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SAINT VINCENT GRENADINES LEADERS OF THE WORLD AUTOMOBILES AND TRAINS PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF STAMPS

The Cars and Trains Progressive Color Proof Stamps for the Grenadines of Saint Vincent Produced by the Format International Security Printers

A Specialized Study of the Varieties and Quantities Produced

Would YOU store YOUR specialized stamps this way?

Example of how the Police Evidence Stock was Stored
Marquee for Golowe's Reference Site on the Format International Security Printers

Information on this series is changing as more information is being discovered. This page and associated pages will be updated as more information is made available. Arguments are welcome if you have the evidence to back it up!

In 1984 Saint Vincent Grenadines joined other commonwealth countries in the production and issuance of the Leaders of the World (LOW) Automobile and Locomotive series of stamps. Between 1984 and 1987 Saint Vincent Grenadines issued 3 sets of the Automobile series and 8 sets of the Locomotives series. This page will link to images of the existing Progressive Color Proof panes with enlarged images of the pairs in all stages so that collectors and dealers can define which progressive color proof belongs to which series and value.

As shown on the specialized pages the standard practices of the printer in most cases was to produce 3,000 sets of progressive color proofs for each value of a given series. For many series of the countries involved the progressives have either been lost or possibly never saved by the printer. One must understand that each value that was produced required 120 panes of 25 pairs (300 panes of 10 pairs of the later issues on the Saint Vincent Dependencies side) multiplied by the seven stages. That is a lot of panes! In other words 840 panes of 25 or 2100 panes of 10 just for one value!

Here is an image of the panes for just one value of Saint Lucia's 1985 Butterflies.
Stack of One Value of Progressive Color Proofs Produced by the Format International Security Printers

It measures around 9 inches by 13 inches by around 7 inches tall and weighs around 8 to 9 pounds! Now imagine storing around 500 of these somewhere. That would just be for the LOW Automobiles and Locomotives series! With the numbers of stamps produced you would need a warehouse of immense proportions to store just the progressives if the printers were so inclined to keep every value of every issue. Then think of adding imperforates, specimens, varieties on and on. Of course it was never done. Varieties and such were selectively saved. In many cases only a few press sheets were saved representing only a couple values of a given series. In many cases....nothing was saved. This is one of the many reasons that some series do not exist as progressives and why others may only have four of the eight values that exist as such and so forth.
Because of the difficulty of storing them many have been damaged over the years. Many have colors that were completely destroyed. Because of the stigma and misrepresentation by certain out of date "experts" and dealers who have placed upon them terms such as "wallpaper" and "junk" these rarities have been abused and mishandled over the years to the point of total destruction for many issues.

For the Saint Vincent Grenadines LOW Cars and Trains progressives most of the reprinted values that were saved were held in the police evidence stock taken in the raids against the printing company to be used against the owners and associated companies in the trials against them which ended up with not guilty verdicts on all charges. Sadly, the police are not stamp collectors and these varieties were literally thrown in police evidence bags, thrown into crates and stored under atrocious conditions until 2008 when they were released. All during the years having rumors spread by certain unknowing "experts" and dealers saying huge quantities of the issues would flood the market and devalue present day stocks of the issues. Not knowing nor realizing that what had in fact been confiscated under the impression of being "errors" was in fact only progressives, imperforates and specimen overprinted stamps which are not errors at all!

Looking at the quantities as a whole...yes millions. When looking at what was really there, proof that not one single issue was ever produced in the millions! A couple of these "experts" had a look at the crates in storage and with a quick glance assumed that the stamps were normal issues and imperforates. Probably the finals on top as was usually the case in the stacks. Without digging deeper they did not realize they were the progressives and such thus the rumors of "millions" of the LOW issues were in there. That stigma has remained in the minds of many collectors and dealers and needs to be changed. The vague references in the major catalogs need to be changed or ignored because they do not define correctly what exists. One of many reasons I have created these specialized pages.

