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

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 May 2014 21:30

Now the fun was over at Gouger Street West:

But it was starting again at Wollongong. I don't know how it was done but some people would "play" with machine & have it print out "00.00" values.

Here is one such example that managed to be postmarked fdi on 24th April 1986. I am not quite sure how this happened

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 May 2014 21:37

I am a little suspicious about this one. I cannot see any reason why some one would go from Oakleigh to Dandenong to add a cancel like this dated 11 years later, 10th August 1996 . I think this one has to be contrived

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 21 May 2014 21:39

Brad, here are 2 x diff. Aust FRAMA "Zero" (00.00) labels on Certified Mail Priority cover!

Amazing cover that I was able to prepare a few of when I lived at Hunters Hill, back in 1986. That was 28 years ago! My, how time flies.

What we have here is the complete set of 9 x 33c "Kangaroo" Frama stamps from every Capital City - as shown by the postcodes at top. (Scarce anyway in used, with a retail of about $15 .. and on postal cover probably unique.

As WELL as the "Zero" (00.00) labels from the 1984 'Barred Edge', and the 1985 'Kangaroo'. Used correctly IN PERIOD on Thursday, August 22, 1986. (The next issue - 'Platypus' was not issued until next Monday August 25.

The "Zero" labels were issued in error from the Frama dispenser machines now and again, when they malfunctioned. These "Zeros" are fully listed in the ACSC - $30 each.

Look at the lovely steel crisp cancels they had back then .. no woozy rubber cancels in that era.

The $2.97 franking paid the first class air postage, Certified Mail fee, and the Priority Mail fee.

I can neatly write your address on it you wish.

These are on heavyweight 120 gsm top grade thick cartridge paper envelopes. I have a few in stock at $50 each, and a nice curio.

They are a unique little production I did one day when I had nothing else to do! I found a few in a box when cleaning up here. I cannot believe it was 28 years ago .. SCARY!

Glen

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 May 2014 21:42

Frama test paper, not valid for postal usage:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 May 2014 21:12

BigSaint wrote:
I am a little suspicious about this one. I cannot see any reason why some one would go from Oakleigh to Dandenong to add a cancel like this dated 11 years later, 22nd August 1996 . I think this one has to be contrived

After seeing this cover the penny dropped, the person was trying have the Kangaroo Frama post marked on the last day of sale 22nd August 1986

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 May 2014 21:35

WSC fdc for the 150th Anniversary of SA, correctly postmarked on fdi:

So I am not sure what happened at Leigh Creek South, as I cannot find any Aussie stamp issued on 26th February 1986

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 May 2014 21:39

But Cygnet Tasmania were convinced something was issued on 26th February 1986:

But they couldn't find that stamp either

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 May 2014 21:41

I had thought these new design Australia Post souvenir covers went on sale for the first time on 26th February 1986, but perhaps I am wrong:

Or am I

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 May 2014 21:49

Correctly postmarked Australia Post fdc for Halley's Comet 1986:

But something went wrong with this AP Souvenir cover from North Queensland:

It somehow managed to be postmarked on 2nd April 1986, a week before issue at Comet Hill Victoria.

Maybe it travelled on the Comet

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 May 2014 21:54

A WSC fdc for "Venomous" Marine Life:

And a postally used version:

Now you can all see the spelling error in the cachet "Venemous". Michael didn't & when I asked him about it he blamed the printer

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 May 2014 21:59

A correctly postmarked pse for the 75th Anniversary of the Royal Military College by the Melbourne Philatelic Bureau on 27th June 1986:

But somehow Bundall advanced time by 9 years & dated this one 27th June 1995

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 May 2014 22:04

Now what was the correct issue date of the pse for the 75th Anniversary of the Royal Australian Navy

(A) 9th July 1986:

(B) 10th July 1986:

(C) 11th July 1986:

If you said (B) 10th July 1986, you are correct:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 May 2014 22:07

There are a few territories whose stamps are valid for use in Australia but Pitcairn Island is not one of them

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 May 2014 22:15

There is not really anything wrong with this one but someone would have had to have had the pedal to the metal to have all of these postmarks done on time:

but this one has me toosed:

I am not sure how the cachet can say "Premier Town 1985 Victoria 1988" on a 1986 cover

Perhaps the cachet was added or altered later

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 May 2014 13:45

I have the full set of the Historic Buildings PSEs, but I will only show this one to illustrate.

