REGIONALS

5) Collecting and Value Hints

Although some regionals (such as the Scottish 31p type 2 perf 14) are a little scarce, none are so scarce that you couldn't start phoning around for any one of them in the morning and have several copies in the post to you by lunch time. The scarcer stamps tend to be those from the period of transition from type 1 to type 2 and the change of perforation from perf 14 to perf 15x14.

Philatelically manufactured
"Fine Used"

Personally, I have no time for the philatelically manufactured "fine used" stamps, with their tiniest part of a "CDS" in the lower corner. This is the standard assumed when catalogues publish values and goes some way towards explaining why "used" stamps are often catalogued as being worth more than mint ! But why bother, if you want such minimal markings on your stamps then why not have it mint condition instead ?

Part CDS	Bars

Commercially used stamps will look more like those illustrated above and should hence be priced well below "catalogue". It is best to stick to collecting one style of cancel as a mixture displayed on the same page can look a bit untidy.

Chester, 1972	Nairn, 1973	Belfast, 1972
(Car)narfon, (G)wynedd 1983	Edinburgh Lothian Fife Borders 1994	Belfast 1997

If you want a challange, try collecting these stamps with full or large part dated CDS clearly showing usage within the region and during the appropriate time period. This task is relatively easy with the early Harrison & Sons issues but later, as the quality of the postmarks deteriorated, this task becomes progressively worse. Good examples from Scotland are by far the easiest to find whereas those for Wales are a real struggle. However, with the early issues (particularly of Scotland) it is feasable to put together an interesting collection of postmarks from around the region.

Some regional issues were only released in prestige books. In reality the stamps contained in them aren't really intended for postal use (although of course they are perfectly valid for the purpose) and hence are best collected in either the book itself or as a booklet pane. This has the advantage of illustrating how any phosphor band variations occured. I like the booklets but do not consider their contents as part of my mint and used collections. Usually only those values covering the 1st class and 2nd class rates appear in these booklets and generally command a premium of x2 or x3. However one notable exception is the Norther Ireland 23p with two bands which commands a premium of x15 !

At first it can be difficult to distinguish the different emblem types. If you have this difficulty then I would recommend you obtain copies of the 11½p, which are always type 1, and the 19p (in any colour), which is always type 2. It is also worth noting that the 11½p will be perf 14 whereas the 19p will be perf 15x14. This holds true for all three of the regions.

Lithography		Photogravure

If you aren't too sure how to detect the difference between the litho printings and the later photogravure issues, you can can obtain the two different 20p green stamps. The litho printing has the value inscribed "20p" whereas the later photogravure printing has the "p" missing. The general appearance of the stamps are noticably different, with the photogravure stamps appearing much brighter and more finally detailed, although it doesn't really show on the low resolution pictures of a web site !

Dont forget to look out for the perforation errors, where perf 14 was used instead of perf 15x14. These are errors they are quite common and this is reflected in the catalogues where the comand a minimal premium.