On the Saint Vincent side of the police evidence most of the progressive color proof packs for the Leaders of the World Automobiles and Locomotives series were in two crates. The two crates were purchased in auction soon after their release in 2008 by a stamp seller on eBay under the user names of CityCollectibles and StampsInternational2010. From what was told to me by sources I will not name and I cannot verify it that the crates were "sold for peanuts!". The crates with Saint Lucia, Tuvalu and other unknown countries (I am thinking probably British Virgin Islands for one) did not sell at that time and were returned to the original owner, Mr. Jonathan Feigenbaum, son of the late Clive Feigenbaum.

Some time in 2011 under the user name of CityCollectibles the buyer began sales of the progressive color proof panes on eBay. Because of the random way in which the British Metropolitan police just threw the packs into the evidence bags and into the crates the seller CC found it to be too difficult and time consuming to reunite the different color proofs to their perspective values. Instead they took a number of random packs and took one pane from each creating lots of 25 to 100 panes and gave them a price range of $25-60.00 for each lot! The lots sold like hotcakes!

To those "experts" and certain dealers who run private forums and such that want to call this material "wallpaper" and "junk" and state emphatically "nobody buys this junk!", according to the sales on eBay of which all of it is now sold and gone....boo hoo for you!

In my recovery of Format material I was lucky enough to catch on to the sales of the Saint Vincent side of the police evidence stock. I began purchasing one of each of the random lots and thus have accomplished reuniting at least one set of each value that was in the stock for Saint Vincent and the dependencies. There are certain series (many of the automobiles series)that were not in the stock. Either they do not exist or were never taken in the raids. Certain series again only four of the six or eight values were in the stock.

I note here that now many of the panes are being cut and sold as individual stamp sets. Because of the random way they have been dispersed all over the world many sets will never be fully recovered and thus we now have a new rarity factor. Owning a full set of panes will be an extreme rarity in the not so far future! In the beginning 3,000 sets were produced. Now the number of complete sets for many of the values may be cut in half or even more!

Many collectors and dealers are having a difficult time defining certain stages of the color proofs. The yellow stage in many cases is difficult to define as some are very hard to see clearly. Other stages because there are no inscriptions to define them.

I have created tables for the sets below and give the Scott Catalog numbers, Stanley Gibbons numbers (when possible) and the number of the pane. The links will take you to a page showing each progressive color proof pane and a closeup image of each pair in each stage.

For the yellow stage of the progressives I have imaged a modified embossed image to clarify them. You can do the same thing by scanning and then using an image editor to create an embossed view of it. The embossing modification highlights parts of the image that cannot be seen clearly thus giving you a clearer image of what stamp the proof is for.

Hopefully the pages will help collectors and dealers organize and present their progressive color proofs with more ease.

If there is no table either I have not completed the series yet or they do not exist. This is an ongoing project and will take some time to complete. For what is there at this time.....

Enjoy the show!

It appears at this time that the Stampdile network retained very little of the automobiles and locomotives progressive color proofs for Saint Vincent Grenadines, unlike with Bequia in which a majority of them were retained. It is with some certainty that the Saint Vincent Grenadines progressives from the police evidence stock are indeed reprints. However at this time I theorize that they were being reprinted because no older versions of the progressives were retained for the Saint Vincent Grenadines issues as is evident on the Stampdile website. The reprinting was halted in 1988 and thus I believe that the series that were in the police evidence stock may be the only progressive color proof sets (aside from the uncut press sheets which are extremely rare) left in existence!

1st Series Railway Locomotives issued March 15, 1984

All eight of the 1st series trains progressive color proof sets were confiscated by the British Metropolitan Police for the trials against the printer and associated companies. They were retained until 2008 upon with their release they were auctioned off in bulk. They were sold on eBay in random bulk lots of 30-100 panes mixed with different series along with series from Saint Vincent, Union Island and Bequia in the year 2012 and sold out. They are now scattered across the world and many will never be reunited. Therefore the full intact pane sets are fast becoming exceedingly rare.