This one is the Collingwood Town Hall & issued on 8th September 1986:

Correctly postmarked one from the Melbourne Philatelic Bureau:

And a nice one of the special pictorial postmark from Collingwood featuring the designer:

But what happened to the year with this one at Unanderra

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 May 2014 14:32

I wonder how many Adelaide postmarked, a week early, 17th September 1986, before they realised their error & corrected the date to 24th September 1986

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 May 2014 14:52

Below a Benham (UK fdc producer) fdc for the Textle Cone Shell:

And above an Aust Post Souvenir Cover with block of 4 of the Textile Cone Shell.

I can see how the designer made the error

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 May 2014 15:29

The Chinese Exhibition ran from 9th June 1977 to 29th June 1977:

Not sure how this one was postmarked 10 days after the closure of the exhibition

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 May 2014 15:38

Nice Aust Post Platypus souvenir cover with Playpus from Wildlife set postmarked on fdi 13th August 1986 & Platypus Frama postmarked on fdi 25th August 1986:

However it was incorrect for Potts Point to postmark these Platypus frama fdi in 1st July 1987 just because the postage rates increased on that day

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 25 May 2014 11:38

Correctly postmarked 50th Anniversary of Library Association in Australia 1987 at Frankston on 28th August 1987:

But somehow Kingston Tas managed to postmark this one 2 days early

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 25 May 2014 11:51

On 1st June 1988, NT gained "release" from SA 5000 series postcodes & received their own 0800's series. To mark the event AP produced this cover:

B (Bevan) & E (Eileen) Philatelics later known as Havilah Enterprises & Alpha or as I refer to them as the "Boys from Ballarat" produced this gem with the "Old Postcode" Frama with a machine cancel from Darwin on 1st June 1988.

However the frama they affixed was one of those previously discussed "00.00" value framas. (They were to become prolific cover producers over the next 15 years.)

Brad

PS Not sure what became of Bevan but his boys are still selling their covers on ebay.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 25 May 2014 12:09

AP produced these Australia US Bicentenary fdcs & with the one below had the Aussie stamp postmarked at Exmouth PO & the US stamp postmarked at the US Naval Base at Exmouth:

However Warburton did things a little wrong when they postmarked the US stamp not once but twice on consecutive days for the Upper Yarra Philatelic Society.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 25 May 2014 14:17

Some clever person has added the Parliament House pre-decimal stamp from 1927 & had them cancelled on 10th May 1988:

Garran is a suburb in the Woden district of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory about 1km south of Canberra Parliament House. Garran was named after Sir Robert Garran who made numerous contributions to the development of higher education in Canberra. It has a population of around 3,200 people & was first settled in 1966 & has an area of 2.74 square km. Guess we are lucky is does not have a fdi postmarker

The above example is an "OS". As stated before pre-decimal stamps were demonetised on 13th February 1968, so should not have been postmarked

Brad

Kennethsequeira · Post by **Kennethsequeira** » 25 May 2014 19:34

I have this Nevis 2011 Cricket World Cup issue.

FDC

MS

Error 1 - England captain Andrew Strauss mentioned as Australian captain Ricky Ponting

Error 2 - Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hassan mentioned as Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi

Error 3 - 2 Errors here - Kenya captain was Jimmy Kamande but mentioned as another Kenyan ex- captain Maurice Odumbe. Secondly image does not belong to Jimmy or Maurice.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 26 May 2014 19:59

Well this one caused quite a stir in 1989:

From Stamp News January 1990:

The error here is that someone forgot to ask her permission to use her photo

Brad 8)

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 26 May 2014 20:37

When this cycling stamp came out in 1989 it came in sheet format & a booklet format. For the sheet format, the fdc was like this one below with a large orange & blue cachet:

And for the booklet sheet of 10, the fdc had a smaller grey & green cachet like this one below:

Well there was this collector who liked to tie in pictorial postmarks with the stamp issued. So he wrote off to Latrobe Tasmania for their cycling postmark to be applied to the booklet panes on fdc. He received back the one above & the one below:

Upon receiving them back he noticed that the grey & green cachets on the fdcs were different sizes. Below is the explanation from AP:

I think he was game to send it to AP, they may have kept it.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 26 May 2014 21:05

This is impossible to see from the scan, so I will explain:

This fdc actually has 3 Lizard Framas affixed to it. They are all on top of each other. No wonder AP can't make a profit!

