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Safety First (Part 2)
SAFETY FIRST
By ALAN STERCKX, 1977 A Survey of Security Devices in Stamp Printing. (Reprinted with acknowledgements to "Stamp Collecting.") If the paper was not very damp this reaction did not tend to spread and the blueing was restricted to the inked parts of the design, leaving the white parts white on the back of the stamp. Considerable concern has been shown over the problem of the removal of postmarks and many devious methods employed to combat it. Most common is probably the use of fugitive ink (ink that runs easily, particularly in water). The most common fugitive colours are red, green and purple, and it is worthy of note that the Queen Victoria "Jubilee" issue of 1887 used at least one of these colours on every stamp. Nicaragua, in 1927 and 1928, overprinted her stamps "Resello 1927" and "Resello 1928" in a fugitive ink for this purpose. Chalk surfaced paper was originally used in this connection, although its current widespread use is due to the smoother printing surface it gives. The theory used to be that attempts to remove the cancellation would also remove the printing. Russia applied this between 1909 and 1917 when her stamps had an under-print of a lattice work of chalk lines, as did Austria between 1901 and 1904 with diagonal varnish lines. The U.S.A. came up with a couple of novel ideas in the last century. From 1867 to 1875 stamps were impressed with a "grille," and in 1877 in Washington some 10,000 stamps were issued that had been treated with a "cogwheel punch." This made a U-shaped cut in the stamps, the cuts being set in a circle on stamps printed on double paper. The principle of both systems was to break up the fibres of the paper to allow the cancelling ink to soak into it. Neither system was a great success and they were not used again, although in 1874 Peru had a set of stamps and postage due stamps impressed with the grille. These stamps were produced by the same printers as the U.S. stamps. In 1858 our Post Office altered the design of the penny stamps to have the check letters in all four corners, the top pair being in the reverse order to the bottom pair. It seems likely that the purpose of this was to prevent used stamps being cut and the uncancelled portions being joined together to be used again. This has been the subject of some controversy, but it sounds the sort of thing that some Victorian wise-boy might try. The reason for "Official" stamps The final group of precautions covers those against the mis-use of stamps. One of the most obvious is the use of special stamps or "official" overprints for use by government departments, a practice begun by the U.S.A. in 1873, our own contribution coming some 20 years later. Uruguayan official stamps between 1905 and 1928 were ordinary stamps with holes punched in them. The 1901 official issue was also punched with holes, but in this case it was done to prevent the use of some that had been stolen. There were many similar precautions to this last one. In 1912 Persia (Iran) overprinted her stamps "Officiel" to prevent use of stocks looted by Russian soldiers from the Tabriz office. This overprint was different from a similar one added to surcharged stamps in 1885 to distinguish them as genuine provisional. Stamps shipped out to British Honduras early in World War I were overprinted with a moire, or "watered silk" pattern. The purpose of this was in order to be able to invalidate them should they fall into enemy hands when being shipped out, so that the Germans could not wreck the economy! After the war some Belgian postage due stamps were overprinted with the name of the office of origin after some had been stolen. The same practice was followed by Mexico from its first issue in 1856 until 1883, and from 1864 the consignment number and date were included in the overprint. Finally we have the 1928 issue of Bolivia of which some 5c.., lOc. and 15c. values were stolen before the set was issued. The remainder of these were overprinted "Octubre 1927." Currency variations and discounts Currency variations have also given rise to a number of overprints. Many Paraguayan stamps may be found overprinted with the letter "C" for "Campana." These stamps were issued at country offices where money sometimes had a different value. A similar problem existed in Nicaragua between 1904 and 1912 in the Province of Zelaya. Here, the silver-backed peso was worth 50 centavos compared with the 25 centavos of the paper peso elsewhere. This led to a series of stamps overprinted "B" or "C" (sometimes "Cabo") with either "Dpto. Xelaya" or "COSTA ATLANTICA." These were used respectively in the Bluefields and Cabo Gracia a Dios districts on the Atlantic coast. Peru also had a financial problem in 1880, it became necessary to insist on payment in silver for stamps, the paper currency having depreciated so much. To this end a special overprint was used from 1880 to 1881 incorporating-the word "PLATA." Many Brazilian definitives issued between 1942 and 1947 have three close-spaced vertical green lines on the back. These were applied to stamps supplied to non-governmental postal agencies at a discount of 5%, thus preventing their being cashed in at face value. Persia faced a similar problem in 1911 and came up with the same answer. As an experiment, stamps were supplied to posting stages between Resht and Teheran at a discount of 10%, in lieu of payment to heads of stages, and these stamps were overprinted "Relais" and its Persian equivalent. Similarly, Turkey between 1905 and 1914 overprinted many of her stamps with the Arabic symbol for "B," standing for "Behie" or