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

Post by **GlenStephens** » 12 Oct 2013 15:51

Listed this up today for $40 .. pretty striking error!

NZ 1915/19 KGV ½d green stamp spectacular overinking flaw

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 16 Oct 2013 11:47

Somehow an Abe Lincoln stamp like this one:

Became misperfed & ended up like this:

From my JFK collection, the top one addressed to him & the bottom one cancelled on the date of his death.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 31 Oct 2013 22:24

On the 1st November 2010 Australia Post issued a set of stamps to commemorate the running of the 150th Melbourne Cup. Among all the extra associated items they sold with the the stamp for Carbine, Phar Lap, Saintly & the Cup itself were two PNC FDC's. Both had only the Phar Lap stamp on it.

There was the "normal" PNC FDC:

With the National Flemington FDI postmark:

Nice FDI Postmark - 1st November 2010.

Then there was the "Prestige Limited Edition" of 1861 (the Melbourne Cup was first run in 1861) specially numbered & postmarked in gold:

With the jockeys cap postmark design:

But it says "First Day of Issue - 2nd November 2010", which happened to be the day the 2010 Melbourne Cup was run, rather than the correct date of the 1st!

I asked the Australian Philatelic Bureau how this happened & the response was, "We did not think anyone would notice!" Yes right!!!

Brad

jonattwood · Post by **jonattwood** » 16 Dec 2013 03:38

Here's a few Russian errors from my collection.

A paper fold error.

Displaced overprint (with normal).

Misplaced centres or backgrounds.

Jon

richardhlc · Post by **richardhlc** » 21 Dec 2013 22:22

This stamp was issued in 1948 for use in the British and American zones in Germany. It celebrated the 700th anniversary of Cologne Cathedral and included the dates 1248 and 1948. Some stamps, including the one illustrated here, appear to have the dates 1948 and 1948. I assume that this is an inking issue rather than an error but interesting nevertheless.

Richard

jimjung · Post by **jimjung** » 22 Dec 2013 01:05

Here's an older stamp that was released in 1870 but the postmark is OC 15 69. I think it probably should be OC 15 96.

jimjung · Post by **jimjung** » 22 Dec 2013 01:17

Here are some various countries with obvious errors. Note the Phillipines brown stamp is overprinted onto a blue stamp from another country.

Sark · Post by **Sark** » 22 Dec 2013 06:51

BigSaint wrote:

The 2/- Norfolk Island bird postmarked above as fdi on 14 April 1965 when its actual fdi was 1st May 1961, as shown below.

Some intriguing wrong dates etc here, but I think I can resolve one query. The Norfolk Island FDC here is for the 50th Anniv of the Gallipoli landings issued on 14 April 1965, and the ordinary current issue Bird defin was added to make up the Registered rate to Australia.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Dec 2013 00:02

Sark, you are correct in your reasoning as to why the 2/- bird was added. However while some postal adminstrations (like the U S Post Office) will allow first day of issue postmarking of stamps issued earlier, providing there is one stamp issued on the date of the postmark, the Australian & it's territories post offices do not allow this. This fdc should have been cancelled with the normal cds postmarker & not the one that said first day of issue.

Alternatively the ANZAC stamp could have been postmarked with the fdi postmarker & the 2/- bird with the normal cds.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Dec 2013 19:10

The 90c value contains a typo "Governor Phillip meeting the Home Society" instead of "Governor Phillip meeting the Home Secretary"

The error was corrected later.

Brad

snowy12 · Post by **snowy12** » 13 Jan 2014 10:09

Always good for errors are Framas. Here's one of mine with (missing Australia).

Brian

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 19 Mar 2014 13:10

The only stamp on this fdc which was issued on 13th April 1970 was the Graaslands stamp. The Royal Visit was issued on 31st March 1970 & the Timber & Wool stamps were issued in 1969.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 18 Apr 2014 00:26

This pse is correctly postmarked at Batemans Bay, has a stamp that was issued the same day added at Bega & that is correctly postmarked at Bega. But what happened at Eden. Two postmarks added but no stamp. I have the three other pses that make up the Early Years set & they are stamped & postmarked the same way. How did this happen?

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 18 Apr 2014 14:19

Here we have another pse with added stamps & extra postmarks:

The stamp section of the Longreach pse & the added Expo 88 stamps are correctly postmarked on their fdi, 29th April, 1988. The added opening of Parliament House is postmarked correctly on it's fdc, 9th May 1988. However while the QEII Birthday is correctly postmarked on its fdi, 21st April 1988, how can it be affixed to a cover that was not available for sale on the day of it's issue. I know that a fdi postmark can be requested up to a month after issue but in this instance it should not have been applied to this cover.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 18 Apr 2014 17:00

These ones for the opening of the new Parliament House Canberra were obviously machine stamp & postmarked:

This one went through ok:

but perhaps this one was stuck to the one before in the stamp process & missed the stamp but was still postmarked in the next process:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 18 Apr 2014 17:41

