Hi Owen, a very interesting post and is making me look closely at the items I have !! There were in fact 3 retouch states to remove the 'HLP' from the jubilee lines - in the first the 'P' was removed - in the second the 'H' was removed and the third state all the letters were removed. The intermediate states are extremely scarce and rarely come on the market. Looking at the images, the main retouches appear similar. I do note that the first retouched strip & third retouched state have a small white-ish dot present. I wonder if this is answered by information in the guide by WG Stitt Dibden that it has been noted that the shading of the jubilee lines on the retouched panes were distinctly paler. The white dots may be a result of the inking on the jubilee lines? Note the white lines/dots on the middle strip. This value is known for subtle differences in the shade of the issued stamp. Hope this helps ....
|