Rare G.B. 1988 Chistmas 13p Error of Denomination

The 1988 Christmas set of 5 values had been printed by the Post Office and were ready for distribution to the post offices when a rate rise was announced for 2nd class postage, from 13p to 14p. This was just prior to Christmas and the Post Office wanted to profit from the massive increase in usage of 2nd class postage caused by the mailing of Christmas cards. The additional revenue gained from the rate increase would dwarf the cost of reprinting the 2nd class postage stamps. Quickly the Post Office organised the reprinting of the 13p Christmas stamp in the denomination 14p. All of the stock of 13p stamps were destroyed. However, the story goes that they had overlooked the fact that work had started on the insertion into the 1988 yearbooks of the 1988 commemorative issues, including the 1988 Christmas set containing the 13p denomination. A certain number of these yearbooks were subsequently sold containing the 13p stamp which should not have been issued.

Warwick and Warwick were one of the first auction houses to report this find and auction one of these stamps. This was in August 1989 and the U.M. stamp sold for more than £3,000. Several have surfaced subsequently and it is now catalogued at £9,000 as mint.

Warwick and Warwick’s September 1st 2010 auction contained an interesting Royal Mail first day cover of the full set of 5 1988 Christmas stamps, including the rare 13p denomination rather than the issued 14p denomination. The cover was postmarked at Paddington on November 15th, the official first day of issue. This suggests that not all of the 13p errors came from the 1988 yearbooks, as it is unlikely that a collector would have purchased a yearbook on the day of issue and immediately removed one of the sets of stamps to affix to a first day cover.

Currently 10 of these stamps have been recorded in mint condition, 1 used and 3 on first day cover. The cover realised £2,760.

Forgotten Gold Medal Collection Realises £680,000

Probably the world’s best collection of the Kingdom of Poland went under the Warwick and Warwick hammer on May 5th 2010. The collection, formed by Vladimir von Rachmanoff (Wladimir Rachmonow in Polish) was without doubt the very finest ever formed of The Kingdom of Poland. It far exceeded in importance those formed by Philipp La Renotière von Ferrary, Agathon Fabergé or even M. A. Bojanowicz.

Wladimir Rachmanow served on the Grand Jury at Gdansk in 1929 and Berlin in 1930. His collections were awarded many high honours such as at the exhibitions in Cassel 1914, Anvers 1930, Bruxelles 1935 and Warszawa 1938; though the greatest accolade was a Gold Medal at FIPEX New York in 1956. This was an international exhibition and only collections of high status could garner such a prestigious award. He was also awarded the “Académie de Philatélie” (16 January 1929) medal. Membership of a number of philatelic societies included the Polonus Philatelic Society of Chicago. In 1935 Rachmanow updated W. Polanski’s 1920 handbook on Poland no. 1, based on his own collection and in 1952 he published “Poland No. 1”, which continued to be the standard work of reference on this issue until M.A. Bojanowicz published his handbook in 1979.

Rachmanow died in New York in 1968 and since then his collection had remained locked in a safe by his family and had not seen the light of day for more than 40 years. When writing the Bojanowicz handbook published in 1979 it is clear that the author had not had access to the Rachmanow collection, and could only make reference to it from information in previous publications. Its existence had been largely forgotten by the collectors and the sale represented the first opportunity to acquire exhibition class items since the Bojanowicz sale 10 years previously.

For details of the gems of the Rachmanow collection please click here to visit our Stamps page

New Powerpoint Presentations

Are you a secretary of a society looking for a speaker for your meetings programme? Then Warwick and Warwick can help you.

Joe Cottriall, one of our senior philatelic valuers, with over 20 years experience, has put together a Powerpoint presentation, on philatelic topics, entitled “The View from the Rostrum”.

Director Colin Such has put together two different Powerpoint presentations, on his favourite topic of postcards, one entitled “Thirty years on the Rostrum”, being a general talk about postcards Warwick and Warwick have sold over the years and the other entitled “A Disastrous Talk”, a title which hopefully describes the subject matter rather than Colin’s presentation skills!

Joe and Colin come fully equipped and will present anywhere in the U.K., at no cost, to any society. If you are a secretary please email Joseph Cottriall or Colin Such or phone them on 01926 499031.