1984 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Locomotives (1st series) Stamps

1ST SERIES LOCOMOTIVES PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF PAGES
THE 5c VALUE 1892 Class D13 Pennsylvania Railroad 4-4-0
THE 10c VALUE 1980 High Speed Train (H.S.T. 125) Class 253
THE 15c VALUE 1899 T-9 Class 4-4-0
THE 35c VALUE 1900 Claud Hamilton Claud Hamilton Class 4-4-0
THE 45c VALUE 1941 Class J Norfolk & Western Railway 4-8-4
THE 60c VALUE 1895 Class D16 Pennsylvania Railroad 4-4-0
THE $1.00 VALUE 1907 Lode Star Star Class 4-6-0
THE $2.50 VALUE 1948 Blue Peter A2 Class 4-6-2

2nd Series Railway Locomotives issued October 9, 1984

The four high values of the 2nd series trains progressive color proof sets were confiscated by the British Metropolitan Police for the trials against the printer and associated companies. They were retained until 2008 upon with their release they were auctioned off in bulk. They were sold on eBay in random bulk lots of 30-100 panes mixed with different series along with series from Saint Vincent, Union Island and Bequia in the year 2012 and sold out. They are now scattered across the world and many will never be reunited. Therefore the full intact pane sets are fast becoming exceedingly rare.

At present the location of the four low value progressive proofs is unknown for the 2nd series locomotives. According to the list of requested reprinting shown on the introductory page at which time according to printing standards the progressive color proof panes were produced the low values of the 2nd series progressives were to be created around January 20, 1989.
This was at the time when the raids by the British Metropolitan Police on the company and other problems began. On the request for reprints list you can see that the final group was not checked off which is evidence that the reprinting (at least at this time) of this series never happened!
As the communication at the top of the list shows, there was an earlier reprint list. I theorize that it contained the earliest series (1st and 2nd and so forth) for the countries involved because as you can see the majority of the earliest series are not on the list used for the trials
Evidence such as specimen overprinted sets and imperforate presentation folders show that the 2nd series locomotives issue was reprinted at an earlier time.
The request for reprints of this series, being at the end of the list shows possible evidence of plans to create made for collector errors which were probably not included in the earlier reprinting as evidence shows the majority of the earliest series for most of the countries involved do not have these kinds of errors.

1984 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Locomotives (2nd series) Stamps

2ND SERIES LOCOMOTIVES PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF PAGES
THE 60c VALUE 1904 J B Earle 2-6-4T
THE $1.00 VALUE 1898 Lyn 2-4-2T
THE $1.50 VALUE 1865 Talyllyn 0-4-2T
THE $3.00 VALUE 1906 Cardean 4-6-0

1st Series Automobiles issued November 28, 1984

At present it appears none of the progressive proofs were saved for the 1st series automobiles. There is evidence that a few uncut press sheets of the progressives did survive. They are extremely rare if not unique.

1984 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Automobiles (1st series) Stamps

3rd Series Railway Locomotives issued January 31, 1985

At present the location of the progressive proofs is unknown for the 3rd series locomotives. According to the list of requested reprinting shown on the introductory page at which time according to printing standards the progressive color proof panes were produced the 3rd series progressives were created around September 2, 1988.
According to the Reprint Agreement the souvenir sheet was not to be reprinted and all evidence points toward this being so.
There is also evidence that a few uncut press sheets of the progressives did survive. They are extremely rare if not unique. Single sets and such with large selvage proving they came from the press sheets should command higher prices.

1985 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Locomotives (3rd series) Stamps

1985 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Locomotives (3rd series) Souvenir Sheet

2nd Series Automobiles issued April 9, 1985

At present the location of the progressive proofs is unknown for the 2nd series automobiles. According to the list of requested reprinting shown on the introductory page at which time according to printing standards the progressive color proof panes were produced the 2nd series progressives were created around September 2, 1988.
As shown, there is evidence that a few uncut press sheets of the progressives did survive. The two sets imaged came from them. If there was only one set of the press sheets that were saved then these are extremely rare if not unique in nature.

