Australia #332-356 (SG#331-353) 1959-1963 Commemoratives, A Specialized Lot of 29 VF Used Stamps

A primarily VF used group of 29 stamps, comprising all of the commemmorative issues from 1959 to 1963, except for the last two issues from 1963, with a few additional shade and paper varieties, as well as both types 1 and 2 of the 1960 Northern Territory Issue.

Most all of the engraved stamps issued during the Elizabethan period can be found printed in different shades of the basic colour, and this lot includes shade varieties on the 1959 Christmas, and 1961 1/- Colombo Plan issues.

In addition, to shade varieties and die types, the 1/- Colombo Plan issue can be collected on Helecon paper. The Australian equivalent of tagging is called Helecon, which is a chemical in the zinc sulphide group that fluoresces orange-red under long-wave UV light. The very first stamp to be issued with Helecon coating applied to the paper was the 11d Rabbit Bandicoot from the 1958-1964 issue. Later, the 5d orange-red Queen Elizabeth II stamp from the 1963-1966 issue was issued with the Helecon incorporated into the ink. By the end of 1965 all stamps issued had Helecon applied to the paper. This lot includes the Colombo plan issue on Helecon paper, which comes from a printing made in 1965.

Finally the Harrison paper used on the 1962 Commonwealth Games issue can be found with different reactions under UV light. In this lot we include three such varieties of the 5d from the set.

Gibbons lists the basic stamps at 10.05 pounds (approx. $20.10) for fine used. The stamps here grade between 70 and 84, but mostly all at least 75 and above.