Wimbledon stamp misprint: mistake or intentional?
On June 22, 1987, a series of eight stamps was issued featuring images of tennis players participating in the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships. The stamps were printed by Format International Security Printers Ltd. in London for the St. Vincent postal administration, commissioned by Crown Agents.
The images were taken from moments in play of famous players, such as Ivan Lendl (he lost the final against Pat Cash) On Chris Evert (she lost the semi-final against Martina Navratilova). The two players were extras for a philatelic scandal. For what turned out to be the case? Both stamps depicted a fine moment in which they gave the tennis ball a good whack with their rackets! A beautiful, yellow tennis ball. Actually nothing special, because such moments in the game are frequently photographed.
Missing tennis ball
Until 1988, when stamps also appeared on the market on which the tennis ball was missing! A misprint? Yes, that is how it was characterized by many dealers and collectors. High prices were paid for these so-called misprints. According to 'well-informed' sources of the time, only 200 to 250 of these misprints were known. It was certainly a strange misprint, because if the yellow of the ball had not been printed, then surely all the yellow should have been missing during the printing process? And that was not the case! Just look at the enlargement, where the printing of the yellow plate is clearly visible.
I would only include them in my collection of “rarities” so I could tell this story along with them.
I happen to have this series, including the 'misprints'. I came across it at a dealer once for just about 2 euros. Nice to have.
The printer Format International Security Printers Ltd is known for these kinds of practices. Misprints, proofs, unperforated, specimens… they are printed there on an assembly line!
So they are not misprints or mistakes, but 4 different stamps.
Henricus,
You are right!
And Lars is wrong, because the clients are the IGPC [whether or not via the Crown Agents], and then the printer just has to do what the client says!
http://www.igpc.net/client.html
Thus, Hugo van Reijen's catalog [formerly Dutch West Indies] is also printed in Haarlem, but Haarlem has no say in the content!
St. Vincent, something like Texel??
Isn't it also common for stamps from city postal companies to be issued, and in addition, variants such as unperforated, in other colors, with discolorations, in partial color prints (as a sort of printing stage), etc., etc.?
That looks like a handmade job to me too.
Yes, and they make good money from that.
You're right Rein, it really is those guys from IGPC!
By the way, I have another fun fact about IGPC and St Vincent:
The Philatelic Service of St. Vincent and the Post Office of St. Vincent are two separate companies. IGPC has a contract with the Philatelic Service and not with the Post Office. Therefore, the Post Office does not receive a percentage of the profits from stamp sales and consequently declared all stamps issued by IGPC invalid in 2003.
This therefore means that all stamps issued by IGPC since 2003 have never been valid and are in fact illegal.
Unfortunately, world cataloguers simply continue to include these stamps. Naturally, they do not want to harm the trade. Of course, they do not care that many collectors are spending a lot of money on these images…
Lars@There are a great many collectors who collect all sorts of things. The fact that something is or isn't listed in a catalog is irrelevant. That the collector spends a lot of money is their own choice, and that discussion has been held countless times. There is a difference between catalog makers: one is an independent organization that includes items as soon as they are on the table, while the other publishes everything that is offered without any oversight. The NVPH is published by a traders' association, but the Michel is not. Even a book by Stanley Gibbons has vested interests because they trade in stamps themselves. Paying for pictures, whether or not they can be used for postal purposes, is of no importance whatsoever, because the premium you pay cannot be used for that purpose anyway. There are collectors who pay hundreds of euros for pictures that make me think, well, think of Magic cards and old Panini stickers. As has been pointed out so often, stamps are now only issued for monetary gain, and the collector persists. Packaged into purchases by clever marketers who promote everything very well. If it bothers the collector that his euros are being fleeced, then he is responsible for it himself, and the initiative must therefore come from him. Good examples of self-initiative are Messrs. Hoogendoorn and v. Tellingen, who have regularly treated us to interesting articles with background information, often accompanying stamps of little value. That is the kind of collecting that appeals to me.
Lia,
Why am I not allowed to write that if Texel becomes independent, Hugo can make good money from this????
Censorship!?!?!
aad,
This is about pieces of paper being sold as stamps! You don't sell fake Dutch stamps either!
Rein@ you're right, my mistake!
This is one of the reasons I stopped including toilet paper from these islands. I collect railway stamps, and these islands started in the 80s with the most beautiful series, and that for every little island that even featured a small hotel. I was spending at least 20 guilders on a series every time, because the series extended into the dollars. I then decided to include only relevant stamps. So, only stamps depicting a situation from my own country; thus, Nauru with a phosphate train is acceptable, but a TGV is not relevant.
Klaas,
What a shame that there are also gaps between the plates… Less practical in the toilet…