1985 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Automobiles (2nd series) Stamps

Pair set of progressive color proofs from press sheet of the 2nd series automobiles
1985 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Automobiles (2nd series) Progressive Color Proof Stamp Sets

Gutter pair set of progressive color proofs from press sheet of the 2nd series automobiles
1985 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Automobiles (2nd series) Progressive Color Proof Gutter Pair Stamp Sets

4th Series Railway Locomotives issued May 17, 1985

At present the location of the progressive proofs is unknown for the 4th series locomotives. According to the list of requested reprinting shown on the introductory page at which time according to printing standards the progressive color proof panes were produced the 4th series progressives were created around October 21, 1988.
As shown, there is evidence that they are out there. The three sets imaged prove this. I am leery to state the rarity of these although there is only one source of which I found these that are imaged and it is not Stampdile. The problem with them is that they appear to come from the panes (no large selvage) and thus not from press sheets. They are being offered at an extremely high cost. If they are from the panes (which I pretty much positive is the case), then it is possible the seller has more than one set, if not the whole print run. I therefore advise collectors to not pay a high dollar amount for these. for these. If there was only one set of the press sheets that were saved and these were from them then they would be extremely rare if not unique in nature.
As stated on the main variety page only the 40c, 50c, and $2.50 values are offered. the whereabouts of the 10c value....unknown.

1985 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Locomotives (4th series) Stamps

Progressive color proof sets of the 40c, 50c, and $2.50 value 4th series locomotives
1985 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Locomotives (4th series) Progressive Color Proof Stamp Sets

5th Series Railway Locomotives issued September 16, 1985

All four of the 5th series trains progressive color proof sets were confiscated by the British Metropolitan Police for the trials against the printer and associated companies. They were retained until 2008 upon with their release they were auctioned off in bulk. They were sold on eBay in random bulk lots of 30-100 panes mixed with different series along with series from Saint Vincent, Union Island and Bequia in the year 2012 and sold out. They are now scattered across the world and many will never be reunited. Therefore the full intact pane sets are fast becoming exceedingly rare.

1985 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Locomotives (5th series) Stamps

5TH SERIES LOCOMOTIVES PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF PAGES
THE 35c VALUE 1937 Coronation Class Coronation 4-6-2
THE 70c VALUE 1935 D.R.G. Class E18 1-Do-1
THE $1.20 VALUE 1854 B&O Hayes 4-6-0
THE $2.00 VALUE 1890 J.N.R. Class 2120 0-6-2T

3rd Series Automobiles issued February 20, 1986

At present it appears none of the progressive proofs were saved for the 2nd series automobiles. There is the possibility that a few uncut press sheets of the progressives did survive. If there was only one set of the press sheets that were saved then they are extremely rare if not unique in nature.

1986 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Automobiles (3rd series) Stamps

6th Series Railway Locomotives issued March 14, 1986

The four high values of the 6th series trains progressive color proof sets were confiscated by the British Metropolitan Police for the trials against the printer and associated companies. They were retained until 2008 upon with their release they were auctioned off in bulk. They were sold on eBay in random bulk lots of 30-100 panes mixed with different series along with series from Saint Vincent, Union Island and Bequia in the year 2012 and sold out. They are now scattered across the world and many will never be reunited. Therefore the full intact pane sets are fast becoming exceedingly rare.

The 60c and 75c values are available elsewhere at a steep price at this time. It is unknown as to how many exist but judging from dealers not wanting to reveal their true holdings to make larger profits from collectors I theorize that the same quantities exist for these two values also. You may ask me why I think this.
It is because at present the location of the progressive proofs for the four low values is unknown for the 6th series locomotives. According to the list of requested reprinting shown on the introductory page at which time according to printing standards the progressive color proof panes were produced the four low values of the 6th series progressives were created around September 9, 1988.
1986 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Locomotives (6th series) Stamps

Progressive color proof sets of the 60c and 75c value 6th series locomotives
1986 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Locomotives (6th series) 60c and 75c Progressive Color Proof Stamp Sets

6TH SERIES LOCOMOTIVES PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF PAGES
THE $1.00 VALUE 1961 Western Class C-C Diesel Locomotive
THE $1.50 VALUE 1899 Drummond's Bug 4-2-4T
THE $2.00 VALUE 1951 Clan Class 4-6-2
THE $3.00 VALUE 1884 J.N.R. Class 1800 0-6-0T
The following two sets were printed in a new format. Printed in panes of ten pairs. The printing was done only once and thus the status of quantities of normal printed stamps is lower and is based on several invoices from other islands.
This is why catalog pricing is higher for these two sets. They are rarer than all the others in normal state.
The progressive color proofs and error stamps are not noted on the later invoices but were produced at the same time.
Basing on evidence from the Saint Vincent holding the quantities of progressives was increased to 5,000 sets produced. This is because the new format of panes of 10 was much easier to store than the older versions of panes of 25.

