Rob1956

My clan Coat-of-Arms Scotland
12 Aug 2023
06:35:23am

The Robes collection consists of every shade recorded in the Australian Commonwealth Specialists’ Catalogue (ACSC) 2019, as well as unlisted shades and varieties and a rare FDC. The 5/-, 10/- and £1 designs were based on a photograph by Dorothy Wilding.
The 5/- Robes was designed by Henry Barr and engraved by Frank Manley, both from the Note Printing Branch at Melbourne.
From the 5/- to £1 the set of Coronation Robes were rotary recess printed.

ROTARY RECESS PRINTING
Many of the technical aspects of KGVI and Queen Elizabeth issues arise out of the introduction of rotary recess printing and the development of plate layouts and production techniques best suited to the new machinery.
The first Hoe rotary intaglio printing presses were installed at the Branch in 1934 and these were used for the commemorative issues, the first use being for the 1934 Victorian Centenary issue.
The period from 1934-1938 was to some extent experimental, with the Note Printing Branch varying plate layouts, plate composition and production methods. From 1938 the use of nickel electrotype plates for printing, derived from a steel master plate, became standard, although for certain stamps, the old master plates remained in use for some years, and the master plate method was still not used for some short print run stamps for several years afterwards. The archival records now available provide details of all stamp plates used up to decimal currency.

The 5/- stamp was printed on both chalk-surfaced and unsurfaced papers as was the £1 and £2 stamps. Now this is where the legend no longer becomes the truth. Even though stamp dealers mention both thick and thin sets, the thin paper Robes is the only recognised “thin” not to be added to one of the most popular stamps issues. It is not mentioned in the ACSC, a catalogue very much relied upon by stamp collectors (I as well) as the “bible” when studying and collecting Australian state and pre-decimal stamps. And when a “thin” paper is gauged along with a thick paper, they both have a similar gauge number, the “thin” may not be the exactness of the thick regular, the gauge is not low enough to be considered “thin”, this would explain why there is no “thin” paper mentioned.

The off-set seen with the 5/- stamps is rare, the condition is stated as superb and seldom seen on the market, the on-set is when a sheet is placed over another sheet during the perforation process and the image of the lower stamp is transferred to the gummed side of the upper stamp.
The commercially used specimen is also rare, once the high value stamps are overprinted with word SPECIMEN the stamps value becomes void, in this case, someone used a specimen stamp as mail. These commercial cancelled specimens are rare and seldom seen on the market.

A superbly centred MUH specimen £1, these stamps are usually very scarce, but in this condition it is rare. The SPECIMEN overprint was first included in collector’s sets about April 1944. The overprint was made on blocks of 20 stamps. Four printings were made totalling 2,860 stamps. Dangerous forgeries exist of this overprint, and the stamp should only be purchased with a certificate. Any of these specimens, such as being affected by ink stripping or defaced by black ink was among the material stamps illicitly removed from the No0te Printing Branch in the 1940s.

POSTHUMOUS PROOFS
Stamp replica cards. These cards bear impressions printed from the steel dies of intaglio-printed stamps, in unissued colours, together with printed information about the stamp issue involved. The stamp dies used range from 1914 up to and including decimal currency.
The cards have been issued as a numbered series, with between two and four being issued each year since 1984.

The FDC registered cover of the £1 Robes is very rare and this is the only example to date.

 
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Rob1956

My clan Coat-of-Arms Scotland
12 Aug 2023
01:45:26pm

re: Coronation Series

My pleasure.

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Rob1956

My clan Coat-of-Arms Scotland
12 Aug 2023
09:15:48pm

re: Coronation Series

Hi Harvey

Thanks. A lot of study and design is put into each project to highlight the set.

 
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