Danish West Indies: Gallery: Select Stamps Scott #37-58
A selection of especially attractive and interesting seldom-offered items. All are available for approval viewing. Scott numbers have been used unless otherwise mentioned.
37 [1905 1 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] NEVER HINGED with XF centering. AFA-listed plate variety 30x "break in frame line under F of FRIM" from position 7 in the sheet, AFA 2016 value DKK 900 for NH. A very nice example of a variety that is very seldom offered. Very fresh and attractive.
ACTUAL item.
130.00
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400405
Scott #37 [1905 1 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] NEVER HINGED with XF centering and excellent perforations. Wonderful color and freshness.
ACTUAL item.
SOLD
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400406
Scott #37 [1905 1 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] Upper Left Corner Margin example, NEVER HINGED with XF centering and excellent perforations. An outstanding example. The corner margin adds to the appeal for some collectors, but it does not increase the price.
ACTUAL item.
56.00
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400407
Scott #37 [1905 1 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] NEVER HINGED with VF centering and excellent perforations. This example (from position 2 in the sheet) shows a small plate scratch line in the left margin. In DWI philately, such lines are called an "Engstrom lines" after the DWI collector and author who documented these lines on copper-plate engraved stamps. The lines add interest, but do not increase the price. Wonderful color and freshness.
ACTUAL item.
49.00
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243023
37 [1905 1 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] Mint VF, very lightly hinged, with INVERTED WATERMARK, Facit #38v1 (2020 value SEK 550). Very fresh and attractive.
ACTUAL item.
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79.00
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243024
37 [1905 1 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] Mint F-VF, with INVERTED WATERMARK, Facit #38v1 (2020 value SEK 550). Attractive.
ACTUAL item.
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66.00
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249345
37 [1905 1 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] Mint, modestly hinged, with F-VF centering. Attractive and fresh.
ACTUAL item.
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17.50
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243031
37 [1905 1 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] Used with Superb centering and neat, light St. Thomas cancellation. Very attractive.
ACTUAL item.
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79.00
247699
37 [1905 1 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] Used with Superb centering and neat, very light St. Thomas cancellation. Wonderful color and excellent perforations (the Harbor issue always has irregular perforations due to the worn perforating tool). Very attractive example. Though this is not a "scarce" stamp, quality this nice is seldom offered.
ACTUAL item.
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79.00
400408
Scott #38 [1905 2 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] Upper Left Corner Margin example, NEVER HINGED with XF centering and excellent perforations. An outstanding example. The corner margin adds to the appeal for some collectors, but it does not increase the price.
ACTUAL item.
Scott #38 [1905 2 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] NEVER HINGED with VF-XF centering and excellent perforations. Wonderful color and freshness.
ACTUAL item.
SOLD
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400410
Scott #38 [1905 2 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] NEVER HINGED with F-VF centering, but a couple blunted perfs. Very fresh!
ACTUAL item.
47.00
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249346
38 [1905 2 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] Mint hinged with F-VF centering. Attractive.
ACTUAL item.
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32.50
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400411
Scott #39 [1905 5 franc Ship in St. Thomas Harbor] Looks "Used" with XF-Superb centering, however the "cancellation" was probably added to a no-gum Mint stamp. Thus the normal Used value premium certainly does not apply and in fact this example is priced at less than the value of a Mint no-gum of this centering.
ACTUAL item.
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24.00
239288
40 [1905 "5 BIT 1905" surcharge on 4 cent Bicolor] NEVER HINGED VF 4-Block. Wonderfully fresh.
ACTUAL item.
260.00
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239287
40 Rough Perforation Variety [1905 "5 BIT 1905" surcharge on 4 cent Bicolor] Mint Superb. Very unusual rough perforation variety; this is seldom seen on this stamp or the underlying stamp issue.
ACTUAL item.
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30.00
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246484
40 [1905 "5 BIT 1905" surcharge on 4 cent Bicolor] Mint, lightly hinged, with Superb centering. An outstanding example of a stamp that is hard to find with such nice centering.
ACTUAL item.
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29.00
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400404
Scott #40a INVERTED FRAME [1905 "5 BIT 1905" Surcharge on 4 cent Bicolor with Clear Blue, Perf 12.75] Mint, lightly hinged, with F-VF centering. A very fresh and attractive example with great color and "perfect" perforations. This overprint exists on both of the Perforation 12.75 printings (with Greenish Blue VS with Clear Blue). The Greenish Blue printing only exists with an inverted frame in sheet position 51. The Clear Blue printing (this one) exists with the inverted frame in both position 51 and in the entire bottom row, positions 91-100. This stamp is from the bottom row, which can be detected by the slight fuzziness of the bottom frame line and the bottom of the oval. Despite the relatively modest value, this stamp is remarkably hard to find! An excellent example!
ACTUAL item.
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94.00
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239294
41 [1905 "5 BIT 1905" surcharge on 5 cent Arms] Mint (bottom two stamps are NH) F-VF/VF 4-Block. The lower right stamp has an interesting unlisted overprint variety: the left side of the top of the T points to the lower left. Very attractive and fresh.
