Update To The Unique 1938 Cracked Plate Series

A bit of reading there, of course some of the KGVI issues need a few books to work out a particular set of stamps, but when it comes to KGV side faces, the work is going to be real tough.

This crack looks a lot different

B.T.W

The design was from a photo of "DUKE" a favorite kangaroo at Melbourne Zoological Gardens

What were the odds, of a crack passing through McCracken ?

The crack going through the 1949 imprint and the crack going under the imprint are on even par (and value). The burnishing of the Ash imprint was the cause of the plate weakening at that point which, later caused cracking.

The progression of the crack created different depth and position of the crack on the selvedge.

A very nice positional block of 4.

Seems to be a fair few on offer , I found 3 examples at two dealers .

Aussie Al said




And to complicate matters the image you posted is very different from the images posted by Rob earlier in this thread. Your image is of a left pane whereas all of Rob's images are right pane.

ACSC as far back as 1964 reported two cracked plate flaws and although it was short on detail it indicated that one crack was through the McCracken name and the other was below the imprint.

Your image is without pip and Rob has posted images with and without pip. And Rob's most recent post with images (your's and his) of the TWO flaws demonstrate that his explanation that the pips must have been cut off is not sustained as the lower margins are of equal size.

So to date it seems we may have been looking at two flaws and three different panes.


Regards
Frank

In the 2015 ACSC it mentions on page 6/43 note 5, that nos. 178zc and zca are of Plate 1, sheet F, and consist of a series of crystalline cracks immediately below the imprint. In the second state, the cracks extend the full length of the second line of the imprint as seen below. One example has been seen showing a very early state of the crack, without perforation pip below.



As one can see, all three stamps are uniform. The block of 4 without the pip is the exact stamp referred to by ACSC. Only a few weeks ago, after a specialist dealer bought some of the Arthur Gray collection, it turned out that Gray too had a strip of 4, 1949 roos with exactly the same markings. Arthur Gray listed his as McCracken Imprint strip of 4 showing burnishing marks below imprint due to the Ash imprint substitution.

The block of 4 the specialist and I thought to be the rare missing very early plate crack may now be burnishing marks instead.

Yet the stamp I have shown above still fits ACSC's description of the rare block of 4, and my invoice of that block of 4 states that it is the missing rare very early plate crack.

Gray's strip of 4 showing what he refers to as burnishing marks has created a conundrum, is the first stamp a burnishing or is it the missing very early state of plate crack?

The block of 4 has been send away for a more detailed analysis to see if Gray was correct about his analysis of his block of 4.

If mine is the missing cracked plate then it cannot be unique, as Gray also had the same, not as prominent but nonetheless the same.

Or we both have burnishings and the rare very early cracked plate is still missing (if it ever existed) and I will try and have it hunted down for my collection.

But then, Gray was known to be an expert in Australian pre-decimals, including plate cracks.

All my stamps are in ACSC order up until 2001, from 2002 to the present date they are in SG order. If one has the recent KGVI ACSC and then look at the stamps I have displayed (The Coronation Robes & Coat-of-Arms sets I have posted earlier is a good example of being in ACSC order).

Everything I have posted based on information in relation to the very early state of plate crack and the early and late state of plate crack is from the 2015 ACSC and from Specialists of pre-decimal stamps.

To the best of my knowledge my posting of the stamps and the information that I have supplied with these stamps are accurate, and as I have said, the block of 4 which has now become a conundrum has been sent to specialists for a proper analysis as to whether it is the rare plate crack or a burnishing just prior to the very early plate cracking.

Rob

That's correct, he now hops throughout eternity alongside another famous kangaroo, Skippy, the female bush kangaroo (or should I say all 9 Skippy's).

There's a few varieties, but all are very difficult to collect in sets, I believe the variety where the crack is under the imprint is the scarcer variety.

Rob