Worldwide Stamps and Postal History continued...

A fine mint set with large part original gum. Odd minor blemishes and some values with slightly yellowish gum as often the case for this. It remains fine quality for this.

This is a difficult set to assemble as it was distributed in several parts.

These "SPECIMEN" examples were used solely by postal administrations for reference purposes to help spot any attempted forgeries.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £325.

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A fine quality mint set with large part original gum to full original gum. The first 6d and 5s have minor gum creases, and the 1s with a short perforation. Very minor imperfections, which do not detract since it is still well above average for these issue with lovely fresh colours.

A scarce King Edward VII set of Specimen stamps and difficult to complete as it was distributed in three parts.

These "SPECIMEN" examples were used solely by postal administrations for reference purposes to help spot any attempted forgeries.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £325.

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A brilliant quality mint set with original gum, very fine and attractive.

These "SPECIMEN" examples were used solely by postal administrations for reference purposes to help spot any attempted forgeries.

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A brilliant mint positional piece with original gum. Three of the stamps are pristine unmounted mint. The upper left stamps has a very slight gum crease, mentioned purely for accuracy and not detracting from what is a quite exceptional quality piece.

A scarce King Edward VII positional piece, particularly in such fine condition.

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A very fine used example on piece with 'A11' cancellation.

A rare error.

Accompanied with a British Philatelic Association Certificate of Authenticity (1964).

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A fine used example tied to small piece by large part ST LUCIA circular date stamp, dated 'FE 27 94'.

Very scarce.

Accompanied with a Royal Philatelic Society (RPS) certificate of authenticity (1968).

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A fine quality mint pair with original gum and, most importantly, the valuable variety is unmounted mint.

A scarce piece.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £335+.

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An attractive used example of this very scarce Queen Victorian stamp. There are some slight perforation blemishes, but overall in much finer condition than normally found.

Slight perf blemishes, still an attractive example of this very scarce stamp.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £200.

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An attractive mint set with large part original gum, (the ½d to 2d stamps are unmounted mint). The 2½d stamp is a little pale.

The St Vincent King Edward VII Coat of Arms stamps were issued as replacements for the lower value keyplate issues beginning in 1907 and continued to be used until they were replaced by the King George V issues beginning in 1913.

These "SPECIMEN" examples were used solely by postal administrations for reference purposes to help spot any attempted forgeries.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £130.

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A clever typographed forgery from the 'Ceylon' school (which anticipated the method of Sperati), on bleached out paper with genuine perforations, watermark and (inappropriate !) postmark, 'used' with part '(COLOM)BO' duplex cancel.

A couple of tone spots evident but still a fine example for this rare forgery.

Giovanni (Jean) de Sperati (14 October 1884 – 28 April 1957) was an Italian stamp forger. Even professional stamp authenticators of his time attested to the genuineness of his work and he was even considered by some as an artist, such was the quality of his forgeries. Sperati created what he called a Livre d'Or which he boasted of in his autobiography and which contained 239 favourable opinions as to the genuineness of his forgeries from numerous experts, including Dr. Edward Diena and the Royal Philatelic Society of London.

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A really fine used example, with the vast majority of examples found with significant condition issues and rarely seen with such a fine example of the Kingstown cancellation.

A very rare stamp as only 630 were originally issued.

Accompanied with a British Philatelic Association (BPA) certificate of authenticity (1974).

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A fine mint example with large part original gum.

A scarce stamp, particularly in such fine condition.

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A fine used example despite being off-centre because of the very fine 'CA' circular date stamp of Calliaqua in RED, dated 'FE 28 77'.

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A brilliant mint example with large part original gum. Nicely centred and a very fine example, hardly ever found in this quality.

A scarce early Queen Victorian stamp from St Vincent.

Accompanied with a Royal Philatelic Society (RPS) certificate of authenticity (1977).

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A fine and fresh mint block without gum. Fractionally trimmed perforations at foot but very scarce.

The stamp was never issued in this form as all were issued with a 3d surcharge overprint. The existence of this variety was unknown until the dispersal of the Bradbury Wilkinson archive and no examples have ever been recorded outside of archival examples.

An attractive and interesting rarity.

Get Market Data for [Samoa 199var] Visual Pricing Guide Sample Census

A fine used set, each with clear part circular date stamps.