ACTUAL item.
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110.00
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246491
42 [1905 "5 BIT 1905" surcharge on 8 cent Arms] Mint, lightly hinged, with XF centering. An outstanding example of a stamp that is hard to find with such nice centering.
ACTUAL item.
42 Lopsided T Variety, AFA #35x [1905 "5 BIT 1905" surcharge on 8 cent Arms] Top of "T" tilted downward toward left; thicker and longer on right side. Occurs in four positions in the sheet: 42, 47, 72, and 97 [which is strange because this suggests that the overprint plate was of 50 but DWI Mails states that the overprint plate was of 100]. Listed but unpriced in AFA and Unlisted by Facit. Seldom offered! Mint, lightly hinged, with XF centering.
ACTUAL item.
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26.00
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239298
42 [1905 "5 BIT 1905" surcharge on 8 cent Arms] Mint (bottom two stamps are NH) F-VF 4-Block. Very attractive. Priced below the break-up value as singles!
ACTUAL item.
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100.00
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239297
42 Lopsided T Variety, AFA #35x [1905 "5 BIT 1905" surcharge on 8 cent Arms] Top of "T" tilted downward toward left; thicker and longer on right side. Occurs in four positions in the sheet: 42, 47, 72, and 97 [which is strange because this suggests that the overprint plate was of 50 but DWI Mails states that the overprint plate was of 100]. Listed but unpriced in AFA and Unlisted by Facit. Mint Fine.
ACTUAL item.
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30.00
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246490
42 Lopsided T Variety, AFA #35x [1905 "5 BIT 1905" surcharge on 8 cent Arms] Top of "T" tilted downward toward left; thicker and longer on right side. Occurs in four positions in the sheet: 42, 47, 72, and 97 [which is strange because this suggests that the overprint plate was of 50 but DWI Mails states that the overprint plate was of 100]. Listed but unpriced in AFA and Unlisted by Facit. Seldom offered! Mint, lightly hinged, with Fine centering.
ACTUAL item.
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14.00
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400387
Scott #43 [1908 5 Bit Frederik VIII] Printing 2, HORIZONTAL PAIR, Used with F-VF centering and a neat, light cancellation.
ACTUAL item.
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SOLD
400388
Scott #43 [1908 5 Bit Frederik VIII] Printing 2, HORIZONTAL 3-STRIP, Used with VF centering and a neat 1916 ST. THOMAS cancellation and a U.S. wavy-lines machine cancellation. Used units larger than pairs are unusual.
ACTUAL item.
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7.50
400382
Scott #43 GROUP OF 9 ITEMS USED IN EVERY YEAR (1908-1916) OF NORMAL USE [1908 5 Bit Frederik VIII] Used VF / F-VF / Fine / Average -- including two horizontal pairs -- all with year-dated town cancellations. One from each year (1908-1916) of normal use. The 1916 cancel is almost Superb centered. All three major dated town cancellations are included: St. Thomas, Christiansted, and Frederiksted. While some catalogs indicate an issue year of 1907, it is likely that 1907 uses do not exist. While the 5 bit stamps were printed in December 1907, the catalogs indicate that they were received in DWI and placed into use in January 1908. I am sure that normal 1917 uses of this stamp must exist, but I cannot recall seeing normal 1917 uses (other than on philatelic dual-franked transition period covers combined with U.S. stamps). This denomination was replaced (by the King Christian X design) in March 1915. DWI was sold to the U.S. as of 31 March 1917. DWI stamps could still be used through 30 September 1917 but are extremely scarce, other than after 31 March on philatelic combination covers along with U.S. stamps. The 1908 example is (and must be) from Printing 1. All the others are from Printing 2. Even though virtually equal quantities (about 500,000 each) of Printing 1 and 2 were released, year-dated Printing 1 examples are remarkably hard to find. It would be an interesting challenge to find as many as possible year-date canceled examples of Printing 1 dated after 1907. The catalogs indicate that Printing 1, released in January 1908, has a yellow-green frame and a dark-green portrait and that Printing 2, released in August 1909, has a light-green frame and a green portrait. [Note that Facit and SG describe colors as portrait/frame while AFA and Scott describe colors as frame/portrait.] The reality is not as clear-cut. The frame of Printing 1 is distinctly yellow green, while the frame of Printing 2 is more in the range of green - light green - clear green - grayish green. However, the portraits of both printings (but especially Printing 2) vary in color shade. Examples canceled before August 1909 have to be from Printing 1. This mini-collection could be expanded by adding more Printing 1 stamps, completing the range of towns used in each year, adding the "very scarce" St. Jan and Kingshill dated town cancellations, adding more cancellation sub-types for each town (for example, note that the 1915 and 1916 cancellations have sans-serif year dates). [One could also seek a wider range of color shades for each printing. I notice that the 1914-1916 canceled stamps are a grayish-green color; could it be possible that there should be color sub-divisions within Printing 2 and might that mean that there were actually three printings?] This mini-collection is an excellent example of how a basically common stamp issue offers interesting possibilities for specialization.
ACTUAL item.
