WHY FREAK STAMPS ARE VALUABLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 208, 3 September 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

WHY FREAK STAMPS ARE VALUABLE.

It sometimes happens that a sheet of stamps are issued in which there is a printer's mistake. These are very valuable to stamp collectors, and even the ordinary ones we use every day sometimes have these valuable defects. Only a few years ago an ordinary halfpenny stamp, bought at the Post OHice, was sold for £10. This stamp showed the late King George V. as having a crop of long hair, like that of Lloyd George. A few days later another freak stamp turned up, also a halfpenny one, in which the King appeared to be smoking a cigar! That also fetched £10; and it might be worth your while to make a habit of examining all stamps you come across just in case they have a misprint. Freak stamps are really not so rare as you would think, but they often escape notice. In Canada a stamp was recently issued showing the head of Princess Klizabcth. Some of these stamps had little dots, like tears, on the Princess' face. Another Jubilee stamp of the Colonies has. two flagstaff's on the tower of Windsor Castle, while many Belgium stamps issued in mourning of Queen Astrid gave the Queen an extra curl on the forehead. A certain Czechoslovakian stamp which was issued to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of a famous composer, Smetana, lias four bars of music beneath his portrait, in which are five errors. 1 Some freak stamps are worth a fortune. The rarest of all is called the "Missing Virgin" stamp, and was issued by the Virgin Isles in 1867. In the middle of the ordinary issue is a figure of the Virgin Marv, surrounded by a light. But on the freak stamp there is only a light, and no trace of the Virgin. Only six of these stamps have been found so far, but it is known a great many more were set in circulation. Each is now worth many thousands of pounds. Another very highly prized stamp is the twopenny blue Mauritius, on which is engraved the words "Post Office" instead of "Post Paid." One of these stamps wag sold ten yearn ago for £8000. In 1930 Belgium issued an air stamp showing an aeroplane with an Italian identification mark, instead of a Belgian one. Another curious mistake occurred on a twopenny-halfpenny Jamaica stamp, the Union Jack being printed upside down. If you are ever fortunate enough to come across a misprinted stamp don't be like the boy who went into a stamp dealer's shop in America and bought a one cent stamp issued to commemorate an American exhibition, held at Buffalo. When he got outside the shop he noticed the centre figure was upside down. He went back and asked for an ordinary one, giving the misprinted stamp back to the dealer. It vsg worth £50.