Varieties Of The KGVI Stamps

I will be constantly adding varieties to this page.

White Wattles

Die I. This is the original state of the die found in the earliest printing. The shallow lines of engraving were exaggerated by the use of an unsatisfactory ink in a characteristic Royal Blue shade which had a tendency to be stripped from the plate by the wiper. The die characteristics are:

1) The wattles and wattle leaves in each corner are very white with little shading.
2) The King's ear is unshaded and the chin is badly defined.
3) "TA" of "POSTAGE" at top right is pronouncedly joined at the foot.
4) A characteristic of the ink stripping is that it tended to produce two breaks in the inner left frame opposite the lower half of the portrait oval.

The wattles and wattle leaves in the left and right corner are very white with little shading.

The King's ear is unshaded and the chin is badly defined.

"TA" of "POSTAGE" at top right is pronouncedly joined at the foot (The ink marking on the top end of "E" and the strokes through the "E" was made in the printing process; the microscope can pick-up the slightest imperfection on stamps that we would normally not be able to see).

Two breaks in the inner left frame opposite the lower half of the portrait oval (can be more pronounced in some stamps).

Ink stripping, leaving wattles darker on left

'T' tapering been corrected so maybe Die 2. ?

The left side of the "white wattles" is normally the same shade as the right, though some of this variety may not be as prominent thus showing a lesser degree of ink stripping on the left and even the right side.

Left side

Die II was the recutting of Die I which was performed on a fresh transfer of Die I, I have Die II and will add it to this page soon, I am adding Die 1A to show in very close detail the recut "T" which was still unsatisfactory which led to Die II, Die III will also be shown.

Tapered "T"

Die IA. The joined "TA" flaw was addressed by retouching the two copper plates. On each unit the letters "T" and "A" were cut apart (note the black bar separating the "T" and "A"), this produced a characteristic tapering of the lower part of the "T". The hand retouching means there is inevitably some variation between units.

Tapered "T"

Rob,

always been heaps of interest & 'confusion' with 1937/41 KGVI definitive issue. Your KGVI posting intention WILL make excellent SEARCH/Ref' material for newer collectors and those of us who need refreshing. Joe.

Hi Joe

Hopefully my posting of all the varieties I have will remedy some of the confusion that surrounds much of the KVI varieties; the varieties include the B.C.O.F. stamps.

Unfortunately at the moment the rarest B.C.O.F. I have, the double overprint on cover is currently in the possession of Chris Ceremuga for expertising, when I get it back I will enlarge the overprint to show the detailing of the double overprint.

I hope new collectors use my varieties page as it definitely will help clearly identify varieties and as you say to also help refresh others.

Rob