Test Stamps (also called Dummy Stamps in the U.S.) are created by stamp printers and post offices to test printing and production processes and other machines. While a few have had extensive philatelic distribution, most were never intended to be known to collectors and are very scarce. New discoveries continue to be made.
All items are available for viewing on approval. I have a constantly changing stock of Norwegian and all Scandinavian essays, proofs, reprints, specimens, and test stamps. Most such items sell before they get to the website or price lists. What are you seeking? |
ca.1961 "NB" Norges Bank Test Stamp design printed in ca.1961 by printing press manufacturer Goebel, GmbH., in Darmstadt, Germany, for the Norges Banks Seddeltrykkeri (NBS) bank note printing works. NBS was responsible for printing Norwegian currency and the engraved Norwegian stamps of the era. In 1960-61 planning was underway for a new series of definitive steel-engraved stamps that were to be printed by NBS. For this purpose, NBS would have to purchase a new printing press. To convince NBS to buy their press, the Goebel company printed test stamps with a design consisting of a central "NB" in script, surrounded by frame of complex patterns of shading lines, that demonstrated the high quality of their printing press. The test stamps were printed, gummed, and perforated in sheets of 100, just like the subsequently issued postage stamps. I have only recorded examples on non-fluorescent paper, with shiny white gum. Some examples show colorless areas where the ink did not adhere to the paper; under magnification, these areas do show the impression of the design. I have had a marginal piece showing a printing date of 31 May 1961, thus confirming that the printing was done (at least) in 1961. NBS purchased the press in autumn of 1961; the first of the new steel-engraved stamps were released in December 1962. Though the Goebel press had the capability to print in at least two colors (the central "NB" of the test stamps is sometimes in a different color), the issued postage stamps were printed in only a single color.
These test stamps are now 50+ years old, however, I first learned of their existence in the spring of 2012! Prior to that I had never even seen any mention of them in the literature. Most, if not all, of the extant examples are known to have come from the estate of the family that owned the now-defunct Goebel company. The total number of different colors/combinations is not known (I have recorded 13 different colors / combinations), nor are the quantities printed, nor how many were in the Goebel archive. However, everything points to there being very small quantities in the archive. Furthermore, if nothing had come on the market in the prior 50 years, they must be quite rare (if any at all) in collectors hands prior to the archive being opened. I have only a few examples to offer, some only one or two examples of a particular color/combination. |