Philatelic Errors - stamps, covers & FDCs, please show yours

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 Jul 2014 00:03

Townsville MILPO also used their pictorial cds & normal cds postmarks 4 days early,

CDS:

Pictorial:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 Jul 2014 00:06

St.Ives, although not a military theme like the others shown, also used their fdi postmark 4 days early:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 28 Jul 2014 23:59

Bentleigh managed to postmark these covers for the Motor Racing issue of 27th February 2002 with different dates:

Gummed stamps - 27th February 2002:

Peel & Stick Stamps - 26th February 2002:

I am not sure how one managed to be postmarked one day early.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 31 Jul 2014 20:39

Moomba, means "get together & have fun" & perhaps that is what was happening with the 3 consecutive date postmarks. But some one should have said there was no 29th February in 1981

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 02 Aug 2014 11:12

Fruit in Australia fdc correctly postmarked at Cobram on first day of issue 11th February 1987:

However Geraldton somehow postmarked this one, one year early:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 02 Aug 2014 11:18

1993 Queen's Birthday fdc correctly postmarked at Queenscliff NSW on 7th April 1993:

Who knows how Doncaster East managed to postmark this one on 4th February 1993 (missed the stamp too)!

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 04 Aug 2014 20:55

One of the 7 Aboriginal Rock paintings stamps correctly postmarked on first day of issue, 7th November 1984.

I do not know why it was added to this 1986 Australia FDC & cancelled with an fdi postmark on 24th January 1986, some 14 months after it was issued, by the Sydney Philatelic Sales Centre:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 04 Aug 2014 21:02

Kangaroo Frama postmarked on UPU Day (4th August 1986) at Adelaide's Stampex '86. While the Kangaroo design is there, there is no value, postcode, cliche or Australia printed on it:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 11 Aug 2014 14:45

I am not sure how this New Zealand stamp came to be postmarked at the Russell St Melbourne Post office as New Zealand stamps have never been valid for postage in Australia:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 18 Aug 2014 22:46

Tulloch was part of the 1978 Australian racehorse set issued on 18th October 1978 as the card above & the WCS fdc below show:

However in the underground post office of Coober Pedy somehow the one below was postmarked 8 days early on 10th October 1978.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Aug 2014 00:45

Doctor blade flaw (part 1 of 4) affecting the 20c Tulloch on this fdc:

The doctor blade affecting just the letter "i" in Australia.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Aug 2014 00:50

Doctor blade flaw (part 2 of 4) affecting the 20c Tulloch on this fdc:

This time affecting the "lia" of Australia & stripping the black from the horse & part of the jockey to the centre of the winning post.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Aug 2014 00:54

Doctor blade flaw (part 3 of 4) affecting the 20c Tulloch on this fdc:

Similar to the previous one above but encroaching on the "middle a" in Australia, part of the "c" in 20c & more black from the horse & jockey to in front of the winning post.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Aug 2014 00:58

Doctor blade flaw (part 4 of 4) affecting the 20c Tulloch, showing a comparison of the 3 stamps:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 26 Aug 2014 18:47

1978 Australian Racehorse - Tulloch with broken leg variety.

Offside front leg in stamp on bottom right hand corner:

An enlargement of the affected stamp:

An enlargement of the affected area:

And an unaffected one for comparison:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 26 Aug 2014 18:51

1978 Australian Racehorse - Tulloch with broken leg variety.

Another example where the effect is not as severe:

An enlargement of the affected area:

And the unaffected one again for comparison:

Brad

Rob1956 · Post by **Rob1956** » 27 Aug 2014 11:45

BigSaint wrote: I am not sure how this New Zealand stamp came to be postmarked at the Russell St Melbourne Post office as New Zealand stamps have never been valid for postage in Australia:

Just a shot in the dark. The owner of the NZ FDC postmarked in Victoria may have had the FDC cancelled at their request by hand, and the staff member obliged. But the address???