The Native Huts set of stamps were issued on December 23, 1921, a year after New Zealand and the United Kingdom received a Class C mandate to administer the former German Samoa as part of their territory. Befitting the support of the new administration, the stamp issue features a British flag and a Samoan hut.

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A very fine mint example with large part original gum.

A very rare positional example, as the variety occurred only on the first four sheets of the second printing, on position 10 in the vertical setting of 10, yielding just 40 examples. [See Gibbs, 'G.R.I.', p.261, para 7].

Provenance: Ex Gilbert.

Accompanied with a British Philatelic Association (BPA) certificate of authenticity (1998).

The German Islands of Samoa were surrendered to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on 30 August 1914 and were administered by New Zealand until 1962. Initially German Colonial issues were used overprinted "G.R.I." (Georgius Rex Imperator).

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A fine and fresh mint imperforate pair with large part original gum. Typical centring for this issue.

A really fine quality example for this rarity, and added provenance with this actual example being illustrated on p.155 of Robert P. Odenweller's book, "The Stamps and Postal History of Nineteenth Century Samoa".

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £700.

The "Palms" design was first issued in 1886, printed by the New Zealand Government Printer for John Davis, a photographer from Apia. He supposedly was appointed by King Malietoa, and was supported by the Americans and the British. It was also under his watch that the Express stamps were issued. His post office was never recognised by the Universal Postal Union (UPU), so some consider these "Kingdom" issues to be "local". His postal service ceased when the German Imperial Government Post Office opened on March 1, 1900.

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A fine used example with very light but discernible strike of APIA circular date stamp, which appears to be in violet ink rather than the usual black. Some minor creasing and small perforation faults but an interesting used example with the pale shade.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £400+.

The first postal service in Samoa was organised by C.L. Griffiths, who had published the Fiji Times Express and needed a postal service for Samoa to distribute his new newspaper "Samoa Times".

The lithographic Express stamps were printed in Sydney, Australia by S.T. Leigh & Co., and the stamps were issued October 1, 1877 in time for the October 6th first printing and edition of the newspaper.

The Samoa Express service was discontinued late in 1881.

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A fine mint complete sheet with fresh colour and large part original gum. Usual minor marks from gum, but really fine condition.

Scarce as a complete sheet in such fine condition.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value is £800+.

The first postal service in Samoa was organised by C.L. Griffiths, who had published the Fiji Times Express and needed a postal service for Samoa to distribute his new newspaper "Samoa Times".

The lithographic Express stamps were printed in Sydney, Australia by S.T. Leigh & Co., and the stamps were issued October 1, 1877 in time for the October 6th first printing and edition of the newspaper.

The Samoa Express service was discontinued late in 1881.

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Rated '1/-', with interesting sender's endorsement on face panel 'If Mr Nisbet has left please forward to L.M.S. Mission House ...... London', which clearly proved an unnecessary precaution. The fascinating contents make reference to the difficulties of communications (with the charming comment 'The Post Office folks are our best friends after all') and describe recent missionary activity in Samoa.

A desirable early letter between two important figures in the development of Samoa. Postal history at its finest.

Very fine mint imperforate pair with large part original gum and lovely appearance.

A rare imperforated error, particularly so in such splendid condition.

The "Palms" design was first issued in 1886, printed by the New Zealand Government Printer for John Davis, a photographer from Apia. He supposedly was appointed by King Malietoa, and was supported by the Americans and the British. It was also under his watch that the Express stamps were issued. His post office was never recognised by the Universal Postal Union (UPU), so some consider these "Kingdom" issues to be "local". His postal service ceased when the German Imperial Government Post Office opened on March 1, 1900.

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A fine unmounted mint positional block of four with full original gum. Lovely fresh colour and appearance.

This stamp issue was prepared for used but not issued making it both desirable and rare.

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This stamp issue was prepared for used but not issued making it both desirable and rare.

A fine unmounted mint positional block of four with full original gum. Small surface mark and minor blemishes in margins, but still of fresh appearance.

An interesting block as, curiously, the upper left stamp shows an unlisted variety with prominent scratch above 'c' of '1c'.

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Post Office fresh examples, unmounted mint with full original gum.

Wonderful quality examples of the 1948 stamp issue to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the wedding of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

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