Thursday 27 February 2014

Labuan Crown plate flaw




Got this one recently, the line or dagger through B flaw. It should be constant and present on all values of this issue. They are listed in the SG catalogue but somehow unworthy of mention in the local Malaysian catalogue. It can be quite expensive for mint or used copies but alas not so for this CTO item.

Update 09 May 2014
Got this flaw recently on the 10c adhesive.


Thursday 20 February 2014

BMA broken "M"




This is the only one that I have noticed in my collection. The flaw consist of a defect at the top of the left limb of "M". This was first mentioned in the Sarawak Journal of February 1982, page 95 to be precise. It was noted on the horizontal values of  1c, 8c , 50c and possibly other values as well. It was positioned as stamp 29 or R3/9. On the vertical 2c value, it is stamp 25 or R3/5. This is on a sheet of 100, 10 x 10.
For the 1946 issue there is supposed to be a broken crown variety. I will see if I can find a copy somewhere.


Update 6.4.14 Just found this block of 4 with the flaw in a fair in Alfreton, Derbyshire this morning. Also note on the top stamp on the right, we have ? a "tower" amongst the trees.

Thursday 13 February 2014

Flaws of the 1954 1c adhesive


This 1c belongs to the same 1954 set as the 10c with the "extra chimney variety". These flaws are unlisted and I do not know when they were first noticed. It is not in the Sarawak Journal, the back issues of which I have on discs.

This is a left sided bottom block of ten out of a sheet of 100. As the arrows show, there are 2 flaws, one on R9/2 and another on R10/2 ie the second stamps on rows 9 and 10 respectively.


An enlargement of the R9/2 adhesive shows a "broken B" looking similar to a "R". On R10/2, there is a white blot below the left eye. 
This stamp presented Mt Kinabalu disappointingly. One has the impression that the view was taken from a higher vantage point or mountain thus blunting the majesty of Kinabalu. 

Thursday 6 February 2014

Two new MBE varieties




The adhesive on the left has a brown or brownish overprint. I had it for many years but not come across another example. The other stamp has the normal red overprint and is also a perf 15.
I have seen a couple of the 16c Hornbill stamp with a black overprint instead of blue. There is also a very rare red overprint variety that I would love to possess.
Just an observation, have you noticed that the "button" to the left of "S" at the top is placed a bit off center?


Apart from the presence of the narrow or "Numeral 0" variety, these two adhesives also has the unrecorded short or "Broken N" flaw. This is more pronounced on the right hand stamp. The "Broken N" variety is well recognised in the Brunei MBE series.
It is rather surprising that the left sided stamp is noticeably taller. One would have thought that the overprints were carried out on stamps from the same batch. Again on the left stamp, there are obvious flaws due to using a worn plate which would imply a later printing.

Update 04 May 2014

I have borrowed this image from a collection on auction.That is why it is a bit blurred but nonetheless, one could see the "Broken N" and this infers that this error should be present in the other values. It would be interesting to know whether it has a consistent position on a pane of these adhesives.


I had this all along and had wondered about it before. The "N" does look slightly shorter.