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Aug 2014 13:17

Rob1956 wrote:
BigSaint wrote: I am not sure how this New Zealand stamp came to be postmarked at the Russell St Melbourne Post office as New Zealand stamps have never been valid for postage in Australia:
Just a shot in the dark. The owner of the NZ FDC postmarked in Victoria may have had the FDC cancelled at their request by hand, and the staff member obliged. But the address???

101 Rathdowne St, Carlton. Not sure what you mean.

More likely gave postal clerk a pile of 100 Australian ones & slipped the NZ in the middle hoping he would not notice.

Brad

Rob1956 · Post by **Rob1956** » 27 Aug 2014 22:33

Sorry for the confusion Brad, your version as to how it occurred seems more feasible.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 18 Sep 2014 18:49

The Gardens fdc issued on 23rd March 2000.

One signed by the designer, Marg Towt:

Another signed by Don Burke, TV presenter for Burke's Backyard:

You would not think there would be anything wrong with these. However checkout the postcode of Gardenvale. It should be 3185 & not 3186. Obviously quality control at Australia Post had gone home for the day to make such an error in a National FDI postmark.

Here is the write up about it from Australian Pictormarks:

Brad

Rob1956 · Post by **Rob1956** » 18 Sep 2014 19:39

Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games

Middle stamp on the left is missing the map of Tasmania

No Tasmania

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 30 Sep 2014 15:11

The 1989 Australia Day fdc featuring Sir Henry Parkes, correctly postmarked fdi (25th January 1989) with the Mowbray Heights fdi pictorial postmark which was introduced on 18th January 1989. It shows the Grandstand at the Launceston (Mowbray) race course.

This pse for Australian Volunteers Abroad was also issued on the same day & it is correctly postmarked fdi at Fitzroy:

However someone has added the Australia Day stamp at the World Trade Centre & postmarked it 24th January 1989, one day before issue. Looks like the forgot to change the date.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 08 Oct 2014 18:20

A recent acquisition of mine is this Royal fdc for the Centenary of Queensland Stamps:

The Queensland Centenary stamp is correctly postmarked with the Clarence St fdi postmarker. However that same postmark should not have been used to cancel the 100th Melbourne Cup stamps that were issued about 3 weeks earlier on 12th October 1960 nor the Queen Mother 2d stamps which were issued some 9 years earlier on 23rd March 1951.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 28 Oct 2014 17:11

BigSaint wrote:The 1984 Australia Day stamp was issued on 26th January 1984 & below is a correctly postmarked Australia Post fdc from Glenelg SA. But there is a second stamp added postmarked on the following day at GPO Darwin, fdi 27th January 1984.

FDC is signed by postmasters at Darwin & Glenelg, so maybe there is a story about this one

Brad

I found another of these covers postmarked fdi in Darwin on 27th January 1984:

Thinking this a bit strange I asked Frank P about them & he referred me to Stamp Bulletin no 170 Jan - Feb 1984 which I have reproduced below:

So it seems each Australian State & Territory celebrated the 1984 Australia Day public holiday on Monday 30th January except Northern Territory which celebrated it with a public holiday on Thursday 26th January. So we have two fdis. If someone at Aust Post had checked the calendar they could have seen the public holiday in Darwin & then altered the issue date to the 27th.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 10 Nov 2014 21:20

A recent acquisition of mine, a 1960 Melbourne Cup fdc postmarked fdi Newcastle but instead of it being 12th October 1960, it has been dated one month early, 12th September 1960. It appears someone forgot to change the month:

But it appears they corrected things later in the day:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 14 Dec 2014 17:54

A correctly postmarked Australia Post fdc the the Spotted Catbird issued on 17th November 1980:

Then there is this one that was postmarked one day early on 16th November 1980:

Brad

danyeung · Post by **danyeung** » 15 Dec 2014 19:12

Date of issue 16/05/90

FDI of 3d but not 1d (02/02/59)

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BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 19 Dec 2014 22:31

I am not quite sure how this US Postal Card managed to be cancelled with one of the Australian Captain Cook Bicentenary Celebrations Pictorial Postmarks from Coolangatta & was not taxed:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 26 Dec 2014 23:07

