Great Britain [4th Post]

New Entries

I have stored some British Queen Victoria stamps in the last few years ,but I only have classified those of the Jubilee issue ...I haven't tried yet to complete any of the many series available,but only stored them as they come ...two days ago I've decided to finally start to classify them...like many other stamps from early days,these QV stamps need some reading to began entering in their world,full of complex and simple details...

As always I'll use the Sc catalog codes,but this time I will use the SG as reference to the size of the series, varieties, etc...

When we are standing in front of a British QV stamp, we have to mentally give a number of small and easy steps :

A) to see if the stamp has letters in the corners...

AA) in the 4 corners

AB) just in the lower 2 corners

AC) no letters

AD) Large letters

AE) small letters

AF) white letters
AG) colored letters

small colored letters 2 corners

Large colored letters in the 4 corners

No Letters

Large white letters in the 4 corners

Before continuing I must remember that I am a World collector, so my urgency in having the best items is not great.. In my collection there is plenty of space for others "garbage" ,so You must not be surprised by rust spots or stamps sometimes in very bad condition...Another important thing to remember is that a well centered stamp has increased value...
The use of letters in the corners of the stamps begins with the famous "Penny Black" and only ends with the QV Jubilee Issue of 1887... during this time the rule was to have letters in the corners, yet,a few stamps do not present them but are very well identified and known... 

B) other distinctive mark presented in many of QV stamps is the plate number..this number sometimes increase the value of the stamp...it is known that catalogs show us in general the lowest value possible, but stamps of some plates will have it's value highly increased.

 

White letters and Plate Number

Colored letters and Plate Number

No letters, No Plate Number

Perforations only have a major role in the first QV issues (from 1858 until 1887 the perforation is 14 ,with 2 or 3 exceptions well known..),but the "Key" distinctive fact is the Wmk (C)..there are 14 possible wmks in all QV issues from 1840 to 1887 and it is crucial that we are able to identify them correctly ...fortunately ,it seems that in most cases it is very easy to see the wmk without instruments or chemical processes...

Now ,some words about another famous QV stamp : the "Penny Lilac" 

this stamp differs from the other famous Penny stamps (Black, Red and Venetian Red) not only on the form of the vignette's frame (squared frame in the previous..) but in the labels surrounding the portrait.. (instead of the 'Postage' and 'One Penny' labels , the Lilac Penny presents ' Postage and Inland Revenue' and 'One Penny')..It is known that the lilac ink used in these printings was very fugitive ,so it not strange to find all these different shades in used and washed stamps...in my opinion ,from this five stamps the one that is closer to the original,but yet very far is the first one...the color used was darker and brighter...

Two different types exist ,depending on the number of full 'Perls' (white circles) in each angle of the stamp... those I have here to present you have 16 and it's cv is minimum...if the stamp has 14 'Perls' then it's cv increases...  




I will present the Sc codes and other technical data of all these stamps in the end of the post... let's now entering in the last two groups of QV stamps :

[Left] As I said before , I'm following a SG catalog and there these stamps belong to the same series, but looking to them we will find that the only common fact is the Queens portrait and the absence of Plate numbers... [Right] one of the few QV surcharged stamps... in fact, when we are talking of common postage stamps,there is just one more ,both issued in 1883...

Now , I have some new entries for the Jubilee issue of 1887...

The only real new entries to the collection are the 5p and 1sh stamps... But I have to remember that the 4p stamp is just "Good".!.. to have a "Good" QV stamp is already a victory for me...in fact the stamp is in reasonable general condition,but it is very well centered...at this time ,the centering factor is not so important as in the early days ,but not all the stamps I have here are so good as this one...
To end the post , and before all the technical data, I have two QEII Commemorative series ,both from 1965...

The commemorative series from Great Britain,are in most cases [Photo] printed,but they continue to be "nice to the eye"...I don't now why , but it must have something to do with the designers... the first QEII series are very beautiful and already in 1965 they continued to surprise us with their appealing simplicity...

1) 1855 "Queen Victoria" (2) [small Crown] [Perf 14] SG(24) Sc(11) [/ This is a very simple approach to the Penny Red,one of the most complex stamps in the world...when I have more of these stamps, I will spent some time learning a more detailed way to classify them/]
2) 1872 "Queen Victoria" (2) [Typo] [Rose Wmk] [plate 16] SG(122b) Sc(59b)
3) 1865 "Queen Victoria" (6) [Typo] [Large Garter Wmk][plate 13] SG(94) Sc(43)
4) 1856 "Queen Victoria" (2) [Typo] [Heraldic Emblems wmk] SG(70) Sc(27)
5) 1867 "Queen Victoria" (6) [Typo] [Rose wmk][plate 9] SG(103) Sc(49)
6) 1880 "Queen Victoria" (6) [Typo] [Imperial Crown wmk][plate 22] SG(157) Sc(82)
7) 1880 "Queen Victoria" (5) [Typo] [Imperial Crown wmk] SG(167) Sc(80)
8) 1881 "Queen Victoria" (2) [Typo] [Imperial Crown wmk] (SG (171) Sc(89)
9) 1884 "Queen Victoria" (10) [Typo] [Imperial Crown wmk] SG(187) Sc(98)
10) 1884 "Queen Victoria" (10) [Typo] [Imperial Crown wmk] SG(188) Sc(99)
11) 1884 "Queen Victoria" (10) [Typo] [Imperial Crown wmk] SG (191) Sc(102)
12) 1883 "Queen Victoria" (5) [Typo] [Imperial Crown wmk][plate 21] SG(159) Sc(94)
13) 14) 1887 "Queen Victoria / Jubilee Series" (14) [Imperial Crown wmk] SG(197) Sc(111)
15) 16) 1900 "Queen Victoria / Jubilee Series" (14) [Imperial Crown wmk] SG(213) Sc(125)
17) 1887 "Queen Victoria / Jubilee Series" (14) [Imperial Crown wmk] SG(198) Sc(112)
18) 19) 20) 21) 1887 "Queen Victoria / Jubilee Series" (14) [Imperial Crown wmk] SG(201) Sc(114)
22) 1887 "Queen Victoria / Jubilee Series" (14) [Imperial Crown wmk] SG(205) Sc(116)
23) 1887 "Queen Victoria / Jubilee Series" (14) [Imperial Crown wmk] SG(207a) Sc(118)

24) 1887 "Queen Victoria / Jubilee Series" (14) [Imperial Crown wmk] SG(211) Sc(122)

25) 26) 1965 "700th Anniversary of the Simon De Monfort's Parliament" (2) [Des (S.R. Black 6d)(Prof. R. Guyatt / after engraving of 1647 2.6sh)][Photo] SG(663,664) Sc(422,423)
27) 28) "Salvation Army Centenary" (2) [Des (M.C. Farrar Bell 3d)(G. Trenaman 1.6sh)][Photo] SG(665,666) Sc(424,425)

Well, I hope you liked this post... it was very amusing to classify these 32 stamps yesterday...

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