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 May 2014 14:27

Here is a correctly dated Koala Frama WSC fdc:

And here is one dated about 3 weeks early. It is interesting to note this one is at the old 41c rate (it changed to 43c on 27th August 1990), so it appears the Koala paper was prematurely put in the machine. However I haven't seen any others of these so maybe the error was corrected quickly & there was not a repeat of Gouger Street!

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 May 2014 14:56

Correctly dated PSE from the 6th World Swimming Championships Perth 1991 (& topically postmarked at Perth):

But Forest Hill Vic:

And Frankston Vic:

They fell for the 3 card trick & forgot to change the year wheel for this first issue of the New Year. Perhaps they should be made to swim here (where they have an eye for detail)

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 May 2014 15:28

Janet Boschen of the Australia Post Graphic Design Studio designed this PSE for the "World Council of Churches Seventh Assembly, Canberra, 1991. I always wondered about the colour scheme of cream on the white background. It is very difficult to see:

Which is probably why someone at AP taxed this cover:

They obviously did not see the 43c stamp value printed on it:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 May 2014 20:44

Not quite sure how Frankston can correctly postmark the one above, then about 4 weeks later incorrectly postmark the one below

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 May 2014 18:51

Opening of the National Philatelic Centre:

Here are copule of covers postmarked for the "Opening Day of National Philatelic Centre" (NPC) dated 13th February 1992:

But then there are these dated 6th February 1992, one week earlier:

How can these be dated before the NPC was open

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 May 2014 19:13

In the late 80's & 90's WCS cachet were a bit basic but in this one the wording "Threatened Species" & "Peel & Stick" are sloping down from left to right. On the cover of the one postmarked at Pennydale there is this return address printed in the top left corner. I used to have a standing order of blank covers from WCS & this was how I received it. So this was not added later.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 31 May 2014 18:41

Now how did some put the date & slogan blocks in upside down

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 31 May 2014 23:11

I sent off to the Broome PO for these special postmarks for the bombing of Broome, using the stamp for the bombing of Darwin which I thought was topical.

I used the Australians At War Australia Post cover:

And the Australians At War WCS cover:

I read in Australian Pictormarks that only 120 covers were cancelled with this special postmark, but perhaps there were 121

This 50th Anniversary of RAAF RADAR pse was not issued until 20th March 1992, so I think this must have been done at a later time.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 31 May 2014 23:20

As stated in the previous post, the 50th Anniversary of RAAF RADAR was issued on 20th March 1992:

However when I sent off to Parkes to have fdcs cancelled there for the International Space Year on 19th March 1992, I asked them also to cancel some of the RAAF RADAR pses too. They seemed to have forgotten to change the date to 20th March 1992, so this one was postmarked one day early.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 31 May 2014 23:27

Australia Post fdc for the Landcare issue of 11th June 1992, postmarked at St. Arnaud:

However I cannot work out why this one was postmarked at Mildura, more than 3 months earlier, on 6th March 1992

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 03 Jun 2014 20:34

1981 Sporting Personality - Darby Munro fdc with doctor blade flaw in gutter. Our Glen Waverley man strikes again!

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 03 Jun 2014 20:44

Here is a VRC postcard correctly postmarked with the Melbourne Cup postmark & signed by Jim Cassidy who rode Might And Power to victory in the Melbourne Cup that year:

And then there is this one with a totally fake postmark. A Post Office called "Flemington Race Course" never existed in 1997 & with signatures of the above named jockey, Jim Cassidy, trainer of Might And Power, Jack Denham, & owner of Might And Power, Nick Moraitis, could only have been done to deceive for profit.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 03 Jun 2014 21:41

Incorrectly postmarked "stamp like" print & pre-decimal 1960 Melbourne Cup stamp.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 04 Jun 2014 22:14

On 21st June 1993, Australia Post introduced Counter Printed Stamps. It could be produced for any value at that was keyed in at the post office counter. They used the designs of the "Threatened Species" definitives issued in 1992, only larger. I guess you could say the looked like they had been on steroids. Here is a WCS fdc correctly postmarked on first day:

I am not sure why I used this earlier design WSC fdc when I went to Frankston for postmarking but look what happened:

Postmarked 13 days early

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 04 Jun 2014 22:23

PSE issued for the "Corowa Federation Conference" of 30th July 1993, correctly postmarked at Corowa.

