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

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 13 Jun 2016 15:01

The four different coloured cachets for the "Pioneers in Australian History" issue:

What I am confused about is how the first two are used for "The Pioneer Life" issue of 15th November 1972. I doubt very much that the "Pioneers in Australian History" fdcs, issued 6 months later on 16th May 1973, would have been printed or available at the earlier time.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 13 Jun 2016 15:08

So which is the real fdc

The 8th is one day early. Perhaps some one forgot to change the date on the postmark? The 9th is correct. The 10th is one day late. The sender has written fdi on the cover but missed the last post of the 9th & has been postmarked early the next day on the 10th. Obviously the sender did not heed the advice of the post office.

Brad

FatFrank · Post by **FatFrank** » 14 Jun 2016 03:52

This is not an actual error,but an old newspaper clipping found in grandpa's collection. Are any of these errors still out there? I had never heard of this one, but I'm guessing if someone had a verified example, it would be worth more than 60Pounds today.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 Jun 2016 20:56

As earlier shown the correct first day of issue for the Outward Bound pse was 16th September 1981:

Here is another example of a stamp added, this one from the 1991 Stage & Screen cancelled on it's first day of issue (although it actually missed) on 13th June 1991, while the stamp section of the Outward Bound pse is cancelled with the same fdi postmarker on that same date, almost 10 years after it's issue.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 Jun 2016 21:47

And a similar thing has happened with the Australia Day issue of 1995:

And of course the correctly cancelled, seldom seen, WCS 1995 Australia Day fdc:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 01 Jul 2016 00:34

I went to the Post Office where I knew they had a fdi postmarker & the lady behind the counter said the canceller was on the correct date as a lady had been in before:

Oops I said it reads 2015, after she gave it to me. She said you now have a collectors item. The lady before didn't tell me it was on the wrong year. She probably didn't notice.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 05 Jul 2016 02:20

A Bugs & Butterfly fdc correctly postmarked on fdi with the National fdi postmark dated 24th September 2003:

But what went on in Hoppers Crossing:

Date stamp number 1 - 22nd September 2003:

&

Date stamp number 2 - 21st September 2003:

Back to sanity with a correctly postmarked fdc from Leichardt of Leichardt's Grasshopper:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 05 Jul 2016 02:29

Correctly postmarked fdc for the 2003 Rugby World Cup from the Sydney Philatelic Sales Centre:

I thought this postmark looked rather flash too:

I had 5 of these done at the Moorabbin Post Office & it wasn't until I was home I noticed something unusual about this one:

The postmark on the left is correct as 8th October 2003 but the one on the right is two days early being the 6th October 2003

:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 11 Jul 2016 01:31

The pse for the Centenary of the WA Parliament house was issed on January 2, 2004 as is correctly shown by this Perth GPO postmark:

However at Maddington a suburb 20 kilometres to the south-east, someone forgot to change the year:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 11 Jul 2016 01:35

The Fremantle Dockers got it right:

But sadly Canberra Parliament House also forgot to change the year:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 16 Jul 2016 00:43

Under the new ownership of John Laredo, from time to time, company stationery was used for first day covers, perhaps to send pricelists:

The Clarence Street fdi correctly postmarks the Mexico Olympics stamp on fdi but the 4c QEII coil was issued on the first day of decimal currency 14th February 1966 & should not have been cancelled with this postmark on 2nd October 1968.

Brad

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 16 Jul 2016 01:12

BigSaint wrote:
The Clarence Street fdi correctly postmarks the Mexico Olympics stamp on fdi but the 4c QEII coil was issued on the first day of decimal currency 14th February 1966 & should not have been cancelled with this postmark on 2nd October 1968.

Brad

Brad as letter rate was 5c, the extra 4c was needless over-payment anyway correct?

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 16 Jul 2016 02:18

Glen,

I don't know but as there was a 9c Hermit Crab at the time there may have been a 9c rate for something. Looking at the condition of the cover, it's a bit battered so it may have been stuffed full of heavy pricelists or similar, necessitating the extra 4c franking.

