Australia - KGVI 3d Design

I have just begun to collect older Australia and I'm working on Volume I of a Lindner-T Illustrated hingeless Album. On page 11, they show six B&W illustrations for the 3d King George VI definitive. I have scanned my Scott Catalogue one too many times to count, and for the life of me I can only find FOUR varieties for this stamp: SC# 170, 170a, 183, and 183A.

Are there two more not listed in Scott?

Thanks in advance,

Al

BEEF----There are three different DIE types in the S.G. Catalog ,my guess is that your album shows them but Scott has only one type

Thanks floortrader.

Scott actually "implies" two die types, two paper types, and four colors in the four numbers they have listed, so you are probably right.

#170 - Ultramarine, (printed 1937)
#170a - Dp Ultra on thin paper, printed 1938
#183 - Dk Ultra, printed 1940 (with a note about the eyebrows and the left epaulette)
#183A - Dk Vio Brn, printed 1942

Lindner gives an index of Michel and "Australasian" catalog numbers at the front of the album, by page number. Guess I'll have to make a trip to the library.

...but fuelin' dunk!

Al

Been trying to resolve what Scott listed variations of the KGVI 3d stamp I actually have.

I have three of the 3d stamps, all perforated 13.5x14. As mentioned earlier, Scott Classic only lists two possible options for this perforation: #170 and #170a. The 170 is listed as ultramarine and the 170a is listed as deep ultramarine on thinner paper. Neither are listed as chalky paper and there is no other text that suggests they exist on chalky paper.

However, the following site:

http://www.kgvistamps.com/articles/...G6-1937.html

implies that 170 is the thinner paper and all of 170a varieties are chalky paper that is not considered thin.

Which is correct?

Two of my stamps are regular paper that seems to be the thinner variety (comparing with the picture at the URL above) and not what I would consider deep ultramarine. The other is chalk surfaced and the reverse looks more like the example that is not described as thinner. The color seems more dull and still not deep ultramarine, but that could be due to the chalk surface. All three are Die Ib where T and A are separate and the T looks straight.

I can post pictures if needed.

There are different flavors of chalky paper. Some do not even react to the silver test so it may require other attributes of a particular stamp to determine if it's on chalky or not.

That website is very informative, but I am also confused about the Scott (ST) listings. Here is a screenshot from that website:

ACSC (Australian Commonwealth Specialist Catalogue) calls the first one Die 1, White Wattles. The second is just Die 1. The third is Die 1A, and the fourth is Die 2. They do not list a thickness for the first 3, but the fourth (Die II, perf 13.5 x 14) is listed as paper being 0.112-0.117 mm thick. This is the thickest listing I could find, so this is probably Scott 170.

ACSC then lists a Die II, perf 13.5 x 14 on un-surfaced paper and implies that it is thin (thickness 0.099-0.104 mm). This looks like the fifth stamp in the website. Since this is the thinnest listing that I could find, this one is probably Scott 170a. So right here, you have a discrepancy between that nice website, and Scotts.

Edit: Scott 170a says a release date of 1938. ACSC has more complete records, and shows that the fifth stamp was released on December 20, 1938 so this also points to the fifth stamp matching Scott 170a. BUT, the fourth stamp was printed in August 1937, but shipment was delayed until March 1938. Grr ...

The sixth item is correctly listed as Scott 183. This is known as Die III in ACSC and is further confusing as it is listed as semi-surfaced paper with a thickness of 0.114 mm. However, since it is the only blue one with perf 14.75 x 14, then it is easy to differentiate. This is also the stamp that was used for the 3 1/2d surcharge (Scott 189).

The last two items are the brown version in Scott (183A). One is shown as "thin paper". Per ACSC, this would be 0.075 mm or less, and has quite a significant premium if you find this one.

So, the website does not agree with Scott, nor with ACSC in some cases. We also don't know how "thin is thin" for the blue stamp. Good luck.

I own a copy of the "White Wattles" which is very distinctive from the front of the stamp. Perhaps some of the catalogs don't bother listing the paper characteristics given the unique appearance of the stamp/

Nice. I keep browsing dealer's tables for a miss-identification, but never find one. Still looking.

These are from my collection. Here is a complete set of 3d blues with all Dies, shades (including unlisted), thin paper and white faces (ink stripping), including all brown 3d types.

Deleted duplicated post.

Fyi, the Australia KGVI site owner updated his page to correct the Scott numbers. Apparently, much older Scott catalogs had reversed the thin vs thick paper.

Revised copy shown below. Thanks to the webmaster for matching Scott's revisions.

There's more to identifying the "white wattles" than just the leaves, it also has two distinct short shading lines and the "TA" is joined.