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1960 Fifty Years of Union, UNIPEX Memories, Stamps and Varieties
By Otto Peetoom

1960 Six Commemorative Stamps in One Month

To celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union of South Africa a set of four stamps was issued on 2 May 1960 plus a 1/3 single value that celebrated the Centenary of the South African Railways.

They were followed at the end of the month by a single 3d value issued on 31 May 1960 depicting six of the Union’s Prime Ministers. In my opinion it is a rather dull stamp that is listed as SG 184 or UHB 144.
Its issue coincided with the 1960 International Stamp Exhibition ‘UNIPEX’ held in the city centre in Johannesburg from 30 May until 4 June. I bought numerous first day covers of the 3d Union with singles, pairs and blocks of four.


UNIPEX - These dates were during school holidays and I recall that as a fourteen year old boy, I travelled on the bus into Johannesburg and visited the exhibition every single day of opening. I viewed the frames of stamps in wonderment and awe and I remember that part of H.R.H. the Queen’s display included colour trials of the 1954 Australian 3½d Red Cross (SG 276).

It was the first major exhibition I had visited and looked on with envy as a young man bought a first day cover for the Rhodesia & Nyasaland 17 May 1960 Kariba Dam issue from Alan Leverton on the Bridger And Kay stand. With a face value of 10/6 the cost of such a precious item was completely beyond my means.

 

Details of the May 1960 Printings - August 1960 S.A.P.
Described as The Festival Series Postage Stamps, all with a Union Coat of Arms watermark - All stamps in sheets of 120

Value
Delivered
Cylinders No
Sheets
Total
4d
22.3.1960
16/95
17,855
3.5.1960
106,900
124,755
6d
25.2.1960
88/52/24
12,000
15.3.1960
69,300
81,300
1/-
25.2.1960
100/29
35,000
36,880
71,880
1/6
3.3.60
34/44
17,500
17,500

Railway Centenary
Job No 71574 - 1/3 order for 26,000 Sheets
Cylinders 9/29 - Initial and total delivery on 1 March 1960 of 26,000 Sheets

31 May - Union Day
Job No 71570 - 3d order for 1,200,000 Sheets
Cylinders 11/94 - Initial delivery 41,000 on 5 May 1960
Total delivery of 1,270,855 sheets reported in May 1961 S.A.P.

Watermarks

The Springbok head watermark appeared on stamps of the Union for almost fifty years (1913 - 1959). In late 1959 a Union Coat of Arms watermark was introduced and first used on eight reprinted values of the Animal definitives
SG 170 to 177.

The immediate downside of this particular watermark is that it is not only difficult to see, but in some cases almost impossible.

Union Coat of Arms watermark - Because of the size of the order, different rolls of paper were employed. This may be detected when viewing the watermark on these stamps. Some are fairly clear, whilst others are very faint and are hard to distinguish. I inspected several copies in my possession and realized that, unless the stamps are marginal, the watermark on some individual stamps is extremely difficult to detect. Even when I resorted to using a device called a Signoscope, I had minor success in actually seeing a watermark.

Varieties on the 3d Union
Discounting the minor varieties listed in the UHB (1986) as V1 to V5, SG includes SG 184a Pale brown omitted with a footnote:
This is due to a rectangular piece of paper adhering to the background cylinder, resulting in R2/1 missing the colour completely and six adjoining stamps having it partially omitted. The item in block of eight is probably unique.

I have never seen this piece, do not recall it in any auction catalogue or have any idea who the present owner may be and it is the final major variety of the Union of South African.

What's in a Name
By Otto Peetoom

UGIE
is in Griqualand East, 18 kms Southwest of Maclear at the foot of the Drakensberg.

Known for the M.T.R. Smit Children's Haven for underprivileged, abandoned and abused children. M.T.R. are the initials of Mattheus Theodorus Rehuel Smit, I have not been able to establish his status, but he wrote several books circa 1930's.

Ugie
was founded in late February 1863 by a Scotsman William Murray (born 15 July 1837) William arrived on a steamer at Port Elizabeth on 24 August 1862 with his wife Ann and baby daughter.


The Reverend William Murray, member of the Free Church of Scotland, was sent by the London Missionary Society to the then Cape Colony in South Africa to do missionary work amongst the Griquas of Adam Kok III who settled during 1862 in the present Kokstad area.

He was also qualified as a medical doctor.