Brad

satsuma · Post by **satsuma** » 16 Jul 2016 09:37

FatFrank
Your newspaper clipping image is listed as part of the note printing branch thefts:
ACSC KGVI 2006 edition page 6/144 note 9

Ken

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 16 Jul 2016 12:47

FatFrank wrote:This is not an actual error,but an old newspaper clipping found in grandpa's collection. Are any of these errors still out there? I had never heard of this one, but I'm guessing if someone had a verified example, it would be worth more than 60 Pounds today.

Do keep up folks.

Was on the front cover of the most recent ACSC issued 15 months ago, and written about here, and extensively elsewhere -

https://www.glenstephens.com/snmay15.html

Cat value now $10,000 the pair. A tad more than £60.

The ACSC KGVI catalogues are advertised here -

https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=62712

Brusden White ACSC “KGVI” Australia Catalogue

I listed up the IMPERF pair of these on my Rarity page this week for $350, and had 4 folks after it!

Glen

FatFrank · Post by **FatFrank** » 16 Jul 2016 22:58

Global Administrator wrote: Do keep up folks.

Was on the front cover of the most recent ACSC issued 15 months ago, and written about here, and extensively elsewhere -

https://www.glenstephens.com/snmay15.html

Cat value now $10,000 the pair. A tad more than £60.

The ACSC KGVI catalogues are advertised here -

https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=62712

Brusden White ACSC “KGVI” Australia Catalogue
I listed up the IMPERF pair of these on my Rarity page this week for $350, and had 4 folks after it!

Glen

Sorry I didn't start out as a new member here already up to speed with everything that has been published in the past. If I find anything else I think is interesting, I will assume it has already been discussed here, and extensively elsewhere, and keep it to myself.
I apologise for wasting anyones time.
Thanks for setting me straight.

Rob1956 · Post by **Rob1956** » 17 Jul 2016 01:35

I just bought a nice clean imperforate pair of the 1942 2½ KGVI variety.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 03 Aug 2016 09:52

Rob1956 · Post by **Rob1956** » 04 Aug 2016 07:24

Black omitted leaving stamp with missing value and the word "Agate". The middle stamp is on white paper and the stamp on the right cream paper.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 04 Aug 2016 13:37

Sir Norman Brookes was the first left handed tennis player to win Wimbledon, as the stamp below shows him holding the racquet in his left hand:

However when the maxi-card was produced they portrayed a reverse image making him look like a right hander:

The maxi-card on the reverse also says he was born in Melbourne when actually he was born in St'Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne:

FDC postmarked at his birth place - St.Kilda:

Something else they left out of the maxi-card, he played two games of Aussie Rule football for St.Kilda:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 19 Aug 2016 21:24

1963 Christmas Issue used about 5 years after pre-decimal stamps were demonetised:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 07 Sep 2016 22:43

Nice registered fdc with the 3 pairs of QEII coils. The 5c blue are correctly postmarked fdi on 29th September 1967. But the 3c green & 4c red were issued on 14th February 1966, yet still have been cancelled fdi on 29th September 1967, some 18 months after their issue.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 17 Sep 2016 00:20

The "Project Mercury" stamp was a secret issue being saved to celebrate a success for the US in the "Space Race" & John Glenn's 3 earth orbit space flight on February 20, 1962 was just that:

So how then did this happen in Midvale, Utah

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 07 Oct 2016 23:25

One from the UK this time:

The Shetland Pony from the set of "Horses" was issued on the 5th July 1978 as shown here:

So how did this Maxi-card come to be postmarked, as first day of issue, on 6th June 1979, 11 months later

This date was in fact first day of issue of the set of "Horse Racing"

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 20 Oct 2016 00:17

The Horses of Australia FDC above is correctly postmarked on fdi with the Warwick Qld pictorial fdi postmarker on 21st May 1986. However the cover below postmarked at Macksville NSW with a fdi cds hand cancel is postmarked one year early on 21st May 1985. Perhaps 5 months into the "not so new year" no one had used this postmarker & overlooked changing the year on the date wheel.