7th Series Railway Locomotives issued May 5, 1987

It appears that seven of the eight values of the 7th series trains progressive color proof sets were confiscated by the British Metropolitan Police for the trials against the printer and associated companies. The 10c value seems not to exist in this form. Perhaps misplaced or very possible that it is lost or destroyed. They were retained until 2008 upon with their release they were auctioned off in bulk. They were sold on eBay in random bulk lots of 30-100 panes mixed with different series along with series from Saint Vincent, Union Island and Bequia in the year 2012 and sold out. They are now scattered across the world and many will never be reunited. Therefore the full intact pane sets are fast becoming rarities.

Evidence is now pretty substantial that the sets in the police evidence stock were mostly reprints of existing series. At least for Bequia. Stampdile is the origins of all the issues and the store has been invaluable as a reference and comparison of the existing progressive color proofs. For Saint Vincent Grenadines there is a difference. No full sets of color proofs are available at Stampdile. This shows strong evidence that indeed the panes made for the 7th and the 8th series that were confiscated are the originals thus only the 5,000 sets exist.

1987 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Locomotives (7th series) Stamps

7TH SERIES LOCOMOTIVES PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF PAGES
THE 40c VALUE 1927 Class 4P Garratt 2-6-0+0-6-2
THE 50c VALUE 1929 Class A3 Papyrus 4-6-2
THE 60c VALUE 1930 Class V1 2-6-2T
THE 75c VALUE 1958 Class 40 No. D200 1Co-Co1
THE $1.00 VALUE 1958 'Warship' Class 42 B-B
THE $1.25 VALUE 1902 Missouri Pacific Railroad Class P-69 4-6-2
THE $1.50 VALUE 1913 West Side Lumber Co. Class 60-3 Shay No. 15 B-B-B

8th Series Railway Locomotives issued August 26, 1987

All eight of the 8th series trains progressive color proof sets were confiscated by the British Metropolitan Police for the trials against the printer and associated companies. They were retained until 2008 upon with their release they were auctioned off in bulk. They were sold on eBay in random bulk lots of 30-100 panes mixed with different series along with series from Saint Vincent, Union Island and Bequia in the year 2012 and sold out. They are now scattered across the world and many will never be reunited. Therefore the full intact pane sets are fast becoming rarities.

Again, evidence is showing they are all that exist. For the 8th series two values were in production for the creation of made for collector errors. They were the 50c and $1.50 values. The 50c value does exist perforated thus it was fully produced. Practices of the printer would have produced 3,000 pairs. At present no evidence that the $1.50 value exists perforated.

1987 Saint Vincent Grenadines Leaders of the World, Locomotives (8th series) Stamps

8TH SERIES LOCOMOTIVES PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF PAGES
THE 10c VALUE 1977 D.R.B. Class 142 Co-Co
THE 40c VALUE 1979 D.B. Class 120 Bo-Bo
THE 50c VALUE 1954 Western Australian Government Railways Class X 2-Do-2
(including error panes)
THE 60c VALUE 1986 Class 59 Co-Co
THE 75c VALUE 1875 New York Elevated Railroad Class A No. 9 Spuyten Duyval 0-4-0T
THE $1.00 VALUE 1831 Camden & Amboy Railroad No. 1 'John Bull' (previously Stevens) 4-2-0
THE $1.50 VALUE 1938 Canadian Pacific Railway 'Royal Hudson' Class H1-d No. 2850 4-6-4
(including error panes)
THE $2.00 VALUE 1934 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Pioneer Zephyr 3-Car Set

This concludes the study of the progressive color proofs produced for the Leaders of the World Automobiles and Locomotives series issued by Saint Vincent Grenadines. I hope that this clarifies them for everyone who enjoys the collecting of these beautiful works of art.

Your friend and fellow collector and researcher,
JLowe

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UPDATED LAST ON: 24-Jan-2015 11:38 AM