I Finally Found My First Two Errors And It Feels Amazing (I'm New To This Hobby So Bear With Me)

So I bought stamp sheets and been reorganizing the collection I inherited from my uncle, grouping them by countries following. Stampworld page by page (I will show soon)

And I came across my first error which is an ink smear on the bottom two and the bottom right, if you look at the tip of the letters only that one has black colour!







Then the second error I found, was this , it looks really weird could someone tell me what this is called?





Anyways, just thought I'd share this because I really enjoy this new hobby of mine.

Thank you for reading!

I believe for the Hong Kong stamp, the line you see is normal for some varieties of that stamp. This area is probably tagging, something added to the stamp during production to allow cancellation devices to "see" the stamp and cancel it during very high speed processing. The canceller knows exactly where to land once it senses the tagging.

The image you show of the reverse of the French Alliance block has no errors that I can see. The only "feature" I can detect is a tear at the juncture where 2 of the stamps meet. If this is the feature you are referring to, it's more of sloppy separation technique than of perforation error.

Thank you for your reply! The bottom two stamps , the words "US Bicentennial 13c " both have the same ink smear and I read that ink smear during printing is considered an error? Please correct me if I'm wrong !

Also what's another site besides Stampworld that shows entire catalogs with original printing so I can use it to compare and check for errors? I think I found another one from my Great Britain 1975 mint set - sailing

First picture is from Stampworld,



second picture I randomly pulled one off google



and the third is mine.



From mine, I can instantly see that it has more black line detailings and the sails have a darker shading. Also all the sails, the black lines protrude out of the stamp border. Would this be considered an error?

"I read that ink smear during printing is considered an error?"

No this is called a freak or an oddity. This happened if something went wrong during printing of the stamp, like a plate wiping flaw, or a perforation shift.
Errors usually are missing color(s), upside down elements or missing perforation rows/columns

Concise EFO definitions (with which we'd all mostly agree, I think) with examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error...?wprov=sfti1

Stampsmarter.org also has a very comprehensive glossary of terms that may assist with definitions. There may also be more specific resources on StampSmarter regarding EFO's- I didn't do a comprehensive search.

https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/G...aryHome.html

There may be other online catalogs that could assist you. If you google around a bit, I am certain you will find other options.

I think this is another area of 'name confusion' in our hobby, making it difficult for new hobbyists to learn the nomenclature. It may be that the term 'error' is often misapplied because some folks equate it with rare or unusual.

I have a background in Quality Assurance so I tend to view the 'EFO' topic in terms of what a printing or production company deems either acceptable (passes inspection and ships) or is not acceptable (fails inspection and is pulled as waste). Obviously those stamps with issues which escaped inspection but would have typically not been allowed to ship are far less common (true errors). But those stamps with issues which are deemed acceptable (albeit lesser quality) are shipped as normal stamps (Freaks/Oddities).

But note that this is for US stamps and my opinion is based upon input from a BEP pressmen who described how the BEP handled QA. A quick search through eBay listings will reveal that some folks call virtually anything an error, freak or oddity.
Don

Don, I see where you are coming from but I hesitate to use the term Error for anything "which escaped inspection but would have typically not been allowed to ship". I've seen some hideous overinking, crazy perfs, or color shifts that are so bad the stamp is unrecognizable, and these should have never made it out of the BEP, but they shouldn't be called Errors, they are Freaks.

Summarizing the StampSmarter definition, Errors include imperforate stamps that should be perforated, missing colors, inverted colors, or other major production mistakes that are clearly binary (yes or no). There are no in-betweens for errors. "Almost missing all the blue color" is a freak. "Completely missing the blue color" is an error. Misperfs and color shifts and color smears, no matter how drastic, are not errors, they are freaks.

Freaks are no less interesting than errors (and often more interesting), and many people including myself enjoy finding them and collecting them. As for terminology, you're right, what you see on eBay is a wide range, with Error and Rare being used much too often.