Brad

fossick · Post by **fossick** » 21 Oct 2016 01:24

My contribution to this thread.
A date slug error that was discovered and put right by the Supervisor.

This was done by carefully blocking out the error and the correct date provided by the Superintendent of Mails special handstamp.

Somewhat of a rarity I would imagine, although I have several of them.

Regards

John G

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 06 Nov 2016 13:05

Postmark: "British Philaletic Bureau" instead of "Philatelic"

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 06 Nov 2016 15:23

GB 1979 Maxi-card, British Police Force - Mounted Police

with gutter pairs.

A printing shift resulted in "Printed at The House of Questa London England" being printed at the top of card as shown below, instead of the bottom of the card as shown above.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 Nov 2016 23:40

JFK (Scott 1246) was issued simultaneously at all US Post Offices on 29th May 1964 which would have been his 47th birthday:

However some bright spark in San Elizario Texas managed to postmark this one on 26th May 1964, 3 days early:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 04 Dec 2016 23:57

Now JFK was assassinated in Dallas Texas at 12.30pm (CST) on November 22, 1963.

New York is one hour ahead so when 12.30pm (CST) in Dallas, it is 1.30pm (EST) in New York:

So no wonder the person who prepared this cover didn't have time to put a stamp on it when he was having it postmarked at 2pm.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 24 Jan 2017 16:52

Earlier I showed a Project Mercury fdc postmarked on February 19, 1962, one day before issue.

This one is a little more technical:

The cover is postmarked Corning, California on February 20, 1962 at 6.00 am (at which time I would highly suspect the post office was not open).

My understanding was that this stamp was to be issued upon the successful completion of John Glenn's orbital flight. It's issue was to lift the spirits of the American people & a failed mission would not achieve that.

Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6) was the third human spaceflight for the U.S. and part of Project Mercury. Conducted by NASA on February 20, 1962, the mission was piloted by astronaut John Glenn, who performed three orbits of the Earth, making him the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth.

The Mercury spacecraft, named Friendship 7, was carried to orbit by an Atlas LV-3B launch vehicle lifting off from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. After four hours and 56 minutes in flight the spacecraft re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, splashed down in the North Atlantic Ocean and was safely taken aboard USS Noa.

Launch date February 20, 1962, 14:47:39 UTC
Rocket Atlas LV-3B 109-D
Launch site Cape Canaveral LC-14
End of mission
Recovered by USS Noa
Landing date February 20, 1962, 19:43:02 UTC

UTC (Co-ordinated Universal Time) is similar to GMT (Greenwich mean time), so using a 24 hour clock, the time 14:47:39 is the same for UTC & GMT. Now when the time is 14:47:39 in Greenwich UK, the time at Cape Canaveral is 9.47.39 & in California the time is 6.47.39. As our shown fdc was postmarked at 6.00 am or 06:00:00, it means our cover was postmarked not only before the mission was successfully completed but also before the mission even started.

However more than likely some one forgot to change to time on the postmark.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 10 Feb 2017 22:31

A JFK prexie (or precancel):

On the left it says "North Canton, Connecticut."

But on the right it says "North Canron, Connecticut."

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 19 Mar 2017 16:51

The Cape Canaveral Post Office was originally known Artesia, opening as that in 1891 & remaining as that until 1954. It was then changed to Port Canaveral & remained with that name until September 1, 1962. The post office then changed to Cape Canaveral & a new larger post office was built.

After the assassination of JFK, LBJ changed the name of the area to Cape Kennedy but the name of the post office remained as Cape Canaveral.

So when John Glen made his successful 3 earth orbit flight on February 20, 1962 & to celebrate this fantastic spirit lifting event, the US Post Office issued the Project Mercury stamp pumping out over 3,000,000 fdcs postmarked Cape Canaveral fdi.