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SOLD
400383
Scott #43 [1908 5 Bit Frederik VIII] Used Horizontal Pair of Printing 2, with Average-Fine centering and almost Superb centered CHRISTIANSTED 17 January 191? cancellation. The year date is most likely 1913. Unusual PLATE VARIETY that is listed in the Frost Forlag (1981) DWI Specialized Catalog: "DA" connected on left stamp. Frost lists three connected "DA" varieties (large connection which is this one; less pronounced connection, and a connection at the crossbar of the "a"). Frost states that this version of the variety is from plate position 26 of Printing 2 sheets. Almost all the frame varieties on the DWI Frederik VIII and Christian X stamps exist on almost all the printings of all the stamps of the same denominations from both issues -- both issues used the same frame cliches. It would be a fun challenge to find each variety on all the printings of both stamps. This "DA connected" variety is very similar in nature and appearance to the AFA-listed "ND connected" variety; the AFA 2016 Specialized Catalog (most recent edition) value for that variety is DKK 400 (approx US$60 9/2025)! A scarce item that I have never before, in 52 years, seen offered!
ACTUAL item.
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19.00
400384
Scott #43 [1908 5 Bit Frederik VIII] Used with Fine centering and very light cancellation. I believe that this is from Printing 1, but the color is borderline with one of the shades of Printing 2. AFA-listed PLATE VARIETY #36x with "ND" connected. It is listed in the Frost Forlag (1981) DWI Specialized Catalog (variety #10) as being from plate position 76 in the Printing 1 sheet and 61 in the Printing 2 sheet. Almost all the frame varieties on the DWI Frederik VIII and Christian X stamps exist on almost all the printings of all the stamps of the same denominations from both issues -- both issues used the same frame cliches. It would be a fun challenge to find each variety on all the printings of both stamps. The AFA 2016 Specialized Catalog (most recent edition) value for this variety is DKK 400 (approx US$60 9/2025)! A seldom-offered variety.
ACTUAL item.
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29.00
400385
Scott #43 [1908 5 Bit Frederik VIII] Printing 1, HORIZONTAL PAIR, Used with VF centering and a neat, light CHRISTIANSTED cancellation.
ACTUAL item.
Scott #43 [1908 5 Bit Frederik VIII] Printing 1, HORIZONTAL PAIR, Used with F-VF+ centering and a neat, partial 17 September 1909 FREDERIKSTED cancellation.
ACTUAL item.
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SOLD
400390
Scott #44 [1908 10 Bit Frederik VIII] Mint hinged, with XF centering, but small thin in hinge area. AFA-LISTED PLATE VARIETY #37z: "Dent in bottom frame line below left "0". Brilliant color and wonderfully fresh appearance. The three printings of this stamp can be hard to sort out, but based on the color shades and the whiteness of the paper, I believe this to be from Printing 1. The AFA 2016 Specialized Catalog (most recent edition) value for this variety, on the least costly printing, is DKK 120 (approx US$18 9/2025)! A seldom-offered variety.
ACTUAL item.
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7.00
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400389
Scott #44 [1908 10 Bit Frederik VIII] Used with JUMBO MARGINS, SUPERB CENTERING, and extremely neat corner cancellation. This stamp is larger than usual, both in width and height -- and it has "perfect" centering. The cancellation is a "perfect" "(ST.) TH)OMAS" corner strike -- you could not find a nicer cancellation if you like corner cancellations. Brilliant color and perfect perforations. The three printings of this stamp can be hard to sort out, but based on the color shade and the specific type (the lettering is distinctive) of St. Thomas cancellation that was used fairly late, I believe this to be from Printing 3. This must be the nicest Used example of this stamp that I have had in 52 years -- surely scarcer than 1-in-1000!
ACTUAL item.
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SOLD
239264
51-58 [1915-16 5-50 bit Christian X] NH Average / Fine / F-VF / VF matched set of PLATE NUMBER BLOCKS with #11-D, except for the 30 bit with has plate number 50-O (11-D does not exist for the 30 bit). The 10 bit has a white spot variety in the upper left posthorn (looks like AFA variety 45y) on the lower right stamp (sheet position 100), but AFA states that the variety it lists is in sheet position 3. The 15 bit block is both remarkably well centered and 11-D is the scarcest of the three printing with a significant premium. The 30 bit is also very well centered and 50-O has more than twice the value as the other printing (50-D). Some of the others are also scarcer as 11-D. A very unusual set; these are seldom offered. AFA 2016 Specialized value DKK 5350!
ACTUAL item.
675.00
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241851
55 [1915 25 bit Christian X] NH F-VF 4-block of the second printing, Green Blue / Dark Blue. This second printing is the scarcest of the three: AFA 2016 Specialized value as four singles is DKK 520. Very nice multiple.
ACTUAL item.
64.00
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237689
55 [1915 25 bit Christian X] NH / Mint (top two stamps lightly hinged) F-VF 4-block. Fresh and attractive.
ACTUAL item.
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29.00
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237690
56 [1916 30 bit Christian X] Mint Fine 4-block. Fresh and attractive.
ACTUAL item.
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