The family travelled to Grahamstown by Coach and from there proceeded by ox wagon through Fort Beaufort to Hackney in the district of Queenstown and were caught in a snowstorm at Katberg and shortly after reaching Hackney, his baby daughter died on 9 September 1862 and his wife the following day.

Towards the end of February 1863 a deputation of the Griquas left I Nxu Drift by ox wagon to fetch Murray. The wagon leader was April de Wet, the driver of the oxen was Jacob Franks and he was assisted by Gert du Plooy and Tom Croutz. . They returned to I Nxu Drift at the evening of 8th March. As Murray got off the wagon, he looked around him and went on his knees next to a rock and prayed. Oh, God is this my destiny...If so...Abide with me...

William stood up and to remind him of the area he grew up in the New Deer province in Aberdeenshire in Scotland, he decided to call the place Ugie.
His father was a shoemaker and small farmer on the banks of the Ugie River near New Pitslego. The Ugie River originates in the mountains near New Byth, flows through the Bucnan Hills and then into the North Sea at Peterhead near the city of Fraserburgh. The railwayline between Aberdeen and Fraserburgh crosses the Ugie River between Maud and Strichen stations.
The Scots pronounces Ugie as Oogie and is derived from the word Oorie of the Vikings in Iceland and means to get cold, literally to shiver of the cold.

The M.T.R. Smit Children's Haven
The Children’s Haven originated during the Great Flu of 1918, when a substantial number of parents died and children were orphaned. This lead to the establishment of an orphanage at Ugie in the North-Eastern Cape, as a community based and community driven, non-subsidized welfare organization.
The Children’s Haven was officially established in 1922, when the Government admitted the first children to the orphanage.

M.T.R. Smit Children’s Haven, named after its founder, relocated to Port Elizabeth in 1987, in an effort to improve its capacity to render services to the community. This materialized after lengthy discussion between the Government, community leaders, church denominations, and the Department of Education.
The Children’s Haven is a multi-racial institution, currently provides accommodation for 100 statutory children between the ages of 3-18 years. The Haven also aims at providing accommodation for the mentally disabled children who have been removed from parental care in terms of the Child Care Act.

Postscript
Much of the Burmeister correspondence originated from small towns and Postal Agencies in South Africa and whenever I come across a postmark of a place I have not encountered before, I always look it up and locate it on a map.
We are fortunate nowadays to simply Google anything and everything and the above information was gleaned in such a manner.

SPINK
The Jack Bloom Sale
24 October 2013


Included 255 Lots of Union Material and the second to last lot 2254 was described

1943 - 44 Military 3d "SUID-AFRIKA"
with two-line (bilingual) inscription
WITH BEST WISHES FROM
S.A. GIFTS AND COMFORT FUND
unused. Fine and scarce. H&G 10
Estimate £100 - £150


Imprint Inside Reverse front Panel

 
Is This the World's Most Expensive Aerogramme?
This item is listed in Kessler's Catalogue of Aerograms Volume II on page 151 as No 151 (English) & 152 (Afrikaans) and described as:
1943 September. Jewish New Year Issue. Military aerograms of South Africa No's 109 and 110 (printed in Pretoria) with black imprint in Hebrew and English on the reverse side of the front panel as illustrated. it is believed that the extra printing was done in Palestine by the printing establishment of the British Palestine Police. One sheet only was issued to individual Jewish members of the South African Forces in ample time for posting before Jewish new year 5704 (1944)

I thought Lot 2254 would go well with my WWII collection and anticipated securing it at around estimate. By the time I dropped out of the bidding it was already Getting Silly! - Yet the bidding continued relentlessly and the hammer came down at £3500 and that was before Buyer's Premium and other add-ons
. Rumour has it that a dealer bought this lot, thus its price would go even higher!

During 2009 I had contact with Jerome Kasper from the USA, who probably owns the most extensive collection of World Aerogrammes. Jerome sent me a copy of an Exhibit in which he nominated, what in his opinion are, twenty of the rarest known Aerogrammes in the World. I do not recall the above item being part of it as it is in fact a relatively common item - The Jewish New Year add-on is in fact the deciding factor for its Film Star Price.