All with the name of a post office that did not exist

On Feberuary 20, 1962 the Post Office name was Port Canaveral, not Cape Canaveral & remained so until September 1, 1962:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 Mar 2017 17:41

A recent acquisition that confirms the previous post:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 28 Mar 2017 23:46

A recent acquisition of mine:

A 1960 Melbourne Cup Centenary 5d lower right corner pair, with the right hand stamp being a "jumbo" example as the result of a pre-perforation paper fold. This is the only example that has been seen.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 May 2017 01:09

Stamps of Papua New Guinea have never been valid for postage in Australia & should not have been postmarked with this Tasmanian postmark:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 May 2017 01:11

These stamps of Christmas Island were not valid for postage in Australia at the time of postmarking:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 26 May 2017 23:48

A recent acquisition from ebay:

This stamp for the Centenary for the International Telecommunications Union was issued on 10th May 1965, but somehow this one managed to be postmarked two days early on 8th May 1965 at Bargara, Queensland.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 31 May 2017 23:29

I must admit that I still haven't got over the shock that the "Cape Canaveral" Post Office did not exist at the time the Project Mercury stamp was issued

So how do you think I now feel when sorting through my Project Mercury fdcs that I find two Artcraft Cachets that are not the same:

After a little research I found that the Artcraft fdc below (on the left above):

John Glenn's launch rocket was an Atlas LV 3B, similar to the one below:

While I found this Artcraft fdc below (on the right above):

Alan Shepard's & Gus Grissom's launch rocket was a Redstone MRLV, similar to the one below:

It appears that Artcraft cachet designer did not realise there had been a change in the Mercury launch vehicles from Redstone to Atlas.

Brad

blackfish · Post by **blackfish** » 19 Jun 2017 17:50

Here's an example of 1960 Christmas Bells incorrectly dated 16/12/1959.

The AAT stamps were issued on this day.

A:

Correct Date below 03/03/1960

B:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 Jun 2017 20:15

Now this one can't spot with the naked eye, but the first fdc has no error:

But the second one has:

Now for those who don't know what an untagged error is, here is an explanation of tagging.

Tagging is invisible ink! The ultraviolet UV ink is applied to stamps in different ways during printing for one simple reason to assist with the automation of our mail.

Tagging the stamps with phosphorescent coating allows them to be easily seen under shortwave UV light. Once the machines were able to locate the tagged stamps, the letters could be automatically turned (faced) and then cancelled.

https://www.ebay.com.au/gds/Guide-to-US-Tagged-Stamps-/10000000002458564/g.html

So an untagged error is where the stamp has missed it's coating of "invisible ink". So I know you are going to grab your UV lights tonight & check your stamps & fdcs for this error.

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 02 Jul 2017 18:10

Oops someone forgot the stamp, the Stamp Show cinderella must have confused the postal clerk at the Exhibition:

Lundy · Post by **Lundy** » 05 Jul 2017 08:57

I was looking for commercial covers and saw this -

thought nothing of it FDC I guess but then I found this

So for a grand total of about 50p I took them both home

Lundy

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 Jul 2017 00:53

Ausipex 1984 correctly postmarked on fdi with the Salisbury SA pictorial fdi postmark on August 22, 1984:

So how then does someone from the same post office use the same pictorial fdi postmark 4 weeks later on the same Ausipex 1984 stamp for the opening of Ausipex 1984 on September 21, 1984.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 Jul 2017 00:58

Official release for this one by the US Post Office was June 20, 2017:

but somehow this one was sold 5 days early:

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 Jul 2017 09:23

On May 31 2016, the US Post Office issued a set of stamps "A View of Our Planets" including Mercury, Venus, Neptune & Uranus:

but somehow this one for Mercury was post marked 4 days before issue:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 Jul 2017 09:24

As was this one for Uranus:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 Jul 2017 09:25

And Neptune:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 22 Jul 2017 09:26

And Venus:

kilbydog · Post by **kilbydog** » 25 Sep 2017 00:33

Had trouble finding the original thread when these were first reported but managed to have a nice 'minor' (according to Aust Post letter attached) error sent straight to my house. I think a lot of these would have been posted as the redaction letter (& another free sheet of stamps I'll add) didn't arrive for some time after the initial sheet. My understanding is that they were only printed within a short window.

The error is missing red and green printing of Australia and 50c on the lower 2nd from the bottom stamp RHS.