Where the Australian Philatelic Bureau holds a copy of a pictorial postmark as well as the relevant post office, then why is the dateline not the same

From the Australian Philatelic Bureau - large date line:

From the Flemington Post Office - small date line:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 20 May 2015 14:36

The PSE for Australia's win in the America's Cup was issued on 11th October 1983, as correctly shown by the one below signed by Sir James Hardy (who was reserve Skipper for Australia II):

So I am not really sure how the one below was postmarked at Newport, Rhode Island, USA, on 26th September, 1983, half way across the world, some two weeks before the envelope was on sale in Australia:

Obviously there was some turning back of the date stamp here

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 20 May 2015 15:07

A few years back when I had more time & when Australia Post made it easier to obtain stock, I used to send things of to be postmarked in places relevant to the stamp issue. So when the Living Legends Stamp for Dame Joan Sutherland came out in 2004 it was down to the Bentleigh Post Office to send them off. Because the Living Legend featured on the was a secret until the day of issue Australia Post was a little flexible with special postmarking requests:

Off went three express post envelopes, one to Sutherland & one to each of Double Bay & Edgecliff. It was nice that one of the express post envelopes was returned to me. Dame Joan was born at Point Piper, a Sydney suburb, which has never had a post office & Double Bay & Edgecliff were the closest post offices to there.

Sutherland came back ok:

Double Bay came back ok:

But what happened in Edgecliff

Three weeks into the new year & the postmark is still on 2003

The outer envelope for my covers to be returned was also dated one year early. I kind of stands out with the dot-matrix printer cancels also on the cover

Brad

bazza4338 · Post by **bazza4338** » 20 May 2015 18:27

BigSaint wrote:Moomba, means "get together & have fun" & perhaps that is what was happening with the 3 consecutive date postmarks. But some one should have said there was no 29th February in 1981

Brad

As we work our way through life, we pick up little tricks to solve the mysteries of this-and-that.

If you check Brad's correct statement that there was no 29th February in 1981, ask yourself if the year in question was an Olympics Summer Games year and a Leap Year?

1952; 1956; 1960; 1964; 1968; 1972; 1976; 1980; 1984; 1988; 1992; 1996; 2000; 2004; 2998; 2012; 2016 etc. - All are Olympics Summer Games Years and all have a 29th. February and therefore all are Leap Years.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 20 May 2015 18:38

Bazza

Glad you didn't go back to the Summer Olympics of 1900, which were held in Paris. Believe it or not that was NOT a leap year

In the Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, most years that are multiples of 4 are leap years. In each leap year, the month of February has 29 days instead of 28. Adding an extra day to the calendar every four years compensates for the fact that a period of 365 days is shorter than a tropical year by almost 6 hours. This calendar was first used in 1582. There are some exceptions to this basic rule are required since the duration of a tropical year is slightly less than 365.25 days. Over a period of 4 centuries, the accumulated error of adding a leap day every 4 years amounts to about 3 extra days. The Gregorian calendar therefore removes three leap days every 400 years, which is the length of its leap cycle. This is done by removing February 29 in the three century years (multiples of 100) that cannot be exactly divided by 400. So 1700, 1800, 1900 & 2100 are not leap years.

Brad

davidedw64 · Post by **davidedw64** » 21 May 2015 20:58

That was one of those high school programming exercises (in Basic!); print out the leap years. From memory it was; if it's divisible by four by not divisible by 400, it's a leap year. But sounds like my memory's going.

bazza4338 · Post by **bazza4338** » 22 May 2015 19:10

BigSaint wrote:Bazza

Glad you didn't go back to the Summer Olympics of 1900, which were held in Paris. Believe it or not that was NOT a leap year Brad

I remember going to the 1956 Olympics at age 10 - the day before it started - to the Velodrome and MCG with my Mum (she slipped 2 shillings to the gatekeeper to let us in!!!) and on the second last day at the MCG with a wealthy spinster aunt!

