Friday, December 17, 2021

Czech Hradčany stamps - Introduction 0.3

So far I spoke about the 26 different values, issued on the Czech Hradčany stamps.
Including the main colour variations, we reached a number of 36 different (imperforated) stamps.

Now comes the 'fun' part. Each stamp was printed on sheets of 100 (10 x 10) stamps.
Below, I listed up the number of plates that are described, in bold are the rare ones...
For most stamps, 2 plates were used, resulting in 2 x 100 (200) possible variations:
design I : 3 h - 25 h - 30 h - 40 h
design II : 100  h - 200 h - 400 h
design III : 1 h - 50 h
design IV : 60 h - 80 h - 1000 h
design V : 10 h  - 20 h  - 30 h - 75 h - 120 h - 500 h

there are 4 plates described for the following stamps: (400 stamps per type)
design I : 5h - 10 h - 20 h
design V : 25 h

The 300 h (IV) has one plate described (100 stamps)
The 15 h (V) has 5 plates (500 stamps)
and the 5 h (V) has 8 plates (800 stamps)

A quick count makes a total of 15,000 (!) possible combinations possible...

Most of the described plate flaws are easy to detect, as they always occur in the same places on a stamp.
However, due to the average to poor printing quality, several irregularities can be found on the many stamps, that are not considered as plate flaws, but coincidental errors - and therefore not described in reference works.

design 1/2

In the first design, errors occur in each letter of POSTA and/or CESKO SLOVENSKA,
in one or more of the 10 leafs,
in one or more of the 4 hearts,
in one or more of the 2 pigeons,
in one the value shield,
in one or more of the 6 towers,
in one or more of the 8 spirals
in the sun, or the sunbeams,
in one or more of the 9 wavy lines under the central image,
on or outside the outer frame, including the signature MUCHA
sometimes in the plants on the left (3) or on the right (9).

design 3/4

For the next design, most point of attention are the same,
less errors are described in the plants in front, but now there is a curvy line on both left as right side of the image.
Additional are the 4 circles, two on each side.

design 5
For the last design, the sun is deleted, but a new element is added, the church in fornt.

to be continued...

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