Kangaroos & King George V

I have been looking through the Australian Kangaroos and King George V stamps I got from my dad.

There are so many different types though of Kangaroos from 1913-1936 that came out. In total I have 19 Kangaroo stamps, but it seems like it will be a real challenge to try and figure out which are which.

On the King George V stamps I have 29 of them with a few that have Overprints with the "OS" on them. Again, there seem to be a number of varieties, but not as many as the Kangaroos, which is good.

Just wondering if there is any quick and easy way to figure out which are which on these 2 groups?

Cheers...

No

KGV_Collector on here started up a really nice topic/thread on the KGV side-faces stamps of Australia.

It depends on whether you wish to get involved with watermark detection for one thing. (You don't have to but you can).

There are different perforations that the stamps came out in also. And shades of different colours.

It can be quite an involved study. I have just started studying them, after reading KGV's thread.
https://goscf.com/t/7020&

There are lots of other threads on SCF that mention them also.


The Roos are a different story I think.

having a specialized Austalia catalogue would be a great thing for either of these. That way you don't trade or throw out any special stamps that look the same as another one but have that special thing about them that makes them worth more.

That's what I love about this place -- the occasional brutally honest and to-the-point replies!

To be slightly less brutally honest and to-the-point, the George V heads and the 'Roos are an enormously complex area, with some very valuable shades and plate flaws. There are many collectors here in Australia who specialise in them deeply.

As with most earlier definitive issues (and the Canadian Admirals spring to mind) the more knowledge you have of them, the better chance you have of making the big find, not the person you sell the stamps to. Of course, rare stamps are rare because they're rare: your chances of making the big find are tiny. But who knows ...

If you think you have enough of the George Vs and 'Roos, and you're prepared to make the investment in time and money, you could search for second-hand copies of the Australian Commonwealth Specialists Catalogue volumes on the George Vs and the 'Roos. They'll give you enough detail to be sure you're not leaving any serious money on the table. Beyond them lies hyper-specialist territory, and there's unlikely to be a great deal of extra value there.

Short of that, I'd suggest - again - get hold of a copy of the Gibbons Commonwealth catalogue. It's far less detailed, but it will alert you to some of the big ticket items.

But I come back to my original point. There's no simple way with these stamps. If you just want to sell them, put them up on ebay, making sure they'll be visible in Australia, and provide the biggest, clearest, best scans you can. That way you'll maximise your chances of more than one specialist seeing anything of interest that you have.

With 29 KGVs you might have a total of three or four varieties, or you might have 29 varieties.

You can do whatever you want...there are many serious stamp collectors who are completely happy to have completed a basic set of the main colors and values...they couldn't care less about the byways. That isn't wrong. Read and think about KGV_Collector's thread linked above, and have your stamps out while you're doing that, and by the time you're done, you'll be in the 95th-percentile of all stamp collectors when it comes to KGV heads.

My 2d.

I agree with the K.

Thanks. Its all very good advice. Chances are I don't have any of the really rare/valuable ones, but again, I don't know that for sure until I go through them. But looking at the values, the highest values for any of the Roos or KGVs are for minted and I hardly have any of those anyway. Maybe 3 or 4 on the Roos and that's it.

As you all said though, it is going to take some work to find that out. I think for the time being I will just put them all on the side until I am ready to really sit down with them for a few hours and figure out exactly what I have. At this point I am not anxious to sell them either, so I will just leave them sit. I rather not take my chances of selling off something without first having an idea of what I really have and what it is really worth.

Many thanks again and I will definitely revisit this again soon.

For British Commonwealth stamps the best way to get a good impression of the different values and varieties possible is to use either a specialized catalogue (Unitrade for Canada) or Stanley Gibbons catalogue. Scott is very general.

Australia isn't my collecting interest, I just happen to live here, but you can't help picking up scraps of information about the local stamps.

Don't despise used George V and 'Roos. Gibbons prices the used 1d green George V, small multiple watermark inverted at £11,000; the second watermark inverted 2d brown used at £14,000, and the 'Roo 6d brown third watermark inverted at £16,000 just for starters. Then there's the 4d violet George V with the 'line through FOUR PENCE' variety: £3,750 used, if you please.

Thanks Tony. Now that you said that, all the more reason for me to take my time to study them properly. Cheers. Marc

29 stamps is a nice start but with a little time spent online at the auction site of your choice, you will be able to spend a modest amount of money and fill 75% of the spaces of a simplified collection (there are 72 different KGV heads in the basic listing).

I have seen collections 4" thick of just the 1914 1d so you can go as far as you want.

Purchasing a good secondhand catalogue can get you of to a good start as well. The Comprehensive Catalogue of Australian Stamps is an excellent starting point. The new edition in 3 volume has just been printed so you can get the superceded two volume edition (with listings up to 2007) cheaply.

If you want I can scan and email some pages from various catalogues. Please send me your email address.

I have just read this thread for the first time.
Its hit that stamp collecting spot!
Where are my beloved KGVs. I miss them badly!
I am hopelessly hooked on Aust KGVs

How did I end up with countless Aust Decimal stamps in my head?

I am going to have to have a summer fix on KGVs!!!

John,
you have to have some vegetables with your meat.
A "decimal" timeout refreshes you for your next foray into KG5

A few varieties
Plate E\L25 Extra Island (two Tasmanias

CofA Watermark Die 2 Issued August 1935
Plate 2\L45 Flaw on S of Australia