| Select Stamps - Scott #60-82: 1901-1917 Russian Designs |  Top |
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Used US$ |
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248047 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
63 [1895 25p ultramarine 3-Numerals, Perf 14x13] Used Block of Four with VF-XF centering. Sharp, single, well-centered strike of tri-lingual 2 July 1900 HELSINGFORS / HELSINKI cancellation. While the Facit 2024 value of Used blocks of this stamp is modest (SEK 60), examples this nice are "rarely" seen! ACTUAL item. |
10.00 |
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400451 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
Scott #(65 variety) "Emergency Printing", Facit #48 [1901 5p Russian Arms, Typographed, Narrow Frame Line Gap] Used with F-VF centering (which is VF quality for this stamp) and four clear margins, three of which are quite large. Neat, light, proper 11 April 1902 railway cancellation. This was the first stamp printed of the Russian designs (without rings) -- apparently in a rush to transition to 100% Russian-design stamps being used in Finland -- but the printing quality was deemed to be not satisfactory. This stamp is not listed by Scott, but it is listed by all the other major catalogs for Finland. It was printed by typography (letterpress) with a Finnish-made typographic printing plate. The literature states that the printing plate was "unapproved", but in this context, that just means that the quality of the impressions from the plate did not pass muster. The stamps were allowed to be placed into use, but the literature indicates that this printing was distributed to "distant places" (small towns far from Helsinki) -- probably to hide the printing quality from the greatest number of people. This stamp was placed into use on 14 January 1901, on the same date that a very similar stamp was placed into use -- also printed in Finland but from lithographic plates (offset printing) -- along with the other denominations in the set (Scott #65-69). Apparently there was a strong desire, probably for cost reasons, to print the stamps of this set by typography because new typographic plates -- made in Berlin but the printing still done in Finland -- started producing new stamps (Scott #70-75) late in 1901. Both this Scott #(65) VARIETY (Facit #48) and Scott #65 (Facit #50) have narrow spacing between the outer frame line and the body of the design. However, this variety is typographed which can most easily been seen under 10X or greater magnification as "squished" extra ink on either side of the thin outer frame line; also the outer frame line is often more broken up. Under magnification, this typographed variety has mottled appearance of the solid green areas, whereas on the lithographed Scott #65, those areas are more smooth and solid. The literature usually states that this variety is "dull dark green" -- which is generally true, but can vary -- however, the lithographed stamp also exists in a similar color range, so the color is NOT determinative. (The final typographed plate version, Scott #71) has a wide white gap between the thin outer frame line and the body of the design.) A remarkably nice example of a scarce stamp that is quite hard to find with nice centering! ACTUAL item. |
SOLD |
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400452 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
Scott #69, Facit #54 [1901 10m Russian Arms, Perf 13.5, Lithographed, Distinct Gap between "MA" in top and bottom panels] Used with VF centering, light cancellation, and "perfect" perforations, but with at crease that can only be seen from the reverse. This stamp is missing from most collections -- and in some collections, there is a Scott #75 (the "MA" is connected, typographed) accidentally in this space. A very attractive and unusually inexpensive example of a stamp that can be very hard to find with such nice appearance! This centering and appearance would otherwise be $395! ACTUAL item. |
109.00 |
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248813 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
75 [1901 10 mark Russian Design, Berlin Plate, M and A do touch] Used with XF centering. Excellent perforations, great color, and a remarkably light cancellation. An outstanding example. ACTUAL item. |
62.00 |