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Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2016 10:33 am
by GbBouv2014
I have been compiling statistics on how many of each GB official stamp were printed. Tony Wiseman’s two volume work on the De La Rue years is my primary reference. Volume 2 omits Royal Household, Board of Education and Admiralty overprints. Did Mr. Wiseman ever publish the statistics for those issues? He did present the total value, in pounds, but did not break these figures down to the level of individual stamps.

Re: Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2016 12:28 pm
by Mike Jackson
The three departments you mention were included in Tony's GB Departmental Stamps 1882–1914, published in association with SG in 1994 (A4, 67 pp.). A quick look revealed some information on numbers, but it's buried in the text and does not appear to be presented in convenient table form. If you can't locate a copy, please email me privately.
Board of Education figures were given by Rikki Hyde in STANLEY GIBBONS GREAT BRITAIN
NUMBERS ISSUED 1840 to 1910 which can be downloaded from the Society's website.
Mike

Re: Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2016 3:45 pm
by GbBouv2014
Thank you!

Re: Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 11:42 pm
by GbBouv2014
I am borrowing a copy of Wiseman's book from the Northwest Philatelic Library. It is the only copy that appears in the philatelic union catalogue and I feel fortunate to find it.

Re: Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 7:03 am
by jimusedcontrols
will you upload a copy of your results? Thanks in advance

Re: Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:07 am
by GbBouv2014
I can upload my results when I am satisfied with them. For the majority of issues, I am using Tony Wiseman's production figures [updates would be appreciated!]. Of course many stamps were destroyed when their use was discontinued; I have not been particularly successful in determining how many of each type survived. Some sources assert that only [some small number] are known of particular issues and I assume such numbers reflect years of experience, statistics from expertizing organizations, and the like.

In the meantime, if anyone has suggestions about other sources for this data, I would appreciate hearing about them.

Re: Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:34 am
by jimusedcontrols
sounds good! I presume you have the article by Michael Astley "Vetting GB Officials" published in the GBJ Vol 43 No.3 PP61-63. It includes sheets created for several issues and can be downloaded from the website here. Mostly based on data from Tony anyway.

Re: Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 3:28 pm
by GbBouv2014
As of this moment, yes, you may presume I have seen this article. An hour ago I couldn't have said so. Thank you for the pointer. The next article, on L30a, caught my eye as well; I bought a copy with a certificate at NY2016 from Bill Barrell. There was a second copy for sale at the same show. I could have bankrupted myself at the Stanley Gibbons booth. :)

Re: Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 4:20 pm
by jimusedcontrols
nice one! Yes NY2016 was quite an event. I did not buy much from Bill but an interesting £5 orange from Mark Bloxham. At SG arranged with Victoria that she bring a certain item to the show in Germany last week as they had not taken it to NY. She did so and I bought it. Nice item not connected to this thread at all otherwise.

Re: Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:16 pm
by GbBouv2014
Any idea why the Victorian Army Official stamps were omitted from Mr. Astley's "Vetting..." article?

Based on the statistics presented regarding "Bad" vs. "OK" opinions, I will have to send several more to the Royal. Do you know if they use a Comparascope or similar equipment? I've been thinking about approximating the process using scan images.

Re: Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2016 9:25 pm
by GbBouv2014
I’ve resumed my study of quantities printed. With the exception of three entries in Astley’s 2005 article in the GB Journal, I find very close and often exact agreement with Wiseman’s figures in his The De La Rue Years.

The simplest exception first. For O33, Astley shows 297 sheets created but Wiseman shows 497. Could this be a typo and, if so, which is correct?

The other exceptions all involve the 10s QV stamps. The S.G. numbers Wiseman uses in Table 26, page 299 in volume 1 of The De La Rue Years, O10c and O10, differ from Astley’s breakout of O9c, O9d and O10 that tracks both the S. G. Concise of 2010 and the Specialized catalogue, 16th edition, except that O9cb does not appear as a separate stamp in either Wiseman’s or Astley’s tables. These inconsistencies are not helpful. I assume there was a cataloguing change some time in the past and that Astley’s identifications are correct aside from the absence of O9cb.

I became further confused by Astley’s entry for O9d that shows 503 sheets of ultramarine on blued paper that, if I’m reading Wiseman correctly, is the count for Ultramarine on white. I am further confused by Astley’s entry for O10 that shows an undefined quantity of sheets created as “(n1)”. According to Wiseman, the quantity ought to be 503.

Help!

Re: Quantities of certain British Official stamps produced

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2016 9:50 pm
by jimusedcontrols
I am not sure when SG changed the catalogue numbers. Just checked my 1941 edition number 10 has remained unchanged but in the old book 9a was 10/- cobalt now 9c and 10c was ultramarine on blued paper now 9d. Cobalt on white was not catalogued at the time.
Hope this helps a bit
cheers
James