1982 Centenary of the Ashes PSE issued 24th February 1982:

It was fine to add the Bicentenary Cricket Stamp to PSE & cancel it on fdi, but it was wrong then to cancel the stamp corner with a Brighton fdi cds on 21st June 1988.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Apr 2014 20:28

For quite some time I looked for a Wesley Cover Service (WCS) fdc for the Australian 1966 Xmas Issue but couldn't find one. It wasn't until I discovered that there was a production error that I realised that I had had one all the time. From the time that WCS has started putting their WCS logo on their fdcs, this was the first time they had made the mistake of leaving it off.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Apr 2014 21:11

Australia Post fdc displaying the "white spot" variety (between R & S in years) on the Australian 150 Years of Banking 1917 - 1967 issue. The stamp affected is the bottom left of the block of four:

An enlargement of the affected stamp:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Apr 2014 21:13

Another example which I believed was contrived on cover as both stamps have this fault:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Apr 2014 21:30

Excelsior fdcs began in 1967 & it would appear they had some teething errors with their fdc production.

This one was ok:

But then the blue disappeared:

Then it came back & the red went:

I note the covers with the missing colours are addressed to Ian Baglin who was the owner of Excelsior covers so it would appear he was trying to keep them for himself.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Apr 2014 21:54

The "Village People" had fun at the "YMCA" but Excelsior fdcs had fun at the "YWCA" with their fdc production.

This one was ok:

But then the blue disappeared:

Then it came back & the red went:

I note the covers with the missing colours are addressed to Ian Baglin who was the owner of Excelsior covers so it would appear he was trying to keep them for himself.

Brad

davidedw64 · Post by **davidedw64** » 24 Apr 2014 11:25

I've got a pair of FDCs from the RSPCA issue in 1971 accidentally postmarked 1970.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Apr 2014 17:06

Until I stopped collecting Norfolk Island I had a brilliant standing order account & they would send me things where there was no official NIPO fdc, such as these Local Post below:

These were issued on 20th January 1999.

So I don't know how they came to be postmarked with the CANPEX 2000 fdi postmark (5th October 2000)

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Apr 2014 17:09

Not sure how this Norfolk Island stamp was postmarked at Bentleigh Vic, let alone on it's first day of issue

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Apr 2014 17:20

A write up about the only Olympic Gold Medal winner from Norfolk Island

An unbranded WCS NI fdc with the miniature sheet affixed:

An unbranded WCS NI fdc with the stamp removed from the fdc:

An Australia Post fdc which has the NI fdi postmark applied but without a stamp. I think it would have looked much better if, like Michael Hudson (WCS), the NI Olympic Stamp had been removed from the miniature sheet & affixed to the cover.

How did this occur

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Apr 2014 19:36

Official mail from Norfolk Island but someone used the fdi postmark instead of the normal cds, so it should have had some of the new decimal stamps on this cover:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Apr 2014 19:38

The correct NIPO cachet for the Lions issue above & below one missing the yellow.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Apr 2014 19:41

The correct NIPO cachet for the Lions issue above & below one almost missing all of the yellow.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Apr 2014 19:44

Printing error in the irridescent green "Captain" in this Parade cachet.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Apr 2014 20:05

30c value with correctly spelt "Dieman's"

30c value with incorrectly spelt "Difman's"

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Apr 2014 20:14

Unfortunately this error will not show very well in the scan. However as I understand it the addressee when sorting through the stock received from NIPO he found one sheet of the 25c bird on glazed paper. What happened to the whole of the sheet I can't tell you but one stamp was put on cover to be postmarked by NIPO & that cover is above. He added a normal 25c stamp to the cover to show the difference.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 Apr 2014 17:56

Here is the 1989 36c Christmas stamp correctly postmarked on fdi with Brisbane North Quay fdi postmark:

And here it is again, but this time postmarked 12 months earlier with a different Brisbane North Quay fdi postmark:

I believe this to be a deliberate error.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 Apr 2014 18:38

Here is the 1989 80c Christmas stamp correctly postmarked on fdi with Brisbane North Quay fdi postmark:

And here is the 1989 80c Christmas stamp postmarked on year earlier in 1988 with a different Brisbane North Quay fdi postmark:

I have a whole series of these for different issues of 1989 correctly postmarked in 1989 & then postmarked a year earlier with 1988 fdi cancels. Hence my reasoning that someone contrived these.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 Apr 2014 19:44

Australia Post Grasslands fdc with pair of Grasslands stamp affixed & correctly cancelled on fdi (13th April 1970) but an Expo 70 20c stamp has been added & incorrectly postmarked with same fdi postmarker, when the Expo stamp was issued on 16th March 1970.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 30 Apr 2014 13:54

The QEII 5c blue was issued on 29th September 1967:

But as you can see the relief postmark on this copy is dated 20th August 1967. I can only guess someone forgot to check the date before applying the cancel.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 30 Apr 2014 14:01

This Parade generic fdc has the two values of the 1967 Christmas stamps affixed & cancelled with an fdi postmark on 27th November 1967:

Whilst the 25c (red) was issued on that date, the 5c (blue) was issued on 18th November 1967.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 30 Apr 2014 14:12

The Soil & Medical issue was the first Australian stamp issue to have a of pane one stamp on the left & a pane of another stamp on the right with a gutter strip separating the pairs on the same sheet. FDC's with gutter pairs are reasonably scarce for this issue with only one cover producer producing a cachet to deal with both stamps. This cachet is not one of those & was produced by "Royal" for the Medical stamp & has a gutter pair affixed with thick lines in the gutter (there were thin lines as well).

