Gotta love those British Colonial pictorials! Great collector appeal and even the Elizabeth II issues are getting pricey. The 1s/3p stamp of the Part III selection above has a surprisingly recognizable image of a Bristol 170 Wayfarer aircraft on it. A bonus for aircraft on stamps collectors like me. Don
Don, you are right: those British Colonials are very well made. But there are some fine stamps of that kind from French Colonies and others as well. And yes,if you are looking for complete sets,they could be pricey.That is especially true for George V series. That is why I have not many of those.Like the following short- (very) set,again from Sierra Leone: Two only from a set of 13,issued Oct.2nd,1933. The 5 Sh. is perhaps not my absolute favourite Elephant stamp, that would be the 50 Cent from Ceylon,I will show soonly, but it is for sure my most valuable Elephant thematic.
In 1938 the set was reissued with the portrait of the new king, George VI.Two additional designs were added to the set,what contains many perforation-varieties and watermark-positions.
The finest (and the most costly) way of printing stamps is handpress printing from engraved copper plates.Copper plates allow a more delicate engraving,than engraving in steel. However copper plates,although hardened,wear out much faster than steel ones and therefore are no good for printings in big quantities. Austria and Czechoslovakia (formerly a part of Austria) issued stamps by that way. Here one of my favourite sets,issued April 24th,1922: composers part I of 2
part II This a semi-postal issue.The stamps were sold at ten times of their face-value.So f.i. the 2 1/2 Kronen stamp did cost 25 Kronen, the 100 K. stamp 1000 Kronen.Valid till May 22nd,1922.
