FDCs With Variations

I am collecting variations (perforation, colour, text, overprint) that are only known to exist of FDC and not been for sale for public. These types of variations are many times not listed in general catalogues. I guess the organised traditional philately does not want to have anything to do with FDCs, and therefore this type of material is in danger to get overlooked.

I have in my collection some perforation variations that were done in separate batches for FDCs and the main bulk of the stamps. I also found out about different printing methods for stamps intended for FDCs, which have created unique errors.

Are there any FDC collectors who would be interested in an attempt to create a list of material?

Hi and welcome. Your posting is a bit cryptic for me as I was unaware of any FDC only variations of stamps... at least as far as GB stamps are concerned. Post a few examples for us to see. Perhaps you mean UK souvenir sheet type stamps postmarked at specific events? Perhaps you mean stamps printed with deliberate errors (Tuvalu for instance) meant for the philatelic market (errors to order I mean). I'm sure any traditional philately collectors would be very interested in your varieties. Certainly opens up a new field for me.

Here are some details of of material that I know of:

Finland 1982 Manor Houses FDC has normally a perforated right hand side margin in the booklet pane and also the booklet that was sold to public has the perforated margin.


One batch of FDCs has the right hand side marginal without perforations and a variant of this has only a perforated top marginal. Both of these FDC variations without perforations in stamp panes are much more scarce than the perforated right hand side marginal.

In GB FDCs self adhesive stamps have been printed sideways in coils for fixing to covers. 2003 Christmas FDC has had a stamp coil where paper has been torn. I received picture showing red tape that was used to fix the coil and which ended on FDC. Stamps sold to public would have been printed on sheets and torn stamps would not appear on sale

I understand what you meant now. There has been machine-applied stamps on FDC's which need to be printed in coils and not sheets for that purpose. Finding out how to spot them might be a job for specialists. Great topic. Post a few examples if you can.

It would be nice ..if you post some pic of each catagory that you said.
"variations (perforation, colour, text, overprint)"

Picture can speak it self instead of TEXT

No doubt your thread is very interesting

Here is a Rare FDC Cover of Bangladesh Less then 20 known at present

3v LIBERATED BANGLADESH Overprints

Not available to any dealer...unless someone sells own collection copy.

No cachet cover were produced...only FDI CANCEL was issued on plain cover

Like to share with all

Those are the nice ones, the 'real ones'.
Thanks for sharing.

Bangladesh 3v Liberated overprinted cover is rare...WHY ?

Because of right after independence..Most of the people dont have money to buy complete set...It was very high value set back in days.

Rs for Rupee (10r+5r+10p)=Rs15.10p

100p=1r
Local postage was 20p upto 20gram
Registration cost was 80p

US dollar convert rate was $1.00=Rs6.50
Now a days.................$1.00=Rs80.00 ( now they call Taka )

100p=1 taka

very few cover was made with complete set

This is the reason of its rarity

1982 Finland Manor Houses has a perforated right hand side marginal in the most common version. This variation is also used in booklets that were sold to public



Another batch of FDCs was made without the perforated right hand side marginal. This variation is only know to exist in covers and is relatively rare and has fetched in auctions around 15 Euros, whereas the normal cover sells for approximately 2 Euros.



Third variation has only top marginal perforated and is very rare. There is not much data of price for this as it has not appeared in auctions recently.

If you know of similar material from other countries, it would be very interesting to see.

Here are some pictures of the details of 1982 Finland Manor Houses perforations.




Perforated right hand side marginal is the most common variation and was used in booklets that were sold to public.


Imperforate right hand side marginal is only known to exist on first day covers. One opinion is that the missing perforation would be an error but the number of identical covers supports the view that it was intentionally created variation.


Variation with perforation solely in top marginal is also only known to exist on first day covers. This is the rarest variation of the three.

The fact that there are no impressions of perforations would indicate that missing perforation was not done by accident. Usually perforation errors where pins of the machine have not punctured paper leaves impressions, but 1982 Manor Houses pane has perfectly smooth paper.

Pictures of the type of material I am interested in knowing about below. These are variations that are only know to exist on FDC, from UK and Australia this time.


Australia 1989 FDC has 39c stamp with different perforation than the sheets that went to sale for public. Also, other way around, the perforation on stamp sheets is not known to have ended on FDCs produced by Australian postal administration.


GB self adhesive stamps are printed in coils for attaching to covers by a machine. In the process coils are printed sideways, with different process than the sheets. Coils can be cut while running thought printer, and the damage is repaired with tape. In this sample a repaired coil with red tape ended on FDC. This is a unique piece.

Forward pictures of any similar material, perforation variations or printings that are only known to exist on FDC.

New addition to list found: Australia 1984 Marine Life Maxicard which had the only known copies of a stamp with missing cyan colour. It is estimated that less than 10 exist.



Current list is:

1982 Finland Manor Houses FDC imperforate right hand side marginal in booklet pane. Also a variation with missing perforation in bottom marginal, which is probably the bottom row of the sheet. Quantity unknown as there is no information how many sheets were produced with this perforation.

1984 Australia Marine Life Maxicard. Missing Cyan Colour. Quantity possibly less than 10.

2003 GB Christmas FDC with torn coil with red tape used to repair the damage in the print. Accidently affixed on FDC and likely to be unique.

I have a few oddities

1973 FDC - Stage coach Eketahuna to Masterton
The interesting thing about this 'FDC' is that it was posted 2 months before its release in March 73

That is a fine example of a first known date of stamp used. I think it is a separate collecting branch, as I am sure that there are lot of countries that have let the stamps be sold before the release date, in particular with older issues.

The topic of this thread are variations of the stamps (perforation, colour, text, overprint) which are only known to exist on FDC.

So far we have found three samples:

1982 Finland Manor Houses perforation variations on FDC. Quantity unknown.
1984 Australia Marine Life missing cyan colour on Maxicard. Possibly less that 10 exist.
2003 GB Christmas torn stamp coil accidentally affixed on FDC. Likely to be unique.

Is there any more exout there?

As it seems that the list of variations on FDC will be very short if it is limited to only those errors or variations that are only known on FDC, we can expand a bit.

Here is an example of a minor plate flaw that is nevertheless listed in Aland specialised catalogue. Below is the 1994 Butterflies FDC and a detail of Apollo butterfly stamp with a reddish spot plate flaw.





Is there more FDCs with any varieties or errors on stamps?