| Modern Issues |  Top |
| Item # |
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Never Hinged  US$ |
Used US$ |
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239115 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
537 Fluorescent Paper Variety, Facit 332Av1 [(1958) 5 kronor Palace coil] NH SUPERB PAIR of this rare variety. This is one of the rarest, if not the rarest, of a small group of Swedish definitive stamps that had new printings on paper that contained "gold flecks" of fluorescent matter, printed sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s. These paper varieties were not known to exist until staff members of major Swedish stamp dealer Rolf Gummesson discovered them in the 1980s. By that time, the stamps were no longer in use and these mid-period-of-use printings had long ago been consumed in normal postal use and had subsequently been reprinted again on normal paper. The only mint examples available to philatelists today are those that were by chance purchased by collectors who happened to get them when ordering stamps from the Swedish post office stock list while those printings were current (which I know from my own experience to mean sometime before 1973). The fluorescence consists not of a coating, but of many tiny golden specks embedded in the paper; view under long-wave UV light in a completely dark room. The appearance is both of tiny gold highlights and a general faint yellowish glow. While viewing, compare to other stamps of the time period. (Viewing of used off-paper stamps may not be reliable due to their soaking in water.) This printing of this design is also distinguished by a delicate light greenish blue color and glass-smooth extremely-shiny gum. I am only able to offer examples of this stamp every few years. No stamp dealer seems to have a stock of them; Gummesson located a few examples of this stamp in mint condition, but sold out very quickly. Facit listed this stamp, and most of the few others in this category, for a number of years, but for unexplained reasons dropped the listings some years ago. (However, Facit also does not list many important "whitened paper" varieties of later stamp issues for no good reason.) A rare stamp listed by some of the European catalogs and always strongly sought after. Even singles this nice are rare, however, I cannot remember ever before seeing a pair offered. Priced only at the value of two singles. |
650.00 |
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248200 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
1322 STRIP OF FIVE [1980 1.60 kr Care for Elderly] Coil 5-strip POSTALLY USED with VF centering. I know this to be postally used because it was used on a large package sent to me years ago. Collecting Swedish coil stamps in strips of five has been done in Sweden since the 1920s. However, collecting postally used 5-strips has always been a great challenge because 5-strips are seldom used on mail and when they are, they are often damaged in handling. Excellent quality. Such postally used strips are rarely offered. |
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6.00 |
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248197 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
1387 STRIP OF FIVE [1981 1.35 kr NOBEL, Albert Einstein] Coil 5-strip POSTALLY USED with VF centering. I know this to be postally used because it was used on a large package sent to me years ago. Collecting Swedish coil stamps in strips of five has been done in Sweden since the 1920s. However, collecting postally used 5-strips has always been a great challenge because 5-strips are seldom used on mail and when they are, they are often damaged in handling. Excellent quality. Such postally used strips are rarely offered. |
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6.00 |
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247814 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
Sweden Scott #1585-8 (1588a) ALL ENGRAVING MISSING ERROR [January 1986 Stockholmia 86 "Stamp Collecting" and "NEW SWEDEN"; JOINT ISSUE WITH UNITED STATES Scott #2198-2201] NH VF complete booklet. All the offset printing is present, but ALL THE ENGRAVING PRINTING IS MISSING (and is NOT albino). Engraved by Sjööblom (#1585-6, 1588), Masure and Hipschen (#1587 which is the shared / common design with the U.S. stamp). Hipschen was a well-known engraver of U.S. stamps; Masure had done engraving of lettering on several U.S. stamps. Any type of error is "rare" on the tightly-controlled Swedish stamps, but this one is particularly spectacular. The cause of the error is likely that at the time this part of the web paper passed through the printing press, the engraved printing cylinders (which were after the lithograph cylinders) were not yet engaged (thus there was no engraved impression at all, not even an albino impression). The booklet-making process is closely integrated with the printing process, thus the quality control inspectors must have missed the small section of printing that was made into booklets before the web of paper was turned into booklets. Due to the web-press nature of the production, an example of an error such as this is not unique, however, I have only seen a few examples offered in the market since it was discovered (which I think was in the late 1980s). [The website illustration also shows, and this offer includes, a properly printed example.] In addition to being a scarce type of error from Sweden, this is a KEY ITEM for a collection of Sweden and/or U.S. related JOINT ISSUES. Furthermore, the New Sweden thematic is one of the most popular Swedish-related topical collections. An outstanding item! |
Reference |
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247815 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
Sweden Scott #(2715 FOOTNOTED "Flags" VERSION), Facit #BL38v [2013 Table Tennis souvenir sheet SPECIAL VERSION WITH FLAGS BACKGROUND; JOINT ISSUE WITH PRC-CHINA Scott #4152-4153] CANCELED VF souvenir sheet. This special version of the souvenir sheet has the same two stamps as the regular souvenir sheet, but the rest of the souvenir sheet (picturing the flags of both countries) is completely different. This was a special item prepared by Sweden for very limited distribution to officials and diplomats connected with a major 2013 stamp show in China. While the quantity printed is not known to me, it is believed to be very small (a couple hundred to a few hundred at most) and the distribution was extremely limited and controlled. To the best of my knowledge, all examples that have come to the market have come, one at a time, from the original recipients -- I am not aware of any existing "stock" of these! When this issue became known, it was the subject of controversy and discussion in Sweden, but until recently it has been very little known outside of Sweden. Other than a picture in Facit and a couple illustrations in the philatelic press -- overlooked by most collectors -- the vast majority of collectors have never seen this item, if they have ever even heard of it. Virtually all known examples are Mint (NH). The listing in Facit includes a Used price, however, I had never seen or heard of a Canceled example until November 2023. This example bears a Swedish "LUND / POSTNORD" 2 September 2019 cancellation; surely a favor cancellation. As December 2023, of I have only been able to offer one other example (in October 2023; it is NH) of this souvenir sheet since the time of issue. Despite the original controversy, this is a genuinely "rare" item that is missing from virtually all Swedish (and Joint Issue and PRC-China related) collections. An outstanding item! |
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425.00 |