|
Straits Settlments - dots in the Straits Area Introduction A few weeks ago in the internet forum "Stampboards" user "SamoaNZ" showed us a $2 BMA with strange dots in the "straits area": He wondered whether the sheet position would be known of this "plate flaw" and told us he had more of these similar flaws. Having gone through the A. Kassim documentation he couldn/t find any real answers but for the fact that more values had such "dots" and even when Kassim showed large parts of sheets no positions were mentioned. I had a look at my own $2 stamps and noticed that most of my copies had some dots. 
|
|
Further discussion in the Stampboards thread led to the suggestion of studying the articles in the TMP of the Malaya Study Group, so I did. In the mean time, I found more and more examples of these dots of all kinds, and decided to write this article. The printing process ALL students of KGV and KGVI stamps assume that De La Rue, London, started to print stamps in traditional typography or letterpress. Nobody questioned that assumption. When in December 1940 the DLR printing works were destroyed other printers - especially Harrison&Sons, - took over. Assumingly the printing plates were still safe and could be used elsewhere. At some moment in time DLR was able to resume the printing, but NOWHERE is stated when and should this have happened before they BMA's were produced?! Lots of questions on my side will follow and I am sure I will not be able to give definite answers. But I hope someday someone will start digging not just in the Archives but in their own collection and start looking at their stamps properly. At last! To give you an idea of how our perception of typography is wrong when you look at the stamps themselves, with this KGVI 5c stamp as an example. NO-ONE would think of letterpress in this case, rather thinking of offset-litho or even photogravure! The design appears to be screened. |
|
|
On the web site of Lin Yangchen I found: The mysterious dots that seem to change shape and hop about amongst the letters of straits (Tyre & Stanway 1991, Glover 1994, Robinson 1994) appear here before the word and between the letters t and r. These are not strictly plate flaws as they are thought to have been machining debris being shaken around during printing (Robinson 1994). Plate flaws on letterpressed stamps tend to be uninked flaws, since damage is usually done by knocking inwards the protruding printing surface of the plate. In any case, no one seems to have explained why these dots don't appear elsewhere on the stamp. If you look closely you'll see a similar flaw in the overprint - a black dot between the "L" and the following "A" of "MALAYA". See overprint flaws. The defects shown on this page are minor. On another occasion the damage was so great that the stamp had to be repainted. See the $5 retouch. |
|
Hale R, 1991 The Malayan Philatelist 32:44. Tyre, N. & Stanway, L. C. 1991. Straits Settlements KGV & KGVI "MALAYA" stamps, and "BMA MALAYA" stamps: dots between letters of "STRAITS". The Malayan Philatelist 32:71-72. Glover, W. 1994. Straits Settlements: KGV & KGVI "MALAYA" issues-dots between letters. The Malayan Philatelist 35:44. Robinson, G. S. 1994. Straits Settlements 1936-41 issues, and the BMA MALAYA issue: dots between letters. The Malayan Philatelist 35:80. KGV 2c STR RCB, GSR STR RCB S.TR RCB STR NT 4c STR NT, WG, RCB STR NT 5c S.TR RCB 2x78 6c STR RH 25c STR RCB 2x, NT 30c STR NT 40c STR NT $2 STR LCS KGVI 2c STR NT 5c ST.R LCS 8c STR NT 10c STR RCB 5x STR RCB 2x ; WG STR RCB 2x KGVI BMA 1c S.TR RCB STR LCS 2c STR LCS, NT S.TR NT S.TR NT STR RCB 10c STR WG STRAITS RCB 15c swp STR RCB !!! 25c STR LCS, NT, WG |STRAITS: RCB !!!! 25c striated STR NT S.TR NT S.TRAITS: NT $1 STR LCS, NT, WG S.TR WG S:TR RCB $2 STR NT S.TR NT STR NT, GSR $5 STR LCS, NT, GSR STRAITS NT The Wharfedale is one of a special family of presses-the 'stop cylinder' presses. The forme moves backwards and forwards on a flat-bed, and the impression is made by a rotating cylinder. Paper is gripped on the cylinder. In common with proofing presses, the force of the impression is delivered in a thin strip (just where the cylinder hits the forme). This allows for a greater precision of impression. |