Churchill Omnibus Colour Error?

I have a set of the Cayman Islands Churchill omnibus that seem to be missing the gold colour printing. I have limited resources but what I have search does not mention anything about this error. I have included a shot of one of the stamps as an example but all 4 denominations show the same error. Is it a true error or has someone tampered with the stamps?


*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

It has been my experience across Philately in general, "gold" printing can be frought with problems.
Generally difficult to see, sometimes appears to oxidise etc,
It depends what punishment it has met with, at the hands of collectors, or met with during its travels in the post.

To have a "gold missing" you would really need a mint stamp, that is clear where the printing was to be.

Here is a copy of the" normal" one.

Here is a scan of the 1/4 p. that is a mint stamp. Same result although looking closely it does appear to be flaky throughout the lettering.

Yes disturbed printing, not "missing"
Oft times to convince new collectors about this type of thing, is to have them send away for a certificate, and have them pay a substantial sum to have it confirmed that it is not a variety.

If it is not addressed in a specialists catalogue, then one needs to be quite convinced the variety is genuine.
If the variety is on a used stamp, then doubly so.

Cayman Islands via a clear and precise scanning result
If the gold was missing, the area would be pure blue.

Gibbons does not list these varieties. Almost certainly some kind of environmental effect. The 1/4d shows some perf toning; perhaps the same conditions caused both changes.

Our Australian infamous Sc#393 Gold missing.
I have read commentaries on ebay "Bunnies" paying exhorbitant amounts for such stamps "chemically altered"
Example also shown where the gold appears oxidised

So looks like mine is chemically altered?

Yes.
Gold Omitted (exist 12)
c$7,500
Blue missing (exist 60)
c$1200
Brown Missing (exist 12)
c$4,000

Current news c2 years ago