Johor 1903 50 Cent On $5 Possible Variety

I show two of these stamps side by side.The fonts look different and the N of the stamp with lighter overprint is lower than adjacent letters. Is this a variety?



I would be grateful for an opinion
Michael 367

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Michael

I'm not an expert on Malay States but many overprints or surcharges can be made of two sets: "thick" and "thin" letters, depending on the pressure exerted on the die during the printing process. These differences usually aren't recognised as distinct varieties by the main catalogues. That's what it looks like you have, but I am happy to be corrected as I'm about 4500 miles away from my catalogue right now.

It would be fun looking around for more of this set with similar differences and try to build up one of each value.

The producing of the overprinting was made by using type which was clamped into a forme and repeated until the sheet was overprinted. I do not know how many units made up the forme in this particular issue but it was usually in blocks of 10 or 20. Each unit in the forme contained various type of which some differed from the normal type face used. Variations, such as the ones shown as interesting to collect but are beyond the scope of regular catalogues but of great interest to specialists,

Pagoda

I thank you, Tim and Pagoda for your help and gave to accept there is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow
Michael367

Michael, I've now got availability to scans of my collection, and here are two examples from British Central Africa. Stanley Gibbons recognise that there are two overprint types "thick" and "thin" but they make no distinction in price.

Tim, those are really nice, buddy

Irritatingly, the £1 is the only thin overprint I have, and I'm on the lookout for a thick one. The rest (up to £10) are the thick overprint. The high values were a Christmas present from me to me a few years ago :-)

They are gorgeous, Tim, and suggest to me I do have two types even though are no kosher types in Gibbons philosopy. Many thanks for your kind help