Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Today a rare definitive booklet sold on eBay for £970. The seller made no attempt to identify it, so I assume it is the 1917 release Stanley Gibbons SB1. There is only one other; SB2, released in 1922, with multiple script watermark.
The booklet is not in the greatest shape and contains only three 2 cent stamps from one of the panes. This booklet would originally have contained eight 2 cents, six 4 cents and six 10 cents with multiple crown CA watermark.
Its selling price just illustrates how rare these are; in any condition. Only TEN booklets have apparently been recorded for SB1 and SB2 combined.
I have adjusted the contrast on these images, as they didn't show that well. The red is actually a deep claret shade.
I've shown the stamp pane inverted for clarity. It would seem that some (perhaps all) booklets had each pane inserted alternating between upright and inverted format.
£970 equates to about $1486.
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Here, I have enlarged a section of the image showing the partial pane of three 2 cent stamps, shown in my previous post:
I did this to illustrate something I described in a post on a different thread: Hong Kong: Errors, curiosities etc. (that thread is now closed).
In that post, I showed three pairs of 2 cent, 4 cent and 10 cent definitives with short, ragged edges. I suspected that they were remainders of a booklet.
It would seem that some booklets did indeed contain short perfed panes. The one shown above shows the perf tips at the bottom to be short. Not admittedly as severe as the pairs I showed, nonetheless there's some evidence of trimming.
However, I also posted this image to correct a point I made in that same post:
"As with other earlier booklet issues (GB included), these were assembled from normal sheets, sometimes with interleaving and then either stitched or stapled with front and back covers. Blocks of these were then placed in a guillotine and cut. Accuracy was not of paramount importance."
Looking at the image, it is quite apparent that blocks of booklets were NOT placed in a guillotine and cut. The booklet cover and interleaving obviously extend beyond the stamp perforations.
That can only mean that the stamps were trimmed/guillotined in a separate process and then assembled with the interleaving, before collating the whole booklet. In fact I wonder if some of the trimming was done with scissors, particularly where some of the perforations are not cut truly square.
One feature of the booklet I posted about in the thread: Hong Kong-China: Yet another rare booklet sells on eBay for ..., is the orientation of the panes; alternating between upright and inverted. Thinking about this though, both left and right hand panes of the sheets had to be used (and indeed inter-pane margins), to ensure that the selvedge could be used in the stapled margin of the booklets, thus reducing wastage.
Even though I'll probably never own one of these early booklets, it's nice to see what these beasts look like inside; something that is never shown in a catalogue.
On a related matter, some of Hong Kong's modern booklets did undergo the process of guillotining completely assembled booklets, for I have seen examples of 5 conjoined (uncut) booklets creep onto the market.
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yes amazing to see - I bid on the other one that was on sale that went for £2950?
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I actually posted about that here: Hong Kong: China - yet another rare booklet.... and it actually sold for £3,250.
Well actually it didn't. The seller was messed about by a foreign buyer who wanted to pay by bitcoins or camels, or foreign cheque! So he has re-listed it with 'Buy it now', at £5,250 with 'make an offer'.
So you've still got a chance, if you've got the right spondoolies. You can view it here:
Re-listed booklet
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I've not placed this post under 'China', as it is more accurately categorised as 'Hong Kong China Overprints'; where usage was in the Treaty ports.
Today a rare definitive booklet sold on eBay for £970. The seller made no attempt to identify it, so I assume it is the 1917 release Stanley Gibbons SB1. There is only one other; SB2, released in 1922, with multiple script watermark.
The booklet is not in the greatest shape and contains only three 2 cent stamps from one of the panes. This booklet would originally have contained eight 2 cents, six 4 cents and six 10 cents with multiple crown CA watermark.
Its selling price just illustrates how rare these are; in any condition. Only TEN booklets have apparently been recorded for SB1 and SB2 combined.
I have adjusted the contrast on these images, as they didn't show that well. The red is actually a deep claret shade.
I've shown the stamp pane inverted for clarity. It would seem that some (perhaps all) booklets had each pane inserted alternating between upright and inverted format.
£970 equates to about $1486.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Hong Kong-China: Rare booklet sells on eBay for £970
Here, I have enlarged a section of the image showing the partial pane of three 2 cent stamps, shown in my previous post:
I did this to illustrate something I described in a post on a different thread: Hong Kong: Errors, curiosities etc. (that thread is now closed).
In that post, I showed three pairs of 2 cent, 4 cent and 10 cent definitives with short, ragged edges. I suspected that they were remainders of a booklet.
It would seem that some booklets did indeed contain short perfed panes. The one shown above shows the perf tips at the bottom to be short. Not admittedly as severe as the pairs I showed, nonetheless there's some evidence of trimming.
However, I also posted this image to correct a point I made in that same post:
"As with other earlier booklet issues (GB included), these were assembled from normal sheets, sometimes with interleaving and then either stitched or stapled with front and back covers. Blocks of these were then placed in a guillotine and cut. Accuracy was not of paramount importance."
Looking at the image, it is quite apparent that blocks of booklets were NOT placed in a guillotine and cut. The booklet cover and interleaving obviously extend beyond the stamp perforations.
That can only mean that the stamps were trimmed/guillotined in a separate process and then assembled with the interleaving, before collating the whole booklet. In fact I wonder if some of the trimming was done with scissors, particularly where some of the perforations are not cut truly square.
One feature of the booklet I posted about in the thread: Hong Kong-China: Yet another rare booklet sells on eBay for ..., is the orientation of the panes; alternating between upright and inverted. Thinking about this though, both left and right hand panes of the sheets had to be used (and indeed inter-pane margins), to ensure that the selvedge could be used in the stapled margin of the booklets, thus reducing wastage.
Even though I'll probably never own one of these early booklets, it's nice to see what these beasts look like inside; something that is never shown in a catalogue.
On a related matter, some of Hong Kong's modern booklets did undergo the process of guillotining completely assembled booklets, for I have seen examples of 5 conjoined (uncut) booklets creep onto the market.
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re: Hong Kong-China: Rare booklet sells on eBay for £970
yes amazing to see - I bid on the other one that was on sale that went for £2950?
Login to Like
this post
re: Hong Kong-China: Rare booklet sells on eBay for £970
I actually posted about that here: Hong Kong: China - yet another rare booklet.... and it actually sold for £3,250.
Well actually it didn't. The seller was messed about by a foreign buyer who wanted to pay by bitcoins or camels, or foreign cheque! So he has re-listed it with 'Buy it now', at £5,250 with 'make an offer'.
So you've still got a chance, if you've got the right spondoolies. You can view it here:
Re-listed booklet
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