How To Mount Australia Scott # 1329A (Block Of 6 Different Stamps, 1324 – 1329)

I just purchased the below pictured 3 row strip, which includes Australia Scott # 1329a (block of 6 different stamps, 1324 – 1329). The set has a strip between the stamp rows with depictions of train signals. The 2019 Scott Volume 1A catalog does not mention these. The dealer described this as a "gutter block" but it doesn't seem to match the definition of "gutter block" in the Stamp Smarter glossary. In any event the train signals are cool. Each row of stamps had 2 extra (duplicate) stamps.

Should I … ?
1. Mount the entire 3 row strip, even though it contains 4 extra stamps.
2. Mount just the block of 6 (1329a) and separate off the 4 duplicates (1324, 1325, 1327, 1328) as singles. When at a stamp bourse I could then look for 1326 and 1329 to make another set.

If option number 2, what should I do with the train signals in the "gutter block"?

1. Keep the train signal piece attached to a stamp.
2. Mount these two train signal pieces (which are unique) in the album with the block of 6 (1329a).

Thank you.

Or, you could remove the duplicate gutter pairs and sell them as such.

Mount them as a block as seen.
Separate and you ruin any value at all.

These block types are common in Australian Philately
with the featured selvedge.

That's a very handsome block.

The general rule is to preserve stamps in their largest form as issued, divide and lose financially. Certainly separate if that is your want.

Year 2000 values
source: Comprehensive colour catalogue of Australian Stamps 1999
Note the price rise for a strip of 20 nearly doubles from your 15 strip.

Bob, there are no duplicate gutter pairs, all shown are unique.

Oops. Didn't give the gutters close scrutiny.

Gutter block or strip, it is.

I'd keep it intact. It's nice that the catalog lists it as such though I doubt it will become rare. Yes, you have a few extra stamps but it's a nice display item. And yes, it's largely an excuse for the PO to sell a few extra stamps. It's still a better situation than the Australian 1971 Christmas stamps where the se-ten block was an awkward block of 7 and with one stamp purposely much scarcer than the rest.

If you're curious about what the signal indications are, please ask.

Amen to that.




Yes please HB...........

Hi moneil

It is known as a gutter strip of 10 trains, the decorated gutter is a common sight with many of the stamps sold in design sets. The gutter strip of 10 is very common and made in the tens of millions, and sold as a revenue maker for the Australian Post Office.

Modern issues are known as wallpaper stamps because of the mass producing of the stamps.

Rob

Hi hy-brasil

Here is a block of 25 of the 1971 Xmas stamps. As a single stamp all are worthless, as a set or block of 25 or a sheet of 100, they are worth considerably more, these are the only modern set that have such a retail sale. Yet if it were to be resold to a stamp dealer, they will offer very little.

Thank you all very much for your replies and information.

I will mount the strip intact.

Quandry solved, but for Rod and anyone else interested in non-stamp stuff:

To prevent collisions, lengths of track are divided into sections called blocks. Permission to enter a block is controlled by signals, themselves run by a human controller far away, though detectors on the track can/will change signals to red after a train passes.

The semaphore arm pivots on the pole to predetermined points. The kidney bean-shaped part opposite holds colored lenses over an otherwise white light and moves to provide the same signal as the arm. Why so redundant? In fog, heavy rain or dust storms, a driver (US: engineer) might be able to see the light only. With very bright sun, the semaphore arm would be more visible than the light.

The first signal is obviously STOP. The top shows the status of the block immediately in front of the train, the one below it shows the status of the block beyond that. Note the different arm shapes to emphasize the difference. With permission either by a human controller or by rule, the driver can stop and then advance into the block but knows that he/she must stop before the next block.

Long freight trains cannot stop on a dime, therefore this 2 signal system gives advance warning on what to expect farther ahead.

The second signal has different interpretations depending on region/railroad. It can be a caution (where max speed is at a lower limit) or "proceed" with an indeterminate status in the block beyond that.

The third is "proceed" through the block and the next.

First: stop, with just one signal showing only the status of the block in front of the train.
Second: yellow caution, a different type of signal from above with a different semaphore style.
Third: the only other indication of the signal above, green/proceed

The odd lines shown around the pole are a ladder and stand in back for a signal maintainer to work from.

Lights only here. Positions of lights as described earlier, again with the top one for the block in front and the one below for the block after that.

First: a special signal type with semaphore arm in different colors, set to caution. Unknown what this type is used for. Anyone?
Second and third: stop signals as noted earlier. Different style poles may mean a different railroad/region.

Again, different poles probably means a different railroad/region. The signal style is quite different from the others shown earlier, with 3 different light colors and different semaphore arm positions, except for stop.

This only very basic stuff so don't go stealing a train just yet. There can be other lights placed in different places on a pole, plus signs/plates telling drivers how to interpret signals further. There are US systems that are basically similar but are now lights only. We're supposed to be going to all GPS. Somehow. Someday.

One of my colleagues (Kangaroo stamp specialist) works for the railways here, I'll badger him for any further knowledge, if at all, specialist in track maintenance, so I hope he is signal conversant, maybe things are different here.

Thanks for your time in explanation.
we need to link this thread to the railways thematic.

An aside...........
The train "The Ghan" is named in honour of the Afghanistan / Pakistani Cameleers, who arrived with the import of the first camels in Australia, that had influence in the discovery of the new settlers, to the harsh interior of Australia.

Australia has now the only wild camels on the planet,
Large populations of feral camels in Australia. There are approximately 1 to 1.2 million feral camels in Australia, and their numbers are thought to be doubling every 8-9 years. They occupy an area of approximately 3.3 million square kilometres of rangeland that incorporates many different land tenures.