Adelade 2016 Emergency Issue 30 Cent Stamps

The wording "government printing office" was used as a means of describing that the stamps must be sanctioned by a much higher authority before it can be officially called a postage stamp, not literally be a part of the Federal Government that had been closed 20 years ago, but I do understand the objection.

"Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Postal Corporation (formerly Commission), an Australian government-owned corporation that provides postal services both locally and internationally, as well as operating retail outlets". (Wiki)

"Australia Post now has four printers currently contracted to produce gummed and self-adhesive stamps: Pemara Labels, McKellar Renown Press, EgoTrade and RA Printing. Pemara is the only printer that supplies rolls of 100 and 200 self-adhesive stamps". (Australia Post)

Australia Post is a government owned corporation and as stamp printers are contracted by the government, they are a government printing service, albeit contracted.

Although the emergency issues were printed at Australia Post headquarters, it is still not an authorised issue; they were printed from a CPS machine used for philatelic fairs and exhibitions, and not via the official printing process, meaning they were not issued by any of the contracted printing services.

The Treasury Department is in charge of minting money, if we run short of 20 cent pieces, does that mean the Treasury Department is going to pull out an old coin press to mint a new batch of 20 cent pieces?

Meaning, just because Australia Post has a CPS machine, doesn't mean it can print stamps independently to the contracted printers.

The 30 cent emergency issues, they were rolled out as non-value labels and franked with a value, year and place of issue; they were not issued or authorised under the official approved government contract.

They started life as a label, and franking a value, year and area onto them doesn't change the fact that they are still labels.

Stanley Gibbons correctly identifies these issues as labels. And like I previously mentioned, there was also a 45 cent issue printed by the same means, why would the 45 cent issue be called a "label" and the 30 cent be called a "stamp" when they were both created by a CPS machine?


The printer issued them as labels to the Adelaide GPO to be used in the CPS machine at Philatelic events, they were not issued as stamps, the entire structure of value and year is not consistent to any official self-adhesive stamps made by any of the approved printers, even the continual backing strip of the 30 cent issues created by the CPS are tacky compared to the expertly printed backing of the official self-adhesive stamps.

Retail does not mean official, official means by the usual process of printing, using a CPS machine is not via any official process.

A self-adhesive label is an image printed onto stamp like paper, and if issued by a contracted postage stamp printer, will be printed on the same paper as stamps and issued in the same format as official self-adhesive postage stamps, but they are still labels.

The information on the Australia Post website only refers to what the SMH published, it is not an official recognition from Australia Post.




The Australia Post manager is incorrect and knows nothing about the processing of officially printed labels being made into unofficial "stamps".

I assume this manager spoke to you, as I cannot find any official spokesperson of Australia Post referring to these issues as stamps.

These are merely labels, not stamps, I have yet to see one written piece of official evidence that refers these issues as official stamps.

100% Official PO Issue.


It was 100% official, authorised by the Manager of a main State GPO in an operational Emergency. They were sold for face value at many large POs for a couple of days, and they were widely used on commercial mail. Many genuine covers, and kiloware used copies exist already.


From a certain Sydney NSW stamp dealer .

Hi Jenny

True, it was an incorrect terminology for this particular issue, though to call these emergency issues a label is the correct terminology.

There is a difference between a Frama and a CPS, the Frama was used in a vending machine with a capped value of $9.99 and a CPS was an over the counter issue with an original capped value of $9,999,99, eventually restricted to $100.

Also the Frama was printed on coloured paper with at times a sketched design and a gummed reverse, looking nothing like official stamps; the CPS labels were printed by the official printers using self-adhesive prints without any face value (without a value makes them labels), these labels could be used by any Philatelic office wanting to issue souvenir "stamps" during any major fair or exhibition.

So although the 30 cent emergency issue is an official replacement of the original 30 cent stamps, they were not officially created as stamps in the first place but as labels for philatelic use at major events, if they were stamps they would have been issued as such.

