FREAK STAMP

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 100, 24 October 1929, Page 7

FREAK STAMP

EXCITEMENT IN AUSTRALIA

ONE ES T EVERY 960

(From "The Post's" Representative.) * ■ • SYDNEY, 17 th October. The other day there was-great excitement among the philatelists of Australia. Not long ago, in order to mark the centenary of Western Australia, the Post Office issued a special stamp, featuring the swan, which has always been associated with that State, the most prosperous, perhaps, of all the States to-day. The issue of this special created mild interest in itself, for it had been announced that only a limited number would be sold. Of course, stamp collectors saw to it that they secured their supplies with as little delay as possible, and they acted j •with an eye moro to the future than to j the present. Some of them had visions of the time when the swan stamp would be included among the rarities of the age. For instance, the special CanIjerra stamp that was issued in limited quantities a few years ago is even today worth twice its face value. Yet it was once available in thousands. It was after the collectors had secured their supplies that the excitement set in. One of them discovered that he had in his possession a stamp ■with a distinguishing peculiarity, and hoping no doubt that it was the only stamp in the world so marked,- he rushed into print with news of his great find. Then another collector made a similar discovery, followed by -another, and another and another, and so on. It was then discovered that one in every.96o of the new stamps printed the same peculiarity occurred. . Before that some collectors were paying up to. 10s each for the freaks. Imagine the slump in faces as well as in the market when an expert'announced that the value placed on the freaks was purely fictitious. The stamps, although strangely marked, had no special value. The distinguishing features of the 900 th stamp are what appears to be a ling around the neck of the swan and a blur over the word Australia at the top. These, it seems, were caused- by a duplication in the printing process, in which twelve plates were used. It happened that once in 960 times a duplication occurred, giving the stamp a peculiar marking! As the Post' Office, for obvious reasons, refuses to disclose the volume of the issue, it is impossible to say how many rarities exist.: A wide field is open for the hunt by philatelists. The stamps have been distributed all over the Commonwealth. Every one of the 8720 post offices, including the smallest ones in fhe remote corners of the Northern Territory, received its quota, apportioned on the normal issues of the centres, and it ■is safe to say thaffreak" stamps have now gone all over the world. The pursuit of the "freaks" is still intense, though it certainly will lose some of its spirit now that an expert has made the announcement that- they are of no monetary value. Still there are some collectors who hope that time will prove that even the expert -was ■wrong. ,