917A Variant Of Overrun Nations Yugoslavia

I was sorting a pile of US on-paper from the 1940's and ran into a bunch of what appear to be Scott #917a - the red and blue printed over the black layer.

No price listed in Scott, but a quick run through ebay makes me think that these arent very rare.

I'm pretty sure that I got the ID right. But I have been staring at them with my crummy 24x microscope way too long. My head is spinning and I'm not sure what I am looking at any more. The color does overlap the black. The overall look at arms length is different too. Some pics follow.

Anyway...does anyone out there have any opinion on ID and or value? Any help whatsoever would be appreciated.

I have a strip of 4, a strip of 3, a pair, and 2 singles - all on kraft paper with nice cancels. From the same batch I have probably 50 of the "normal" variety. Most were cancelled at Boston Postal Annex 1943 and 1944.

******











Thanks!
-Peter

I am not too sure as all the colours look lighter to me. But I have never been good at this.
Just checked my copies and still none the wiser. Some look like both of your examples !

I follow the thread and see what develops.

Londonbus1

Yeah...the black does look lighter...I dunno...I have been staring at them all afternoon and am not sure what I am looking at any more. My scanner is sub-par too which doesnt help matters.

The red has a sheen to it and really appears to be covering the black. I have a dissecting microscope and at 24x there seem to be tiny spots at the edges of the details where the red and blue has globbed over the black.

So far, I'm not too good at this flyspecking thing. I need to get one of those cheapo USB microscopes.

peterc4,

I'm not an expert and it is hard for me to tell from your image but it looks to me like the black coloration in the example you identify as 917a is uniform in all areas of the flag and the pole. As I look at the examples in the Scott Specialized, on a 917a, the black on the flag pole and in the white field of the flag should be much darker than the black that has been overprinted in the blue and red fields. That leads me to believe that the black on the stamp you think may be 917a is either underinked or faded.

Steve

EDIT: Here are a few Philatelic Foundation certified 917a's that illustrate my point about the variation in appearance of the black in the white field relative to the red & blue fields.

A great big thank you. Even though I really search for slight variations such as this one, I'd never heard of it before reading your thread. Checked my stock and I had one extra 917. Lo and behold, it was the 917a reverse printing varient! What a shock. Again thanks.

Thanks Tomiseksj. I looked at pics on the Swedish Tiger and thought I might have a chance. After seeing the cert pics you posted, its looking more likely that mine are underinked/faded.

I'm going to leave them alone for now and take another look in the morning.

After reading the further comments, I went back to re-look at my alleged 917a just to make sure that's what it is. It is indeed one. However, I also noted that it has a "2009" postmark. Only thing I can imagine is that I received this as the postage on some other stamp purchase I made. So apparently some dealer didn't have any idea that this was one of the reverse printing variations. He just slapped an older mint stamp on the envelope and posted it! Despite the "non-contemporary" postmark, it's now in my album next to its twin brother and properly notated.

I took a fresh look and there is something different about the stamps I posted. They all look similar.

So, I sorted all the overrun nations I found in that batch of stamps. I found 37 Yugolsavia (#917) that look fine and then there are the 11 oddball stamps. Two distinct looks.

On the upside...I finally ordered one of those USB microscopes.

Ipmiller: I like the idea of finding this variant with a 2009 postmark - very cool.

Swedish Tiger website has the #917 listed as 'valued at a dollar', and the 917a listed as 'valued at $100'. I cannot vouch that that is the market value, 2013, for the 917a, but it sure is optimistic.

Yes, they look like 917a. But you may have something altogether different. The flagpole and shading may be GRAY, rather than BLACK. See 920c Denmark.