The African Aerogramme that is in the top ten Vote on Rarities goes to a Southern Rhodesia KGVI 6d Provisional local print being H&G 2 (Kessler 2) - Around three mint copies are known and about a dozen used examples - I wrote an article on the foregoing in my publication The Rhodesian Philatelist
No 28 in January 2009.
Posted by Otto Peetoom 28 October 2014
March 1950 The South African Philatelist
A Printer Studies Stamp Collecting
By A.I. MacKenzie
- Bloemfontein
Recently I joined a Philatelic Society. As a beginner I was anxious to learn something about my new hobby and I learnt a lot. However, as a printer, I was struck by one aspect of philatelic activities, namely the method the average collector approached the question of colour.

Through no fault of their own, but because most collectors are naturally ignorant of how stamps are printed and how colours are manufactured and mixed, I find some of the ideas bordering on the humorous. A great many collectors seem to be fascinated by names given to colours. Names such as azure, bistre, magenta and brown have a great attraction. However, what is meant by azure, for instance? How is it classified, what are the standards required for a colour to be azure? There are no answers to these questions. Different people have different ideas. Therein lies confusion.

How does the printer deal with this problem?

In the first place printers reject the theory of light. We do not say it is necessarily wrong, but it does not work in practical printing.Printers divide colours into three main sections. These are primary colours, red, yellow and blue; secondary colours, orange, green and violet; and tertiary colours, russet, citrene and olive. Now theoretically any colour required can be obtained by mixing primaries. In practice, however, black is generally used as well in order to obtain better results. Red, yellow and blue are called primaries because, in printing, it is impossible to break them up into any other colours. For instance, secondary colours are made by mixing primaries. Red and yellow make orange; yellow and blue make green; and red and blue make violet.
In the same way that tertiary colours are made from secondary colours.

Orange and violet make russet, green and orange make citrene, and violet and green make olive.

 

Just looking at the above leads to a great many questions, such as: what are the primaries made of ? What proportions of the primaries are used to make the secondary’s?

The primaries may come from three sources- earths, vegetable matter and chemicals. Take yellow, for instance. Yellow can be derived from all three sources, but each one will be of a different hue. So the first thing the printer has to do is to make sure that all the colours he is using have come from a common source. They must be all earth colours or all chemical colours.
It is dangerous to mix, say, an earth yellow with, say, a vegetable blue.

Red and yellow make orange- but what proportion, 50-50, or 60-40? Both mixtures will result in an orange colour, but the two colours will differ.

What is the difference between a shade and a tint? A shade is a colour which has had black added to it, a tint is a colour which has had white added to it. A shade will be light or dark depending upon the amount of black which has been added.

Colours are affected by light. A sheet of stamps printed in England, for instance, in blue, is sent to Northern Rhodesia. From there it is returned to England. The result? It will be difficult to believe that the original sheet has been returned.
Heat and moisture have played strange tricks. The sheet now has a large variety of shades and hues.

Another important point. The glue or gum on the back of the stamp affects the colour of the stamp. The chemicals in the glue work through the paper and go to work on the ink.
Of course, if it is a chemical ink that has been used......well, are you a chemist?

Perhaps enough has been said to show that it is an unwise policy to go snap on colours. Colours are misleading and names mean nothing.

 

March 1951 - The South African Philatelist
Union Georgian Stamps Repaired Paper Varieties
By A. Hilton Sydow

 

The paragraph quoted hereunder was excerpted from page 36 of that excellent contribution to the philatelic bibliography of the Union of South Africa by Dean HE Lobdell of the Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology, namely The De La Rue Georgians of South Africa.

Repaired Paper - A variety caused by the patching of a torn sheet with the result that the printed impression of one or more stamps falls upon each side of a tear. Mr Sydow has this variety, which is rare, in three panes of the ½d, one with control 5 and two with control 6 and in a strip of five of the 1½d.

In response to written requests by two overseas readers of The South African Philatelist I have set out diagrammatic form the positions of the several strips of paper adhesively affixed to the torn portions of two 60-set strips of Georgian stamps of the ½d denomination which were letterpress printed by Thos. De La Rue and Company Limited from the 240-set of plates No’s 5 and 6.

In addition to the afore – mentioned two lower right-hand panes of ½d stamps, my Union collection also houses a 60-set top left-hand pane from plate 6; a top right hand pane of 60 units from plate 5; a 6-set ½d denominated booklet pane; a 1½d denominated vertical strip of five units; a block of 8 two penny denominated stamps. Incidentally it may be mentioned here that Simenhoff has catalogued these ½d, 1½d and 2d denominated repaired paper varieties in the first supplement to the South African Standard Catalogue.

