Falkland Islands 1933 Centenary Major Variety Listed

Only discovered in 2013, and with (I believe) less than 20 discovered to date, another copy of the 1½d Whaler with "break in the clouds" variety has come into my hands. It's listed on ebay and Hipstamp now, and offers are more than welcome






http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/323660903467

https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/fa...mhr/24222373

I have to say there's very few issues from the Empire that are more attractive than the Falkland Islands 1933 Centenary.

Measured against Australian and British stamps of the same year, they're magnificent

Just on the off chance, I had a look at my SG and sure enough, there's no new issue types for Australia or Great Britain in 1933 that I could see.

That wasn't my meaning of course, but fair play!

No doubt it's a gorgeous set, but it was loathed at the time of issue, for both the high face value and being entirely postally unnecessary.

Along similar lines, I love the Sierra Leone abolition of slavery/Wilberforce issue from the same year. That's another long set the purists in the old days wouldn't touch, for the same reasons. Great stamps.

Antigua, Cyprus, Montserrat, Hong Kong, St Kitts Nevis and St Helena all issued commemorative sets before WW2. Truth be known they were all frowned upon at the time. Plenty of other places in the Empire had pictorial issues before 1935.

The 1938 SG even complained about the copying of old designs for the new reign!

When I was a youngster I loved the colourful stuff and all the commemoratives. Now I'm drowning in definitives

This set was effectively a political statement. The stamps were deemed invalid in Argentina, and postage due was payable on any cover to Argentina bearing the stamps