Posts Tagged ‘rare stamps’

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.

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.

The 1854 first issues of India and also first stamps ever made in Asia included a Four Annas value in red and blue. However, an error occurred during production, showing the head “upside down.” This is one of the world’s first multicolored stamps. The design consisted of a profile portrait of Queen Victoria in blue inside an octagonal red frame with the words INDIA above and FOUR ANNAS below. These Four Annas Stamps are first printed in October, 1854 and 17,170 sheets were printed.

These stamps were a rush order and very urgently needed, because postage rate for a small letter from India to Europe at that time was eleven annas.  And it was impossible to find place on the small envelope for eleven 1 Anna stamps (the previous highest denomination).

First of all, two engravings were made on small copper plates, of the head die and frame die respectively. From these two dies a large number of impressions were taken on small pieces of transfer paper and transferred on to two different series of lithographic stones, the head stones in blue and the frame stones in red. On every stone there were 12 impressions, i.e., three rows of four, carefully synchronized to exact measurements to ensure that later the 12 blue heads would fit exactly into the centers of the 12 red frames.

The Printing Operators first printed the red frames on to sheets of paper which had been to the right size, and which had a characteristic oval watermark covering all the 12 impressions. These sheets were then put aside to dry, and later using blue printing with the head stones. By very careful alignment of the half printed sheets, the blue were printed as exactly as possible into the center of the red frames, thus completing the bi-colored stamps, and making the sheets ready for issue to the post office. If an operator put a sheet of red frames the wrong way up on to his stone of blue heads, what happened? Naturally, all the 12 heads on the sheet would be inverted relative to the red frames, and ‘Moreover head No. 1 would fall into frame No. 12, head No. 2 into frame No. 11, and so on. This is exactly what happened, and so was created the classic error, India 4 annas “Inverted Head.”

This error was not found before the stamps were issued, of course, and it seems to have been not discovered for many years after.

The Government of India Collection, in Delhi, has a cut to shape example on piece, position 2 on the sheet. Three cut to shape examples of the Inverted Head Four Annas repose in the Tapling Collection at the British Museum, London, including two (positions 3 and 4 on the printed sheet) on piece. One carefully cut to shape is found in the Royal Collection, position 5 on the sheet.

As a beginning stamp collector, the first thing you must do is gather some STAMPS! There are lots of places where you can get stamps. Here are some good sources:

* The easiest and least expensive way to start is by taking stamps from envelopes, packages, and postcards that come to your house. Be sure to ask permission before you cut stamps off of envelopes. (Remove the stamps from packages and envelopes by cutting a portion of the area around the stamp. Don’t try to peel them off, they may tear.

* Ask your friends and relatives to save the stamps from their mail for you. Ask places that receive a lot of mail — neighborhood businesses or where your parents work — to save their envelopes for you. If your interest is foreign stamps, you might try airlines, travel agencies, and foreign government offices in your area.

* Find a pen pal (perhaps friends or relatives) so that you can send each other letters with cool stamps.

* Don’t be too concerned that you are getting too many copies of the same stamps. You can trade duplicate stamps with other collectors.

* You can purchase new stamps at your local post office.

* Stamp Dealers are a great source for older stamps and often offer inexpensive packages containing many different stamps from all over the world.

* Stamp clubs are another place to get stamps. A club may offer stamps as prizes, or have inexpensive stamps you can afford to buy, or there may be someone at the club who might offer you some good advice. Some stamp clubs sponsor junior clubs that meet at schools or the local YMCA or community center. If you are fortunate enough to have one of these in your area, it can be a great source of both stamps and advice.

* Another resource is stamp shows. Here you will not only find stamps but also get to meet other collectors. Stamp shows may be small one- or two-day events in your local area, or very large events in big-city convention halls lasting several days and featuring hundreds of dealers and thousands of pages of stamp exhibits to see. You can find out about stamp shows in your area by contacting your local postmaster.

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.

Issued on June 14, 1851, Canada’s 12-penny black features a portrait of the youthful Queen Victoria, a reproduction of a full-length painting by Alfred E. Chalon. This 12d was the high value of Canada’s first three stamps. The 12d denomination, instead of 1 shilling, was used because the value of a shilling differed in various parts of North America at that time. In most of New England, the shilling was equal to l0d, while in New York it was valued at 7d. The 12d denomination left no room for monetary confusion.

The 12d issue was printed by Rawdon, Wright, Hatch, and Edson (forerunner of the American Bank Note Company) on vertically laid paper. This poor quality paper irritated both the mailing public and postal authorities. The 12d stamp saw little use, not only because of its high denomination, but because it’s adhesive and paper did not adhere well to envelopes. Thus, the issue was on sale for just a few years, with only 1,450 being sold.

In 1857 the remaining unsold 49,550 12d stamps were withdrawn and destroyed. It is believed that somewhere between 100 and 150 examples of this 12d black exist today, but this is only conjecture.

On April 30, 1974, a single was purchased by Andy Kosztandy, manager of the Postal Stamp Department of Charlton Numismatics, Ltd., for $17,000 at a J.N. Sisson’s auction in Toronto. A mint corner marginal pair was acquired by the Canadian National Postal Museum in Ottawa in 1975. It is valued at $125,000.

In 1977, Stanley Gibbons International sold an unused pair for £51,000 during its Canadian ‘Consort’ auction in London.

A New York collector purchased a single for $90,000 during a Greg Manning auction in 1978, and an unused single brought $75,000 at a Robert A. Siegel auction in 1980. A record $126,500 was paid by a Canadian collector for a single at the Greg Manning London International Rarity Auction conducted May 10, 1980.

