cash at the post office or by prepaid letter sheets and envelopes and almost as an afterthought “a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamps showing that tax had been paid and covered at the back with a glutinous wash which the bringer of the letter might by applying a little moisture attach to the back”.

There was initially much reluctance for such a proposal as postage rates were rather high. During the early part of the 19th century postal charges rose rapidly and by the year 1814 a letter cost four pence for a distance of seven miles. Over seven miles and under fifteen miles the charges were six pence. At that time a labourer’s wage was four pence a day. Further, members of parliament were entitled to free postage, which was much misused.

However as the public support for Rowland Hill’s suggestions grew, he was appointed to the Treasury on 16th September 1839 to begin work on postal changes. First reform was the introduction of uniform Penny Postage on 5th December 1839, which was reduced to one Penny on 9th January 1840.

The Treasury invited the public to submit suggestions for the design of the gummed labels which Hill proposed that the Post Office should issue at one Penny each.

More than 2600 suggestions were submitted but only 49 related to adhesive stamps. One suggestion from Benjamin Cheverton of Casinden Town answered the fears of Treasury officials that unscrupulous printer might may be able to forge the labels and so defraud the Post Office. Cheverton suggested that the labels should bear “a female head of great beauty” because a portrait would be more difficult for forgers to copy than any other design. Awards for innovative suggestions were made to Benjamin Cheverton, Henry Cole, Charles Whiting, James Bogardus and Francis Coffin.

It was Rowland Hill’s own suggestion which was developed into the finished design. It was the profile of Queen Victoria, based on a portrait made when she was an eighteen old princess. It was also used on a medal designed by William Wyon, which was struck for the occasion of Queen’s first official entrance into the city of London in 1837.

Perkins Bacon & Petch Co, London who had been given the contract to print the adhesive stamp, commissioned the artist Henry Corbould to make a number of profiles drawing of the young Queen based on the Wyon medal. Charles and Frederick Health, father and son, engraved the Queen’s portrait for the production of the plate which contained 240 impressions.

The Penny Black, the first ever adhesive postage stamp was issued on 1st May 1840 though it became valid for postage on 6th may 1840. A usage before this date is known. It was issued in sheets of 240 (rows of 12). It had a water mark of a small crown, and was black in colour. These stamps were not perforated and had to be cut and sold. The ink used for the printing consisted of lamp black in linseed oil. The gum was applied hot with brushes. Whose colour varied and in some sheets were almost colourless. Total plates used were eleven (Nos 1 to 11). About 72 Million stamps were issued and remained valid for usage till 1841.

Of the 72 million copies of Penny Black which were sold, only 16800 were from plate II, which comes to just 700 sheets. These are the rarest of the Penny Black. Over ten million copies were printed from plate la / 1b. Yet even a medium poor copy of a plate 1 stamp is expensive. Strips of Penny Black are scarce and blocks very scarce.

Hill’s stamp system was eventually adopted in some form by every country starting with Brazil in 1843. It revolutionized the postal system in the world. As a bonus it also kicked off the world’s most popular hobby philately.