The medical stamp is on the right of the gutter strip & contains the "Needle in Thumb" variety, where you will see the blue horizontal mark beside the thumb nail:

One without to compare:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 30 Apr 2014 23:30

Window face envelopes come in handy sometimes:

This being used to include a notation that this 1970 Dairy Congress cover was used two days before the stamps issue date (5th October 1970 when it wasn't issued until 7th October 1970).

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 30 Apr 2014 23:49

Strictly speaking the next two posts are not errors but more varieties but I would like to show them here because most stampboarders (even the avid Aussie fdc collectors) won't have seen what I am about to show.

One of the two Commonwealth Parliamentary Congress fdcs issued by Australia Post. This ones size is about 6" x 4", the small fdc that every one has seen & worth about $1:

But look at this one. It is the same design but it's size is about 9" x 4":

The story behind this one is that this cover was specially prepared for the delegates attending the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference. I am told about 100 of these exist.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 30 Apr 2014 23:57

The second of the two Commonwealth Parliamentary Congress fdcs issued by Australia Post. Again this ones size is about 6" x 4", the small fdc that every one has seen & worth about $1:

Here again we have the same design but it's size is about 9" x 4":

As before, prepared for the delegates attending the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference & again I am told about 100 of these exist.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 02 May 2014 00:15

This one is a new acquisition for me (in fact I bought it today).

Norfolk Island 10/- Bird stamp cancelled in Melbourne on first day of issue, but Norfolk Island stamps have never been valid for postage in Australia. So why wasn't it taxed?

With the local letter rate at 5d, 10/- was 24 times the local letter rate. It would appear that the "Abbatoir Enginering" business was lucrative enough to afford such an extravagance. But then again the addressee lives in Toorak, a very affluent suburb of Melbourne.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 02 May 2014 00:35

This Australia Post Famous People fdc was correctly postmarked on it's first day of issue:

However Australia Post Golden Wattle generic souvenir cover was postmarked one month earlier, April instead of May:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 03 May 2014 10:56

Uncacheted fdc for the Accountants Congress of 1972, however a QEII 1c has been added. The QEII 1c was one of the 1st decimals issued on 14th February 1966 & should not have been cancelled with the Kyancutta fdi postmark on 16th October 1972.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 03 May 2014 22:32

This Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) 2/- was issued on 27th March 1957. It is not clear to me how this one was postmarked on 1st August 1956, perhaps the postal clerk was confused over 9 & 6.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 03 May 2014 23:10

When Australia Post started their own pictorial fdc cachets in 1970 AAT was not left out. However at this time these AAT fdcs were not available on the Australian mainland even though the stamps were issued in Australia. If you wanted an Australia Post fdc you had to use a cover like this one below:

With this A P policy there were 5 different first days of issue, firstly on the Australian mainland, then on each of the AAT Bases, MacQuarrie Island, Casey, Davis & Mawson. Dates of issue were when the supply ship arrived at these bases (although very few of the stamps arrived at the bases, with fdc postmarking being done in Melbourne & later Hobart).

MacQuarrie Island was the first stop for the supply ship so the first usage of an AAT pictorial fdc was always at MacQuarrie Island:

So the fdc below should not exist. The postmarker was obviously backdated:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 06 May 2014 15:25

The 1984 Australian Antarctic Territory Scenes 1, correctly postmarked on day of issue:

And one incorrectly postmarked one month early:

Someone mixed up July with June

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 06 May 2014 15:29

The 1992 Australian Antarctic Territory Regional Wildlife, correctly postmarked on day of issue:

And one postmarked more than two months early

Someone probably forgot to change the date when last used.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 06 May 2014 15:36

1994 Australian Antarctic Territory Huskies:

A misperforation of the 85c value so that 'Antarctic Territory" is cut in two, with part appearing at the top & part at the base.

I often think there should be more of these but I haven't seen another.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 07 May 2014 19:39

This 1974 Australia Post Animals fdc was correctly cancelled on the 13th February 1974:

However this was the first issue of the year & at Cabramatta Post Office, they changed the day, they changed the month but they forgot to change the year, oops 1973, one year too early:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 07 May 2014 19:44

This 1974 Wesley Cover Service Animals fdc was correctly cancelled on the 13th February 1974:

However Malvern Post Office suffered from the same problem as Cabramatta in the post before, oops wrong year:

But if we put the correct postmark on the back it will be ok then? Wrong!

Brad