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 history of India’s postal system begins long before the introduction of postage stamps. The Atharvaveda records a messenger service. Systems for collecting information and revenue data from the provinces are mentioned in Chanakya’s Arthashastra (3rd century BC).

For centuries it was rare for messages to be carried by any means other than a relay of runners on foot. A runner ran from one village or relay post to the next, carrying the letters on a pole with a sharp point. His was a dangerous occupation: the relay of postal runners worked throughout the day and night, vulnerable to attacks by bandits and wild animals. Later Ramayana and Mahabharata, two of the greatest epic, mention of the transmission of messages.

A large establishment for the transmission of messages is recorded for Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta in 322 BC. Ibn Batuta, the Moroccan traveler to India in 1310 AD had detailed the mail system of Sultan Mohammed bin Tughlaq. Massive reorganization of this system took place under Sher Shah Suri. It was developed and maintained under the Mogul and later rulers.

The traders, whom the rulers allowed the use of royal mail at times, felt the need for regular message service as the first priority of royal mail could be for the rulers only. Big traders have known to operate postal services from 14th century AD that also accepted mail from others for a fee. During 17th century AD several postal systems under the patronage of various rulers and traders were in vogue. The East India Company first used these services for exchange of mail between their trading centers in India.

The Company decided to setup their own postal service ‘Company Dawk’ in view of the increasing trade activity and their requirement of intelligence of military nature. In 1688 the first post office of the Company Post was established at Bombay/Madras. Lord Robert Clive, the Governor of Bengal in his second term, ordered for ‘better regulations of the dawks’ in 1766. Warren Hastings, the first Governor General of Bengal with supervisory powers over Bombay and Madras, reorganized the system and opened the service to public in 1774. A Postmaster General was appointed and metal tickets or tokens were issued to pay for the postal charges.

The presidencies of Bombay and Madras followed suit.

In 1835 a Committee was set up for unification of customs and postal system of all the presidencies. The result was the first Indian Post Office Act of 1837. It not only provided for uniform rates and routes but for the uniform designs and other specifications of the postmarks for each category of post office.

A Commission was setup in 1850 and submitted its report in 1851 that resulted in the post office act of 1854.  On this basis the Indian Post Office was established on October 1, 1837. It took three years primarily due to one of the recommendations of the Commission for introduction of adhesive postage stamps as the Company insisted on producing the stamps in India and Indian authorities wanted it printed in England. Under the provisions of this act the monopoly of carrying mail in entire area of British possessions in India were granted to Indian Post office and office of the Director General of Post Offices of India was established. Mr. H P A B Riddle, till then the Postmaster General of North West Presidency, was appointed the first Director General in May 1854. The adhesive stamps were introduced on October 1, 1854 on all India basis.  Meanwhile in 1852 adhesive postage stamps were issued for use within the province of Sind, now in Pakistan. These were the first adhesive postage stamps in Asia.

In 1866 the postage stamps for government mail were introduced by overprinting ‘Service’ on ordinary postage stamps.  This innovation became widely adopted by other countries in later years.

The Convention States are those which had postal conventions (or agreements) with the Post Office of India to provide postal services within their territories. The adhesive stamps and postal stationery of British India were overprinted for use within each Convention State. The first Convention State was Patiala, in 1884, followed by others in 1885. The stamps of the Convention States all became invalid from 1st January 1950.

The Feudatory States maintained their own postal services within their territories and issued stamps with their own designs. Many of the stamps were imperforate and without gum, as issued. Many varieties of type, paper, inks and dies are not listed in the standard catalogs. The stamps of each Feudatory State were valid only within that State, so letters sent outside that State needed additional British India postage.

The First Stamp of Independent India was issued on the 21st of November, 1947.  A victory issue in 1946 was followed in November, 1947 by a first Dominion issue, whose three stamps were the first to depict the Ashoka Pillar and the new flag of India (the third showed an airplane).

In 1847, the British Colony of Mauritius issued one penny and Two Penny stamps. As postage stamps were recently invented for postal use, the new governor’s wife wished to use them on her invitations to the inaugural ball. This design was created by Joseph O. Barnard (1816-1865) local jeweler, whose initials are engraved on the neck of the queen (as ‘J.B’) on Post Office Mauritius Stamps. The jeweler was placed under great pressure to produce the plates for immediate usage. Working late into the night, without experience and being rushed by the governor’ wife, the engraver made a serious mistake not noted until the proofing of the first few sheets. The jeweler erroneously engraved the words ‘Post Office’ instead of the words ‘Post Paid’ upon the stamp. These Mauritius issues feature an image of Queen Victoria and the inscription “Post Office” along the left edge. A copper plate of 3.25 inches by 2.5 inches was used to engrave the design.

When the error was discovered, the governor’s wife (Lady Gomm) would not be delayed even one day. She took enough of the stamps to mail her invitations, and the rest of the errors were destroyed. How many were used cannot really be estimated, because no one really knows exactly how many invitations were sent out.

There are approximately thirty stamps known to be in existence. Both mint and used copies have existed in the stamp world. In 1929, the catalogue value of the Scott #1, Imperforate 1 penny orange, was $20,000 for a unused issue; and the Scott #2, Imperforate 2 pence blue, was $17,000 for unused. The #1 was $12,500 for a used copy, and the #2 was $15,000.

In the 2007 Scott catalogue, The Scott #1 unused is $1,100,000

They are mostly in the hands of private collectors, but are on display at the British Museum in London and the Blue Penny Museum in Mauritius. All un used copies are in museums. There is one unused copy of the 1p in private hands.

The inscription was later correct to read “Post Paid” on the next issuance of these stamps.

Queen Victoria Talking About Philately