FREAK STAMP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3946, 30 October 1929, Page 72

FREAK STAMP.

EXCITEMENT IN AUSTRALIA. ONE IN EVERY 960. (From Ovb Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 17. The other day there was great excite; ment among the philatelists of Australia. Not long ago, in order to mark the centenary of Western Australia, the Post Office issued a special stamp, featuring the svv..n, which has always been associated with that State, the most prosperous, perhaps, of all the States to-day. The issue of this special created a mild interest in itself, for it had been announced that only a limited number would be sold. Of course, stamp collectors saw to it that they secured their supplies with as little delay as possible, and they acted with an eye more to the future than to the present. Some of them had visions of the time when the swan stamp would be included among the rareties of the age. For instance, the special Canberra stamp that was issued in limited quantities a few years ago is even to-day worth twice its face value. Yet it was once available in thousands.

It was after the collectors had secured their supplies that the excitement set in. One of them discoverec that he had in his possession a stamp with a distinguishing pecularity, and hoping no doubt that it was the only stamp in the world so marked he rushed into print with news of his great find. Then another collector made a similar discovery, followed by another, and another, and another, and so on. It was then discovered that in one in every 960 of the new stamps printed the' same pecularity occurred. Before that some collectors were paying up to 10s each for the freaks. Imagine the slump in faces as well as in the market when an expert announced that the value placed on the freaks was purely fictitious. The stamps, although strangely marked, had no special value. The distinguishing features of the 960th stamp are what appears to be a ring around the neck of the swan, and a blur over the word Australia at the top. These it seems were caused by a duplication in the printing process, in which 12 plates were used. It happened that once in 960 times a duplication occurred, giving the stamp a peculiar marking. As the Post Office, for obvious reasons, refuses to disclose the volume of the issue, it is impossible to say how many rareties exist. A wide field is open for the hunt by philatelists. The stamps have been distributed all over the Commonwealth. Every one of the 8720 post offices, including the smallest ones in the remote corners of the Northern Territory, received its quota, apportioned on the normal issues of the centres, and it is safe to say that “ freak ” stamps have now gone all over the world. The pursuit of the “ freaks ” is still intense, though it certainly will lose some of its spirit now that an expert has made the announcement that they are of no monetary value. Still there are some collectors who hope that time will prove that even the expert was wrong.