General Queries About REPRINT and SPECIMEN overprints

Message

paulsozstates · #1 Post by **paulsozstates** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:29 pm

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TASMANIA-189 ... 4c0&_uhb=1

Interesting SPECIMEN set come up on ebay.

Do these come up frequently at auction?

bill · #2 Post by **bill** » Wed Jan 02, 2013 1:19 pm

These SPECIMEN sets do turn up from time to time at auction
so they are not especially rare. They are nice additions to a
collection of Tasmania if you don't already have them.

Chapter 16 of Tinsley's book has more information.

paulsozstates · #3 Post by **paulsozstates** » Wed Jan 02, 2013 5:39 pm

Bill,

Do you have any idea what they have previously sold for at auction?

Cheers
Paul

#4 Post by **Ross Ewington** » Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:13 am

Hi Paul,

As Bill mentioned, they are not particulary hard to find if you wish to buy them. Retail prices
can be high (it can be a long time 'between sales' re this set for a dealer as there are considerable costs
incurred in maintaining a stock of quality Tasmanian stamps) so auction is the best place to purchase
if the auctioneer is a reputable firm who know their "Tassie stuff" well.

eBay is a different market place when buying Tasmanian stamps - granted, there are bargains to be had
if you are an experienced collector but often material is poorly described (that can be a good thing for the
buyer of course) and this can often lead to buyers paying far too much.

To get a rough idea about what people are paying for the SPECIMEN overprints on the QV Tablets, I suggest
checking out a few dealer sites as well as various auction house Prices Realised lists (try the Prestige Philately
site first as they have a searchable database for all auction lots offered over the last 10 years or so and
they are likely to have sold examples of this specimen set a couple of times at least).

cheers .... Ross

P.S. I have moved your post from the REVENUES category over to the TASMANIAN STAMPS category. It is important
to make posts in the relevant category and if possible, in a topic already covering the area of your query or information posted.
In this case there wasn't one yet so I started a new topic. When posts are made in the incorrect Category or Topic, other
members who have posted to the topic will get automated e-mails informing that a new post has been made leading to possible disappointment that
the post was actually "off topic" and irrelevant to their interest in the particular thread being discussed.

P.P.S. Would you be able to post an image of the eBay lot which was the basis of your query as the link you have inserted
will be 'dead' in less than 60 days makes this topic somewhat redundant rather than a lasting and useful reference?
If you have trouble doing this you can send me the image by e-mail and I will insert it into your post for you.

#5 Post by **Ross Ewington** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 12:07 pm

In addition to my previous post and noting that the current starting price is a rather "rarified" US$121 .........
here's my tuppence-worth about appraising the value of this lot looking at the gum side only.

: tablet specimen set gum.jpg (74.31 KiB) Viewed 9267 times

The gum quality of the four lowest values is poor to very poor for this issue and removes them to the "spacefiller" box; ditto
the creased £1 (which is no scarcer than the ½d value of course but is the 'key value"). This leaves us with the
10d, 1/-, 2/6d, 5/- and 10/- values only ... the 10d appears to have a toned hinge remanant, the 5/- has some light/even gum
toning and the 10/- appears to have a "speck" (which may be a natural inclusion of course)

Fortunately, most of the stamps look reasonable from the business side but in my opinion, I don't think anyone paying more than $100
for these will be getting value for their money. The same set in fine condition will cost you a lot more than $100 but condition is
worth paying a premium for if you wish to assemble a collection which will maintain it's value as well as provide years of pleasure.

territorian1 · #6 Post by **territorian1** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:31 pm

This set realised a whopping US$289.00 on Ebay!!

paulsozstates · #7 Post by **paulsozstates** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 6:19 am

This is being advertised as a reprint. I thought that the reprints of the 1d and 4d couriers had the plates all defaced. Any thoughts, fake?

: image.jpg (150.13 KiB) Viewed 9228 times

#8 Post by **Ross Ewington** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:43 am

Fake!

Mark Houston · #9 Post by **Mark Houston** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 6:19 pm

Here is a mystery Specimen. Possibly a forgery, but I haven't got another to compare with so any information would be appreciated.

#10 Post by **Ross Ewington** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 6:35 pm

It would have to be a forgery judging by the poor type. What sort of paper/card is the stamp printed on?