discount. These were supplied to business firms at a discount of 20% for use on foreign correspondence in order to win back custom from the many foreign postal agencies established in Turkey. Finally, we must not forget our own stamps bearing perfins. This practice was permitted by the G.P.O. because, in the last century, it was possible to cash small quantities of unused stamps at face value and business firms wanted to prevent their staff engaging in fiddles. Occasionally, post offices have encountered problems in identifying their own stamps. Consider the first stamps of Greece from 1861 to 1886, which had figures equivalent to their face value printed on the back. The reason for this was to enable postmasters to distinguish readily between different values when selling them since the figures on the face were so small. Similarly our own King Edward VII id. stamps had their colour changed in 1904 from blue-green to yellow-green so that when in use they would not be confused with the blue 2^d. of the same design. Then in 1965 when the inland letter rate was raised from 3d. to 4d. the colour of the blue 4d. value was intensified to make the stamp more visible on white envelopes. The last group in this survey of safety measures concerns stamps that are not issued in the normal way by post offices. We will remember the nasty business of the "Seebecks" of South and Central America at the end of the last century, and most post offices have been a bit wary over remainder stocks since. When they do release these they generally cancel them in some way, as for example with the "barred" stamps of Spain and the remainder cancellations of North Borneo; Similarly, stamps Issued as specimens are usually overprinted or perforated to that effect. Our own post office cancels the stamps used in its training school with heavy bars, or more recently, uses special labels. Altogether a wide scope of ingenuity has been applied to the security of stamps, but it is equally obvious that the precautions have generally been in the interest of the post offices and not collectors. One exception to this came from Hungary, whose stamps from 1921 to 1924 may be found punched with three holes in a triangle. The purpose of this was to prevent speculation in Hungarian stamps by so treating the centre two rows of every sheet. This it was assumed, would make them unattractive to collectors and speculators laying up complete sheets would be left with unsaleable stamps on their hands. Such are the vagaries of collectors that these are now sold at a considerable premium. |
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#2
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Rodney wrote:
SAFETY FIRST By ALAN STERCKX, 1977 A Survey of Security Devices in Stamp Printing. (Reprinted with acknowledgements to "Stamp Collecting.") If the paper was not very damp this reaction did not tend to spread and the blueing was restricted to the inked parts of the design, leaving the white parts white on the back of the stamp. Considerable concern has been shown over the problem of the removal of postmarks and many devious methods employed to combat it. Most common is probably the use of fugitive ink (ink that runs easily, particularly in water). The most common fugitive colours are red, green and purple, and it is worthy of note that the Queen Victoria "Jubilee" issue of 1887 used at least one of these colours on every stamp. Nicaragua, in 1927 and 1928, overprinted her stamps "Resello 1927" and "Resello 1928" in a fugitive ink for this purpose. Chalk surfaced paper was originally used in this connection, although its current widespread use is due to the smoother printing surface it gives. The theory used to be that attempts to remove the cancellation would also remove the printing. Russia applied this between 1909 and 1917 when her stamps had an under-print of a lattice work of chalk lines, as did Austria between 1901 and 1904 with diagonal varnish lines. The U.S.A. came up with a couple of novel ideas in the last century. From 1867 to 1875 stamps were impressed with a "grille," and in 1877 in Washington some 10,000 stamps were issued that had been treated with a "cogwheel punch." This made a U-shaped cut in the stamps, the cuts being set in a circle on stamps printed on double paper. The principle of both systems was to break up the fibres of the paper to allow the cancelling ink to soak into it. Neither system was a great success and they were not used again, although in 1874 Peru had a set of stamps and postage due stamps impressed with the grille. These stamps were produced by the same printers as the U.S. stamps. In 1858 our Post Office altered the design of the penny stamps to have the check letters in all four corners, the top pair being in the reverse order to the bottom pair. It seems likely that the purpose of this was to prevent used stamps being cut and the uncancelled portions being joined together to be used again. This has been the subject of some controversy, but it sounds the sort of thing that some Victorian wise-boy might try. The reason for "Official" stamps The final group of precautions covers those against the mis-use of stamps. One of the most obvious is the use of special stamps or "official" overprints for use by government departments, a practice begun by the U.S.A. in 1873, our own contribution coming some 20 years later. Uruguayan official stamps between 1905 and 1928 were ordinary stamps with holes punched in them. The 1901 official issue was also punched with holes, but in this case it was done to prevent the use of some that had been stolen. There were many similar precautions to this last one. In 1912 