Are they official in the capacity of a temporary replacement of the depleted officially printed 30 cent stamps? Yes.

Are they officially a stamp? No.

Are they unofficial? Yes, when compared to how they came into being, they are an unofficial issue with an official purpose.

Are they a label? Yes, they were originally without any face value and the value and area were roughly printed on, not like the precise printing of official stamps.

Yes, they were officially used to fill in the space left by the depleted issues of the official 30 cent stamps, they were in an unofficial capacity as they were not printed by contracted process, and just because a value is placed onto a label does not make them into a stamp, they are still labels.

From a certain Sydney NSW stamp dealer. It seems we are speaking of the same stamp dealer.

Rob
I see what you're saying but if Aust Post had no problems with them & sold them as stamps too make up the shortfall then they are 30 cent stamps.

In an emergency situation (shortage)what would you do shut the doors & go home or print labels/stamps

Hi Al

What Australia Post had done was to do the only thing possible in a state of emergency, fill the gap caused by the depletion of 30 cent stamps. As an authority they did so in an official capacity, how they remedied that problem was to print out unofficial "stamps".

These "stamps" started out life as a label, so they were utilised rather successfully, even if if it were only for a few days.

The asking price for these items are astonishing and ludicrous, I was offered a full set of 30 cent and $1 issues together for $900, I could easily afford the price, but had to turn the person down.

They have no official status of rarity or value, and ebay popularity and the spruiking from a certain person isn't exactly reliable sources.

During the start of the frenzy, people would crawl over each other to get to a set, one even paid $10,000 to an ebay seller.

Now the hype is dying down, these stamps are not as easy to off-load, and in many cases are being flogged off nowhere near to how they were.

I pity the idiot that paid $10,000 for them.

ACSC has not published a QEII catalogue since 2002, so I doubt that they will print a recent edition any time soon or in the future.

Seven Seas is not going to commit themselves officially to their entry of the emergency issues, and SG had already made up its mind.

So I guess the only way one will find out, if any of these issues are sold in major stamp auctions with an official certificate, and how they are referred to by specialists wanting to stock them and any demonstrable evidence provided.

Rob

I have no interest in them at all but was thinking Australia Post run the show & if they call it a stamp who am I to tell them otherwise .

Anyway no matter what they're called I wont be buying any for any price.

Rob041256

You said "stamps must be sanctioned by a much higher authority" - what is this much higher authority you refer to. And as you keep calling this stamp a label will you please explain what you mean by a label.

Regards
Frank

The only thing a certificate can say is yes this is an emergency 30c Adelaide stamp printed to make up the new postal rate after existing stocks ran out & used in correct period .

the Australian Postal Corporation (Australia Post) is an Australian government owned corporation, so therefore all issuance of stamps must comply to Federal government guidelines.

The guidelines does not incorporate post offices making their own stamps, though from the issuance of the emergency labels it is obvious the Adelaide GPO had an official duty to print unofficial 30 cent emergency issues.

And for me to explain what I mean by a label, I believe I had made that quite clear in my recent posts, and as far as I'm concerned there is no need to go over it again.

No Al, the certificate I am referring to will not, it will mention whether it is a stamp or label which is the main core of this debate, it's authenticity and it's status as scarce - very rare if applicable, and references like all the certificates I have.

Who issues these certificates then ?

Chris Ceremuga is an internationally renown expert on Australian issues. I have a few of his certificates authenticating my rare and very rare stamps.

If he issued a certificate of authenticity stating it to be a stamp and not a label, then I will believe him.

As he uses both the SG and ACSC books as references, and seeing that the ACSC has not issued a QEII catalogue since 2001, he will rely on the SG catalogue, and the SG states those issues to be labels.

He would also test the issues to see if they are genuine and for varieties, defects etc.

So if I have those books & just quote from them I'll be an expert as well

Maybe he just asks Australia Post if they issued it (& they did) instead of waiting for an opinion from someone that writes a book.