The several strips of paper utilized for patching the torn sheets were affixed to the gummed sides of the printed sheets of stamps before the latter were subjected to the process of comb perforation and consequently torn sheets of printed stamps were perforated pari passu (Latin for with an equal step or on equal footing).
Close examination revealed that these affixed strips of paper were not watermarked at all.

The 1927 10/- Aniline blue and brown SG 39 Variation - SACC 39c
By Otto Peetoom
Normal Blue and Brown
Aniline Blue and Brown
The illustration has been taken from a colour photocopy and unfortunately I do not recall who bought it

What remains a mystery is that there is no record or mention of this variation in any of the Union handbooks
I have possessed an Aniline blue that has a PFSA certificate No 10070
I bought it from a Stephan Welz auction on 11 May 1993 as part of Lot 343 and the description states
10/- deep blue and brown (superb colour) with aniline headplate very fine unmounted mintIt made triple estimate

The next lot 344 offered - 10/- fine used blk of 4 with aniline centres (SG 39 var), soaking has tended to defuse slightly the extent of aniline ptg but still very distinctive
What is Aniline Ink? - A search on the Internet produced this

Dictionary Definition Aniline Ink - A quick-drying printing ink usually made with an alcohol as vehicle and an organic or inorganic pigment

Internet Posting - Aniline ink was an ink with a coal-tar base, that was designed to "bleed" to prevent re-use of a stamp

Stamp collecting Terms - Water-soluble ink with a dye base that runs when wet used in printing Roosevelt small die proofs

Mimi Philately
- Aniline colours are distilled from coal-tar. Ink made of these colours is used as the basis of certain dyes in postage stamps. Aniline ink immediately penetrates between the fibres of uncoated paper

Mystic Stamp Company (USA) According to them - Postal officials have long been concerned that unscrupulous individuals steal postal service by “cleaning” the cancels from used stamps and re-mailing them During the 1860s, stamps were grilled to deter this practice
Another means of stopping the reuse of stamps is to print them with water-soluble ink. If such a stamp is soaked, either for removal from an envelope or to “clean” a cancel, its ink lifts off the paper leaving it faded or “washed out”. In 1856, Dr. William Perkin discovered aniline could be mixed with ink to make vibrant colours. In 1893, a small number of the rare #244 Columbian stamps were printed in pale aniline rose ink - These stamps have a very distinctive colour


Northwest Philatelic Library Research
‘Aniline Violet’ and Synthetic Inks By Charles Neyhart
Aniline inks deeply penetrate the paper fibres, unlike ordinary ink which clings to the surface, and the colour will show on the back of the stamp in varying degrees
This is an extensive write up that can be accessed via this link
http://www.nwpl.org/documents/january2010.full.pdf

From what has been said above, we have established that an Aniline Ink soakes through the paper.
The colour ought to clearly show on the reverse and I can confirm that the pair I owned with PFSA certificate No 10070 has that particular feature and is in my opinion a very rare stamp indeed.
During thirty five years of continuous trading it is the only example I have seen, in fact only recently I had an email from a collector enquiring as to whether or not I could supply such a pair

September 2014 One of our members Dimitrios (Jim) Dounis has sent in scans of his Union Aniline stamps and we may now view the reverse of a 10/- Table Mountain Definitive

Other Union Issues with Aniline Colours
Dimitrios (Jim) Dounis sent in scans of the Hyphenated 1/- Gnu definitives from UHB Issues 4 and 5 that also show the colour through the back of the stamp
UHB Issue 3
UHB Issue 4
The 1945 1d Victory Commemorative is another example that has the vignette printed with Aniline ink
Daily Topics - Past and Present

 

This was intended to be an informative page that enables anyone to send in a few lines of information that may be of interest to Collectors of Southern Africa. Unfortunately very few people appear to take an interest in this project and I have now amalagamated what I have with the Article and Research section.  

Glossary of Philatelic Terms
It appears that not everyone is familiar with the above title, yet it may be found in virtually every Philatelic Library.
It is one of these useful publications that very few people take the time to read and with today’s speedy emails it is much quicker to send out a collective email and ask someone else to enlighten one with a question.