Corowa National FDI postmark:

Corowa pictorial postmark:

But poor old Frankston, strikes out again:

Inexplicably 16 days early

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 04 Jun 2014 22:35

90th Inter-Parliamentary Conference & 50th Anniversary of Women in Federal Parliament se-tenant pair issued on 2nd September 1993, & correctly postmarked in Canberra (showing they can do something right up there)

Canberra Parliament House nfdi:

Canberra Parliament House fdi:

Canberra Parliament House pictorial:

But Melbourne Exhibition Buildings pictorial (where the federal parliament sat, until Canberra parliament house was built)

managed somehow to postmark it 4 weeks early, on 5th August 1993. Perhaps it was because this postmark was kept at Carlton South. I couldn't work that one out either.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 04 Jun 2014 22:40

Bi-Centenary of Elizabeth Farm PSE issued on 7th October 1993:

Parramatta nfdi:

I wrote off to Parramatta to have the Parramatta pictorial postmark applied & that came back fine:

And the Parramatta fdi applied as well, but someone forgot to change the date from the Dinosaur issue of 1st October 1993:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 05 Jun 2014 14:34

Correctly postmarked America's Cup fdc from Canberra Parliament House:

But they must have been in holiday mode at Bribie Island where this one was postmarked 5 days early:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 05 Jun 2014 15:07

There was a time at WCS where you could buy unserviced fdcs in packs of 10 which I did until Michael discontinued that service. In 1994 I had these covers done for the 1994 Australia Day issue:

And these ones I did for the 1995 Australia Day Issue:

But somehow Michael managed to put the 1994 stamps on the 1995 fdc & had it cancelled with nfdi postmark:

Michael later told me he was (years) behind in his order with Australia Post. In a hurry to catch up he put the 1994 stamps on the 1995 covers by mistake. He was unable to obtain any extra 1994 stamps so he could not service any 1994 Australia Day fdcs. I am lead to believe that I was the only person receiving unserviced covers from WCS at the time so the 10 I did may well be the only ones that exist.

Brad

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 05 Jun 2014 16:26

Nice USA stamp missing colour error I added to stock recently -

USA 1974 10c Kentucky Settlement, error "Dull Black colour omitted": Scott 1542a, SG 1540a, fresh unmounted mint MUH. Perfectly centred as you can see, and with well centred normal stamp for comparison. Fort Harrod - Kentucky Settlement Centenary 1874. Scott Cat US$700 or SG £650=$A1,300. Very striking error

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 05 Jun 2014 16:29

And a striking error much closer to home, at a rather modest sum, that webmaster added just now to Rarity Page -

Australia 2013 55¢ Christmas stamp “Missing Country Name and Value”: One of the most spectacular modern Decimal errors. This stamp was most attractive with rich foiled Emerald Green and metallic gold. I lightened off the scan to show the missing gold more.

A commercially used single on piece with usual mail centre sorting cancel with MISSING AUSTRALIA – indeed nearly all the “55¢” value is missing too as you can see. So we have “Country and Value Missing”.

Was found by volunteer workers this week at Sammy Stamp Group, sorting donated kiloware for the Uniting Church, and a large part of this price goes direct to them so you get a rare stamp AND assist a worthy Charity! Gold foil embossing is to left and way DOWN to where it should have been.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 05 Jun 2014 20:55

Glen

Pity the Christmas stamp is not still on the envelope.

I wonder if the sender discovered this error before the rest of the booklet was used or if any of the recipients saw the error?

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 05 Jun 2014 20:57

The red rose stamp on the Thinking Of You Australia Post fdc is one of my favourite Australian stamps & it has been nicely cancelled with the Rose pictorial postmark from Benalla on first day of issue:

I asked the lady at Frankston to nicely postmark about 20 envelopes for invitations & she incorrectly used the fdi postmark 3 months after issue:

Brad