"Error" should be reserved for those categories where something is 100% missing (colors, perfs, tagging) or 100% wrong (inverted color, inverted overprint). A production issue that has the possibility of a range of variation (color shift, misperf, underinked) is a Freak.

Yes there is a point where a misperf or color shift crosses a line between acceptable and not acceptable for the BEP to ship, but that is a sliding scale depending on the issue and the inspector, and either way is still classified as a freak, not an error. We the consumer don't know where is the dividing line for something that should have been caught by inspectors but slipped through. So we shouldn't call a minor color shift a freak and a major color shift an error because everyone's definition of that dividing line is different.

</soapbox>

BEP is an interesting case since they also printed currency. They would never, ever, allow such low quality out the door with currency. As the bank note/engraver specialist fellows I lunch with have said in the past, 'its just a stamp'. BEP quality control inspection and online inspections for stamp allowed for a much wider range of 'normal, it can ship' than currency (for obvious reasons). Find a US bill with the kind of ink smear the OP shows and on the Bicentennial stamp and you have a fair amount of market demand. With a stamp, not as much. Hence why I feel that it important to make this kind of differentiation.
Don

bicken44s

Those are great finds! Congratulations on finding them. I especially like your Hong Kong stamp. I have a specialized Hong Kong collection, but I have never seen a similar Hong Kong stamp to yours. That is a keeper!

Any moving light in the night sky can be called a UFO (unidentified flying object).

Around here on this forum, just call any stamp you find that is out of the ordinary an EFO and you will fit right in. EFO covers everything. Just be aware that a stamp placed in a south window in direct sunlight for a month, or a stamp with a drop of bleach applied, will look very freaky. People have been known to create EFOs, both unintentionally and intentionally.

Enjoy the hobby,
Linus

This is another site with catalogued images, and they do show errors (depending on someone bothering to upload them of course!):

https://www.stampsoftheworld.co.uk/...of_the_World

I found your sailing stamp on there: https://www.stampsoftheworld.co.uk/...1975_Sailing

On your stamp, the black lines protruding wouldn't be considered an error. The ink is applied in stages, and when the sheet passed through the printer for its black parts, it was fractionally out of perfect position. These are called colour shifts but unless they result in something striking to the eye, they tend to be disregarded by most collectors. That doesn't mean you should disregard them though, if these things interest you. Keep hunting!

This site from one of our SCF members is very informative when it comes to all things EFO. It is US focused but the principles are the same for WW.

https://www.efocc.org/Resources/Hot...AA_Cover.php

You have no country listed bicken44s so I do not know from where you hail. My ears were burning from rogdcam's post above. What he links to is the DEFINITIVE listing of terms of art for UNITED STATES COLLECTORS of Errors, Freaks, and Oddities, EFOs. This listing in the USA applies to all stamps from any stamp issuing entity when collected in the USA.

That said, I believe your US stamps in your OP are Freak Type 57, an example of a Tagging Ghost.

The EFO Collector's Club (EFOCC) began in 1978. In the early years the club helped develop the list EFOCC Member #1, now EFOCC Life Member #2, John Hotchner first wanted. From there the Club helped with the early edition of the US ERRORS book updated and published periodically.

I disagree. It looks like a smear, not re-deposition of wet ink at the tagging station.

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't replied because I got banned for using inappropriate words (won't happen again admin). I'm from Canada, Vancouver to be exact. It's Sunday and family day, I will read everyone's replies and answer you guys tonight / tomorrow. Thank you for all your comments! Enjoy rest of your weekend.

PS: can't wait to finally show you guys the stamps I've reorganized and put into fresh brand new sheets. They are mostly all MNH sets from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan! Also some MNH sets from less popular countries Grenada, Rwanda and Ajman State. Some MNH German Empire and DDR single stamps as well, still working on Great Britain but in due time. Really excited to share! Ok, back to family gathering, enjoy rest of Sunday everyone! Back on tonight