Robson Lowe’s forerunner to his Philatelic Encyclopaedias is his 1935 edition of THE REGENT ENCYCLOAEDIA of Empire Postage Stamps. Granted some of the information might be a little dated, but this packed volume includes
A Glossary of Philatelic Terms pages 81 - 92. The content was Compiled for The Philatelic Congress of Great Britain by a Sub-Committee consisting of (the late) W. Dorn Beckton, B. Goodfellow, F.J. Melville and (the late)
A.J. Sefi

Jaco Beyleveld asks what is an Error or a Variety, without the Glossary of Philatelic Terms most advanced Philatelists can probably write a comprehensive essay on the foregoing. However on this occassion I quote the definition attributed to these words by a well known and highly respected Philatelist of the past such as Fred Melville.

Error
A stamp printed in the wrong colour, or on the wrong paper, on both sides of the paper, or having something abnormal about it, but which has been issued by a post office.

Variety
Any stamp showing differences from the normal is styled a variety. Such varieties may be major, minor, or insignificant.

There is of course a modern solution to all the above, simply paste Glossary of Philatelic Terms into Google and take your pick!

 

 

Dr Hendrik Geyer writes
The three other images are recent local BoB purchases of ½d roto printing arrow/part arrow blocks. They seem to have originated from the same mailing (cds’s) and the arrows seem to leave no doubt that they are from the second issue (also confirmed by comparing detail with images in Ward). Yet the date of 10 July 1931 seems to be in conflict with all the information I have been able to trace in the Union Handbook or Ward’s publication. Hagger 1986 only indicates “early 1932” and Ward in his table gives 1930 for issue 2 (which seems to be an error in any case, as this would pre-date issue 1 (?) The earlier issues of the Handbook also provide no further useful information.
I would presume the anomaly may be clarified with access to back issues of the SA Philatelist, but perhaps you have an immediate answer? I would appreciate hearing from you.


Otto Peetoom writes:
With reference to the ½d Springbok blocks, Hendrik cofirms that they are all Upright Watermark
Whenever there is a query re alleged dates of printing/issue there can often be a grey area that ought to be investigated by going back in time rather than starting with Hagger in1986.

 

 

The South African Philatelist 1931/32
During this era the Editor appeared to be more interested in announcing World New Issues rather than reviewing current Union Printings.
The only notes on the ½d Springbok Rotogravure printing I found in the March 1931 S.A.P. on page 24 - As briefly noted last month, sheets of
½d rotogravure stamps are now on sale, and nearly every sheet at present obtainable in the Union has the watermark inverted.

Union Handbook catalogues
Simenhoff - First Supplement February 1932 merely updates his 1930 publication, thus there is no mention of a ½d rotogravure.
1946 and 1952 Editions no specific dates for the issues of the ½d
1960 Handbook Issue 1 January 1931, Issue 2 1932

Gordon Ward The Springbok Half-Penny (Circa 1956)
Refers to the ½d Rotogravure as Group B and dates Issue I January 1931 and Issue II about September 1931 (See page 12 & 13 in his book)

In my opinion - The use of the word about suggests the Author is unsure and September is merely a guess.
Dr Geyer’s blocks are all postmarked with the same datestamp JOHANNESBURG 27 - 10 JUL 31

Issue II is merely Reprint
and it would seem reasonable that a major centre like Johannesburg may well be one of the first offices to receive a supply of a ½d reprint.

Please send in other/different opinions for consideration

Tony Howgrave-Graham wrote
The ½d blocks are interesting - they are definitely Issue 2 - Hagger seems to have guessed at the dates of issue of the various unhyphenated.
He was some way out with the 2ds - the early ½d Issue 2 are watermark up or inverted (I don't think it's known which came first)
Issue 1 is quite scarce which would certainly fit with Issue 2 appearing earlier - it's a shame his left arrow piece doesn't extend 1 row further right as we'd see the centre on row 9/5 before the cobweb retouch!


Tony also commented on Mike Tonking's item below
I also liked Mike Tonking's doubled watermarks - like you I've never heard of them - we'd need a paper maker to explain how this happened - a jolt to the machine during pressing? - it'd be good if Mike could provide a scan or drawing to show what the doubling looks like - I'll check my copies next time I'm in amongst them.

 

 

Mike Tonking has sent in two scans of 50c Cylinder blocks A & B and writes - The 50c RSA First Definitive
Group 2, Issue 2 appeared in January 1971. It was printed on the Goebel 841 press two panes each of 100 stamps
(20 rows x 5) on Harrison glossy paper with the RSA tete-beche watermark.

The examples shown have the watermark doubled which was seen on some sheets. An example of the A control was offered by Stephan Welz lot 678 in the 8 August 1978 auction, estimated R1000 - 1500.