But, unlike you, Brad, I don't remember 1900!

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 May 2015 19:41

Bazza

I was "two" young to go to 1956 Olympics. Funnily enough I bought this cover today postmarked the day you went:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 18 Jun 2015 22:49

On 24th January 2003 Australia Post issued it's annual living legends stamps. In 2003 it was the tennis legends Rod Laver & Margaret Court. The living legends are a secret issue with the details of the stamps not available until the day of issue:

FDC with National FDI postmark (& signed by the designer):

FDC with Australian Tennis Open postmark of day of issue:

FDC with Melbourne Park Tennis Centre postmark of day of issue:

Now seeing it is a secret issue with not even unserviced covers available for sale until day of issue (in this case 24th January 2003), how was this cover postmarked 11 days earlier on 13th January 2003

I think some back dating done at the Philatelic Bureau

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 24 Jul 2015 11:04

The design of the above Australia Post Hermes cachet is perfectly aligned. However the one below has the blue part of the design shifted to the right.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 25 Jul 2015 10:22

A Sovereign Hill souvenir cover used at Seaford as FDC for National Stamp Week:

The National Stamp Week " Kookaburra" stamp was issued on the 25th September 1978 but the other stamps on the cover were issued in 1974 & should not have been cancelled with the fdi postmark.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 17 Aug 2015 17:13

Incorrect postmark dated 10th January 1991 prepared that should not have been used on the cover above as it should have been the 26th January 1991 & the explanation from Australia Post below:

The correct postmark that should have been used as described by Colleen Woolley in Oz Pictormarks:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 19 Aug 2015 20:13

Just love these "tourist" covers where they write home & put as many different stamps on the front as they can & then the postal clerk cancels them all with a fdi postmark:

The 1d purple QEII was issued on 2nd February 1959, the 6d Anteater on 30th September 1960 & the 1/- Colombo Plan on 30th June 1961 & the only correctly postmarked stamp on the cover was 5d AAT stamp issued on 5th July 1961, as shown by the fdc below:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 28 Aug 2015 00:33

I picked this cover up recently from stampboarder "FredH" who described the bowling stamp on this fdc to have a "chainsaw" variety. I can't lay my hands on my copy of McLearys at the moment to confirm description but I think I might describe this as a "doctor blade" flaw:

You can see the mauve stripe that goes through the middle of the bowler above. However on the enlarged stamp below it does not seem to show as well, but you can now see a white line that goes through the middle of the mauve stripe.

Brad

Barney99 · Post by **Barney99** » 03 Sep 2015 17:01

Postally used SPECIMEN on piece.

Barney99 · Post by **Barney99** » 05 Sep 2015 12:11

I thought these cancels were long gone .... This one would have come from a letter posted in country South Australia.

Barney99 · Post by **Barney99** » 05 Sep 2015 12:12

This one also would have been country South Australia.

Barney99 · Post by **Barney99** » 05 Sep 2015 12:13

And this one ....

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 09 Sep 2015 17:46

Pre-decimal Australian stamps were valid for usage until 14th February 1968, so I am not sure how this one came to postmarked on 22nd October 1968:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 09 Sep 2015 23:54

With the Champions of the Turf being issued in 15th October 2002, I wrote away to various post offices with horse related postmarks. This is the one I received from Glebe NSW:

I did draw to their attention that 24th May was almost 5 months before the date of issue & they then came back correctly done:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 10 Sep 2015 00:01

Goondiwindi, home of Gunsynd the "Goondiwindi Grey", postmarked this fdc, one day early.

Brad

bazza4338 · Post by **bazza4338** » 10 Sep 2015 17:08

Banded Ant-Eater (Numbat) Wesley First Day Cover

New Design 6d Stamp

29th September 1960

Stamp cancelled Golden Square (Bendigo) Victoria on 29 September 1960.

ACSC 2006 Page 8/151 shows Date of Issue:- 30 September 1960

Stanley Gibbons Comm. & Brit. Empire 2009 Page 57 shows Date of Issue:- 30 September 1960