Distinctive Shades Of The ½d Wallaroo

Four major and distinctive shades of the Wallaroo (small kangaroo). 1938 orange. 1942 brown-orange (very scarce). 1942 light orange. 1949 dull yellow-orange, aka "mellow yellow" (rare).



There are 9 distinctive shades not yet available:

1938: Yellow- Orange, Deep Orange
1942: Orange, Deep Orange, Pale Brown-Orange (scarce), Deep Brown-Orange, Deep Brown-Orange (very scarce)
1949: Orange, Pale Orange

I must check mine when they come back I'm sure there's a lot of yellower ones in there :)

I think there is. The very yellow stamp I have on the right only has a printing of 160.

Rob

While recognizing that comparisons of colours of items scanned on different scanners and viewed on different monitors is fraught with problems, I have a strip of SG228 (the 1949 printing) that similarly appears yellowish.

Incidentally, this is a strip of 4 from a coil roll which has the regular perf rather than the normal coil perf.

Hello Frank,
how does one tell this is from a coil?

Hi Rod:

Firstly, I guess you have to take some things on trust, bearing in mind its source. You will probably notice that this is a paste-up strip. So, secondly, I don't think the relative value of the stamps is enough to make it worthwhile going to the bother of sticking two vertical pairs together, particularly as one of the pairs needs to be complete with a bit of upper selvedge with just so much width.

I know - pretty wishy-washy reasoning, which is why I never raised this issue as a topic in itself, as I had previously planned.

Probably not worth while seeing if this could be expertised.

Frank.

Thanks Frank.



No, I hadn't just thought is to be detritus.

Your reasoning sounds OK to me.

The stamps on the left are coil perforation compared to the normal comb perforation on the right. The coil starts off with small holes and then graduates to larger holes and then back to small. The comb is a continual line of uniform holes.

If the printer placed the tape on the vertical stamps it would have philatelic value.

I remember reading coils were made up from normal perf stamps during shortages in ACSC.

That is true, for the normal stamps made into coil issues. but the stamp on the left is a very scarce ACSC 189a, 1941 mauve 2d with an inverted watermark and special coil perforation.

ACSC 6/74 - "189a". "Stamps with watermark inverted are from a small quantity of sheets used for making up coils. All examples thus have the special coil perforation.

Frank's strip of 4 seem to have the normal perforations, and the piece of paper tape seen at the back I am sure is a coil join, these coil joins occurred between every 20th and 10th stamp, that makes that particular strip of 4 scarce.

The complete list of King George VI coils

1938 1d green QE Die II - ACSC 181 - large holes - join above 20th stamp.
1938 2d red KGVI Die II - ACSC 188 - large holes - join above 20th stamp.

1941 1d maroon QE Die II - ACSC 182 - large and small holes - can be seen on either the 20th or 10th stamp.
1941 2d mauve KGVI Die II - ACSC 189 - large and small holes - can be seen on either the 20th or 10th stamp.

1942 ½d kangaroo (watermark) - ACSC 179 - large and small holes - can be seen on either the 20th or 10th stamp.

1943 1d purple-brown QE - ACSC 225 - large and small holes - can be seen on either the 20th or 10th stamp.
1944 2d bright purple KGVI - 228 - large and small holes - can be seen on either the 20th or 10th stamp.

1948 1d Princess Elizabeth - ACSC 246 - large and small - join above 10th stamp.
1948 2d purple KGVI (no watermark) - ACSC 229 - large and small - join above 10th stamp.

1949 ½d kangaroo (no watermark) - ACSC 180 - large and small holes - can be seen on either the 20th or 10th stamp.

1951 2d green QE - ACSC 248 - large and small - join above 10th stamp.
1951 3d scarlet KGVI - ACSC 251 - large and small - join above 10th stamp.
1951 3d green KGVI - ACSC 252 - large and small - join above 10th stamp.

Special coil plates (joins every 20th stamp), and from ordinary sheet stock (joins every 10th stamp).


ACSC 180bj.g) 1949. Wallaroo. #189;d. Special Coil Perforation. No watermark.

Rob:

My 1996 ACSC lists both the coil and regular perf, but with the regular perf only for stamps with the starter strip. In this configuration, it gives both the same value.

Frank.

I has forgotten that I also have a coil block of four of the 1949 Wallaroo, also in pale orange.



Also the 2d purple KGVI as a paste-up pair.

Frank, a paste-up pair of the koala (no idea which at this point). Not the best condition...

Castor:

I can't quite make out whether your example is watermarked. At times I see a watermark, at other times not. my 80-year-old eyes are becoming a problem.

If there IS a watermark, then it is:

SG179b (1942 issue) Mint pair with coil perf CV of £19. Equivalent Scott number is 166 but the coil perfs are not listed in my eCatalogue.

Without watermark, it is:

SG228c (1949 issue) CV 75p. Equivalent Scott number is 223A.

Being a paste-up pair probably increases the value somewhat (based on auction prices I have seen) but nobody seems to give a CV for this format any longer. Also to be taken into consideration is the staining on the front and back of your stamps and what looks like a crease on the lower example.

Frank.

Frank,

The stamp is without watermark.

Thanks for the information and also for being so tactful in your response to the condition of my stamp (when I used to post often on another site a particular person (mod) referred to my stamps condition as roadkill - how nice of him).

Peter