The query I have is how did this variety occur and how rare might it be?

 

Otto Peetoom Comment - This watermark variation is not listed in the SACC and it is the first time I that I have heard of it. I assume that many others are unaware of its existence thus it would not occur to most of us to look for it. On that basis it is difficult to comment on its rarity being blissfully unaware of it.
Roy Ross made the comment that he believed there had been a mention of this variety in a South African Philatelist issue circa 1970's, does anyone have a reference to such a report?

 

The History of Philatelic Colour Guides - A Review




Illustrated throughout in colour


Anyone who may have an interest in the subject

Please contact me by email

ottopeetoom@btinternet.com

A Twenty Page Essay on the above subject has been published and includes:

 
Editorial - Acknowledgements
A Philatelic History of Colour Guides
1884 - A Color Chart Designed to Illustrate and
Identify the Colors of Postage Stamps
Preface
1899 A Colour Dictionary by B.W. Warhurst
A Make Shift Colour Guide from Stanley Gibbons
Chart 2077 with 45 Used Stamps
Stanley Gibbons’ Colour Guide for Stamp Collectors
(Improved Edition)
The Perkins, Bacon coloured labels
The Harrison and Sons Cards - A Stanley Gibbons Statement
Perkins & Bacon Die Proof and Mint Blocks
Label No 14 - Double Print of Scarlet
Six Versions of Colour Guide Charts
SG Colour Guide (Improved Edition) Chart 2077
with 100 Perkins, Bacon Labels

Stanley Gibbons Remarks on Card 2077
Newfoundland Confusion and an unhelpful card 2077
What Colour or Shade is It?
Stock Item 2077 becomes Obsolete
Solferino and Magenta - Farewell Solferino
A POPULAR COLOUR CHART for Stamp Collectors
September 1949
A Convenient Gap in the UK Colour Chart market
Precise Details of COLOUR CHART for Stamp Collectors
Retailed by H.E. Wingfield 392 Strand, London
1950’s - Another Stanley Gibbons Colour Guide
The Last Stanley Gibbons Colour Guide charts
Colours on Chart No 3333 an Analysis
Colour Keys
LIPSIA Philatelistische Farbent
afeln
Philart Colour Guides
Postscript

Posted By Otto Peetoom

Sixty Four Years Ago - 1949 UPU Issue Surplus Stock of Union and S.W.A.

February 1950 The South African Philatelist UPU Remainders
With the issue of the Voortrekker Monument Commemoratives on the 1st December, 1949 and the withdrawal of the UPU series on the same date, a letter received from Mr T.F. Allpass, Germiston mentions that the UPU "remainders" were not being returned by the various post offices for destruction, but instead, were being used up on parcels, telegrams and accounting documents.

 

A similar report followed three months later

May 1950 The South African Philatelist
Using Up Surplus Stocks of UPU Stamps
Mr T.F. Allpass of Germiston notes that there has been a redistribution of UPU stamps to some post offices for use of internal accounting matter such as telegrams and parcels. The stamps are not for sale to the public in the usual manner and he understands this step has been taken in order to use up stocks left on hand and thereby avoid waste.

The Situation in South West Afica

Starting with the remainders of the 1935 Silver Jubilee issue, SWA used their "Remainder" by overprinting them and putting the stamps to use as Inland Revenues (Reported in the May SAP on page 66) - The left over UPU issues were treated in a similar manner See illustration of such an example at left.

 


The Illustrated Block may be similar to the
Stamps stolen from the Government Printer

Posted By Otto Peetoom - Those were the Days - August 1949 The South African Philatelist Dealer's Advertisement from Douglas Roth offering Die Proofs of Gambia, Gibraltar, Kenya, Nigeria and St Helena at £12 each!

Did You Know? - April 1949 The South African Philatelist News Item

It was reported in the Rand Daily Mail that two employees of the Government Printing Works in Pretoria were found guilty in the Magistrate's Court of the theft of three strips of eight and one block of four imperforate imperfect 3d Union Postage Stamps.
One of the accused pleaded guilty and said he had sold the stamps for £2. He had asked the other accused to get them for him.
The second accused pleaded not guilty and said he gave the stamps to the first accused for his collection. He did not know that that imperfect stamps were of considerably higher value to collectors than ordinary stamps. Both were fined £15 with the alternative of a month's imprisonment.

Collectors are warned against the purchase of any such stamps if they are offered to them.

 

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