Persia (Iran) overprinted her stamps "Officiel" to prevent use of stocks looted by Russian soldiers from the Tabriz office. This overprint was different from a similar one added to surcharged stamps in 1885 to distinguish them as genuine provisional. Stamps shipped out to British Honduras early in World War I were overprinted with a moire, or "watered silk" pattern. The purpose of this was in order to be able to invalidate them should they fall into enemy hands when being shipped out, so that the Germans could not wreck the economy! After the war some Belgian postage due stamps were overprinted with the name of the office of origin after some had been stolen. The same practice was followed by Mexico from its first issue in 1856 until 1883, and from 1864 the consignment number and date were included in the overprint. Finally we have the 1928 issue of Bolivia of which some 5c.., lOc. and 15c. values were stolen before the set was issued. The remainder of these were overprinted "Octubre 1927." Currency variations and discounts Currency variations have also given rise to a number of overprints. Many Paraguayan stamps may be found overprinted with the letter "C" for "Campana." These stamps were issued at country offices where money sometimes had a different value. A similar problem existed in Nicaragua between 1904 and 1912 in the Province of Zelaya. Here, the silver-backed peso was worth 50 centavos compared with the 25 centavos of the paper peso elsewhere. This led to a series of stamps overprinted "B" or "C" (sometimes "Cabo") with either "Dpto. Xelaya" or "COSTA ATLANTICA." These were used respectively in the Bluefields and Cabo Gracia a Dios districts on the Atlantic coast. Peru also had a financial problem in 1880, it became necessary to insist on payment in silver for stamps, the paper currency having depreciated so much. To this end a special overprint was used from 1880 to 1881 incorporating-the word "PLATA." Many Brazilian definitives issued between 1942 and 1947 have three close-spaced vertical green lines on the back. These were applied to stamps supplied to non-governmental postal agencies at a discount of 5%, thus preventing their being cashed in at face value. Persia faced a similar problem in 1911 and came up with the same answer. As an experiment, stamps were supplied to posting stages between Resht and Teheran at a discount of 10%, in lieu of payment to heads of stages, and these stamps were overprinted "Relais" and its Persian equivalent. Similarly, Turkey between 1905 and 1914 overprinted many of her stamps with the Arabic symbol for "B," standing for "Behie" or discount. These were supplied to business firms at a discount of 20% for use on foreign correspondence in order to win back custom from the many foreign postal agencies established in Turkey. Finally, we must not forget our own stamps bearing perfins. This practice was permitted by the G.P.O. because, in the last century, it was possible to cash small quantities of unused stamps at face value and business firms wanted to prevent their staff engaging in fiddles. Occasionally, post offices have encountered problems in identifying their own stamps. Consider the first stamps of Greece from 1861 to 1886, which had figures equivalent to their face value printed on the back. The reason for this was to enable postmasters to distinguish readily between different values when selling them since the figures on the face were so small. Similarly our own King Edward VII id. stamps had their colour changed in 1904 from blue-green to yellow-green so that when in use they would not be confused with the blue 2^d. of the same design. Then in 1965 when the inland letter rate was raised from 3d. to 4d. the colour of the blue 4d. value was intensified to make the stamp more visible on white envelopes. The last group in this survey of safety measures concerns stamps that are not issued in the normal way by post offices. We will remember the nasty business of the "Seebecks" of South and Central America at the end of the last century, and most post offices have been a bit wary over remainder stocks since. When they do release these they generally cancel them in some way, as for example with the "barred" stamps of Spain and the remainder cancellations of North Borneo; Similarly, stamps Issued as specimens are usually overprinted or perforated to that effect. Our own post office cancels the stamps used in its training school with heavy bars, or more recently, uses special labels. Altogether a wide scope of ingenuity has been applied to the security of stamps, but it is equally obvious that the precautions have generally been in the interest of the post offices and not collectors. One exception to this came from Hungary, whose stamps from 1921 to 1924 may be found punched with three holes in a triangle. The purpose of this was to prevent speculation in Hungarian stamps by so treating the centre two rows of every sheet. This it was assumed, would make them unattractive to collectors and speculators laying up complete sheets would be left with unsaleable stamps on their hands. Such are the vagaries of collectors that these are now sold at a considerable premium. On July 1902 there was a fire at the post office of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Stamps of the 1899 definitive set were thought to be stolen. To prevent the stolen stamps from being used, each province overprinted their supply of stamps. (The railroad Guayaquil-Quito did the same). The overprints can be found in the Yvert catalog. Additional overprints (for another reason) can also be found on the set of 1907. |
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