…thirty-one pennies dated 1896

It’s strange what one chooses to collect when young. Strange too that seventy years after first being minted, these pennies were still in general circulation.

 

But it is therefore not surprising that all are pretty worn, and even the best of them shows little detail.

What are they worth today? Virtually nothing. Why did I not spend them on sweets?

…faulty postage stamps

Errors on postage stamps are not uncommon, and are rarely valuable.

On these 1973 stamps which show the bearded presence of noted cricketer W.G. Grace, the ink has smeared and produced lighter brown lines across the face of the stamps.

On these stamps below, which celebrate the centenary of the Trades Union Congress, the printing plate has been inexpertly retouched so that the man shown in the left-hand stamp on the letter “C” appears to have a scar on his forehead.

The 1966 3d Christmas stamp was drawn by Tasveer Shemza, the six year old daughter of Pakistani artist and writer Anwar Shemza (1928-1985). A well-known fault that appeared on one stamp of every full sheet of eighty, was a missing letter T from her name, as in the left-hand example.

Another type of fault is a colour slip, and this can be seen in the stamp on the left where the owl appears to be wearing a chef’s hat. 

These stamps are interesting, but sadly of little value.