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BNAPS ORE - Online Resources

Newfoundland ABN Plate Proofs of the 1897 Royal Family and 1908 2¢ Map Stamps

John M. Walsh, from the collection of Ed Wener

The ABN Proofs | ½¢ King Edward VIII | 1¢ Queen Victoria | 2¢ King Edward VII | 3¢ Queen Alexandra | 4¢ Duchess of York | 5¢ Duke of York | 2¢ Map


1897-1901 Royal Family: 5¢ Duke of York

All the proof sheets have two scratches in the P of POSTAGE on stamp 1 (row 1, column 1). Thus, only one plate (unnumbered) was used for all printings. The American Bank Note Co. imprint is in the bottom sheet margin.

List of proofs
Stamp colour
& issue date		 Printing
order date		 Printing
order #		 Quantity
ordered		 Proof
image		 Plate
size		 Qty of proof
stamps		 Date on
proof		 SPECIMEN o/p
colour, size (mm)		 Notes
Blue
June 1899		 9 Mar. 1898 500,000 Image 1 100 100 May 1898 Red, 15.5 x 2.5 1, 2
29 Apr. 1902 200,000 Image 2 100 100 May 1902 Red, 14.0 x 1.5
28 Dec. 1903 200,000 None None 3
18 July 1904 250,000 None None 3
13 June 1906 250,000 Image 3 100 100 19 June 1906 Red, 14.0 x 2.0 4, 5
15 Apr. 1907 250,000 Image 4 100 100 24 Apr. 1907 Red, 14.0 x 2.0 4, 6
18 Jan. 1908 500,000 Image 5 100 300 20 Mar. 1908 Red, 14.0 x 2.0 4, 6, 8
30 June 1908 F1639 500,000 Image 6 100 300 23 July 1908 Red, 14.0 x 2.0 4, 7

Notes:

  1. The 5¢ stamp was issued to pay the foreign letter rate. The first printing was delivered in the summer of 1898, but was not issued until June 1899.
  2. Pratt recorded the printing order date as 9 May 1898 for the 5¢ and also the 3¢ [1]. This is likely a typo for 9 Mar. because the ABN printing order book has an order entry of 18 Mar. 1898 for these two stamps. The printing was shipped on 19 May 1898 on the SS Roumanian from Philadelphia.
  3. There were no proofs in the ABN archives for the 28 Dec. 1903 and 18 July 1904 printing orders reported by Pratt.
  4. Guidelines were added to the plate in the top and bottom margins between columns 5 and 6 and in the left and right margins between rows 5 and 6. They appear first on the proof for the 13 June 1906 printing order.
  5. Gum - yellow.
  6. Gum - white, creamy.
  7. Gum - creamy yellow (two sheets) and flat white (one sheet).
  8. The 18 Jan. 1908 printing order for 500,000 stamps was shipped from New York on the S.S. Sylvia along with 2 million of the 2¢ value. The ship was wrecked en route, and the stamps were washed ashore on the Island of Cuttyhunk, Maine. The Post Office sent officials to recover the stamps, but some gum-soaked or ungummed sheets later came on the market. As a result, the only mint 2¢ and 5¢ stamps from this 1908 printing are the SPECIMEN proof sheets in the ABN archives.

References

  1. Robert H. Pratt, "Newfoundland - The Postage Stamps of 1897 A Tale of Two Secretaries The Cabot and Royal Issues", BNA Topics, Vol. 38, No. 3, May-June 1981.

Click on an image to see a larger version.

1897 Royal Family, 5 cent, first proof of 100 stamps

1. Proof 1 of 100

1897 Royal Family, 5 cent, second proof of 100 stamps

2. Proof 2 of 100

1897 Royal Family, 5 cent, third proof of 100 stamps

3. Proof 3 of 100

1897 Royal Family, 5 cent, fourth proof of 100 stamps

4. Proof 4 of 100

1897 Royal Family, 5 cent, fifth proof of 100 stamps

5. Proof 5 of 100

1897 Royal Family, 5 cent, sixth proof of 100 stamps

6. Proof 6 of 100


The ABN Proofs | ½¢ King Edward VIII | 1¢ Queen Victoria | 2¢ King Edward VII | 3¢ Queen Alexandra | 4¢ Duchess of York | 5¢ Duke of York | 2¢ Map

Copyright © 2013, 2015 John M. Walsh.
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This page was last modified on 2015-02-12