Mark Houston · #11 Post by **Mark Houston** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:43 pm

Hi Ross,
My apologies not checking the site earlier. The stamp is thin paper and I cannot detect a watermark. I have shown it to Bill LS but we couldn't find a Specimen type to match it.
I was just a bit hopeful there may have been another about, but it is more than likely a forgery.
Cheers
Mark

Mark Houston · #12 Post by **Mark Houston** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:53 pm

Hello,
This Tablet with the small Specimen, assumed to be ex Tinsley and possibly unique could well be the value mentioned as missing from the "near complete" set I was lucky enough to buy on ebay some time ago.
I found it on USA ebay from a Canadian dealer. What are the odds?
Anyway I hope it is of interest to those who followed the thread some time ago.

#13 Post by **Ross Ewington** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:58 pm

...thanks for your post(s) Mark. I remember seeing this one on eBay.

I think it's in the "guilty until proved innocent" class. Gene Tinsley used to collect forgeries
of Tassie stamps for reference ... I bought some of them long ago.

(as forgeries)

Mark Houston · #14 Post by **Mark Houston** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:07 pm

I bought these cut down Specimen die proofs on card several years ago from an ebayer in Tasmania. Unfortunately the 3d never made it via Registered Post and is the ebay picture. (If it ever turns up give me a call

These may be ex Tinsley. I was wondering if anyone has other Specimen examples as I haven't seen any others and what would have been the purpose of the Specimen overprint as the large dieproofs are not overprinted?

Mark Houston · #15 Post by **Mark Houston** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:16 pm

Here is the rest of the set. I could understand the use of a recognisable Specimen forgery, but wouldn't these be a bit obvious unless Tinsley's ego demanded something personal?

#16 Post by **Ross Ewington** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:18 pm

Nice! .... I feel a bit better about these (the SPECIMEN on the cutdown proofs) but I agree ...for what purpose would have they been produced?

The SPECIMEN handstamp looks a bit "De La Rueish" doesn't it?? ....ditto my 1d postal card with the specimen
h/s - see http://tps.org.au/bb/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=948#p4041

#17 Post by **Ross Ewington** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:28 pm

thanks Mark ... I forgot that you already had so many of these strange "Specimen," overprints.

Would you be able to post* a large image of couple of them and provide the dimensions "for the record" please?

[I think we should discard the reported Tinsley provenance as part of the story for the time being.]

P.S. * you don't have to use 'Photobucket' on this site - you can upload images directly (see below text window
when making a post) thus saving time.

Mark Houston · #18 Post by **Mark Houston** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:27 am

Hi Ross,
I couldn't find the link on this site referring to the small Specimens, but kept some documentation myself:

Mark Houston · #19 Post by **Mark Houston** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:30 am

Mark Houston wrote:I bought these cut down Specimen die proofs on card several years ago from an ebayer in Tasmania. Unfortunately the 3d never made it via Registered Post and is the ebay picture. (If it ever turns up give me a call
These may be ex Tinsley. I was wondering if anyone has other Specimen examples as I haven't seen any others and what would have been the purpose of the Specimen overprint as the large dieproofs are not overprinted?

I think De La Rue probably had these as examples of their printing skills, perhaps for an exhibition and were obliged to cancel them? (total speculation)

jorija · #20 Post by **jorija** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 3:55 pm

Mark,
I have only just caught up with the new posts in this thread.
How exciting to see that you have caught up with "the missing 6d keyplate" with the small Specimen overprint!
I suspect this is the one that used to be in Lew Viney's collection. I seem to remember reading that the Tinsley collection included Lew Viney's collection.
I do remember being in a "bidding war" with Lew many years ago over a single value, which I seem to remember was a 6d keyplate, at a TPS "Sale By Tender".
He won it, much to my chagrin, as it was probably the only one he had whereas I thought it might have completed "my" set which of course you now own.

Incidentally, I don't know when Tinsley's collection was dispersed, but I can guarantee you that I owned the set you bought from me from the mid-1960's until I sold them to you about 2005 (I think!). My father had them on approval along with a large quantity of other Australian State reprints and specimens from the dealer Stephen Gero of Sydney. We resolved to only keep the Tas set (money was scarce then!), and he returned the "other states" items to the dealer. Hope this is of some help.

Congratulations!
John J.

Mark Houston · #21 Post by **Mark Houston** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 5:33 pm

Hi John,
Thank you very much for the information on the Provinance of these stamp back 50 years ago. Specimens were well frowned upon then which supports the case for legitimacy.
I am very happy to have reunited the missing 6d to the "small specimen" collection, for my sense of completion, yours and for future collector's who will be the new minders.
As mentioned I couldn't believe it when offered by a Canadian dealer.
Gosh knows how Lew Viney's stamp ended up in Canada, but it did and for under $20.00 which was probably way less than Lew paid for it.
John you sold me some lovely Tasmanian stamps, all of which I still have and enjoy.
Kind regards,
Mark Houston

tps.org.au