SAINT VINCENT GRENADINES
1986 ROYAL WEDDING of PRINCE ANDREW and SARAH FERGUSON STAMP ISSUES

Information and Reference of What was Found in the Format Archive and Elsewhere

Varieties and Proofs

Would YOU store YOUR specialized 1986 Royal Wedding Uncut Press Sheets this way?

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.

Dangerous modern fakes of this issue appearing first in 2015 are on the market. They have the correct perf size!
Visit the linked page to define all of them and what to avoid.

The Newly Discovered 1986 Royal Wedding Forgeries.

The 1986 Royal Wedding stamps issued for Saint Vincent Grenadines is a very popular set because like the Tuvalu issue, one of the stamps image Princess Diana with Miss Sarah Ferguson. It has been highly sought after over the years and because of the demand the 60c values were reprinted in larger quantities and in the same numbers as the Tuvalu issue. This includes the progressive color proofs although it appears they are either lost, destroyed, or being held for future sales. Please read on for all the details.

But first I present the story about the tete-beches. It is an interesting story.

THE STORY

This part of the presentation is repeated on all the Eastern Hemisphere pages, so you can skip to the reprint section if you have already read this part.

The story began back in 1991 with the sale of the Format International Security Printers Archive due to the bankruptcy proceedings which caused the liquidation of the companies assets including the archive. At the time the trials against the company and affiliated companies and owners for the said fraudulent reprinting and production of varieties which was proven to be found not guilty of all charges was also happening. The British Metropolitan Police made numerous raids on the companies including raiding the printing company and confiscating anything that looked like stamp errors. They took several tons of philatelic material including progressive color proofs, specimen overprinted, imperforate proofs, on and on from the companies and the archive. Mainly involving the countries involved in the trials including Tuvalu and the islands, St. Vincent and dependencies, St. Lucia, Nevis, etc;.

The materials left in the archive were sold via Christie's/Robson Lowe in private treaties and several public auctions with the final auction being made in 1995. One of the major buyers of the archive was Mr. Kasimir Bileski, a famous stamp dealer in Canada. In his purchases he acquired the majority of uncut press sheets from all the countries involved in the 1986 Royal Wedding Omnibus Series. He became fascinated by the tete-beche formation of the sheets and began a heavy research into what they were for and what existed. He studied them among hundred's of other studies for around 16 years before his passing. In the sale of the archive several other dealers obtained some of the sheets and Mr. Bileski for years tried and did in fact locate and purchase most of them from them to reunite with his own.

I have produced a PDF file with Different Bileski Write-ups on the 1986 Royal Wedding Tete-beches. Most have never been seen publicly. You can download and read them here.

The Bileski Documents on the 1986 Royal Wedding Tete-beches

It is interesting here to note that during all this time it was unknown about the existence of the materials that were confiscated for the trials of the printer of which included a large quantity of the uncut press sheets and such of the Omnibus Series in many forms. I wish to note the exciting news at this point that not very many (if at all) uncut press sheets of the normal issued stamp pairs from the islands of Tuvalu were confiscated!

My interest in the series began in about 1998 when in my dealings with Mr. Bileski, he sent me a "bonus gift" in one of my purchases of a set of the tete-beche pairs from all of the countries involved. I followed his research and after his passing have carried it on to today. It has been a fun study and has advanced far beyond Mr. Bileski's study of the series.

After Mr. Bileski's passing, his estate was put up for auction in many different lots over a couple of years via R. Maresch Auction House. In several large lots over this time the materials from the Format Printers Archive were placed for auction. At this time I had not been dealing with Mr. Bileski for years and did not know of his passing. Several of the earlier sold lots were purchased by Mr. Karl Marquis, owner of KMPhilately. KMP broke the large lots into smaller random lots and began sales on their internet auction sales. THIS is when I discovered what had happened. I feverishly bid on many of the lots including the ones with the tete-beches and won most of them, but lost a few also. I reorganized them and reunited them and began the count. Over several years I have found the other buyers who were my competitors and purchased much and received the counts of what they have or had. The counts hold true with the documents written by Robson Lowe and Mr. Bileski my friends!

I have since taken the research even further! I have acquired the police evidence stock held in the police warehouse until 2008 on the Saint Lucia side! In the stock were hundreds of the press sheets still intact and much more cut for storage. Of these all the varieties as in the second issues, silver and gold overprints, Specimen overprinted, missing value, imperforates, progressives. A wonderful find!
With this stock I have been able to gain the evidence needed to come up with the quantities produced for all varieties on the eastern hemisphere side of the series!

REPRINTS

I have found there to be two printing of the 1st series for all countries.
With Saint Vincent Grenadines one cannot define the difference well by the inscriptions as they are similar with Tuvalu issues as in they are black.
With Saint Vincent Grenadines we have another anomaly. The reprints are similar with the Tuvalu issues for the $2 value yet the 60c value is similar to Montserrat and British Virgin Island issues! The originals have deeper toning than the reprints on the $2 and the reverse on the 60c values.
Following are the comparisons.


Note the darker toning on the reprints.
The hair is darker on the reprints.


Again note the darker toning. Complexion and hat much darker and redder on the reprints.


Note the darker toning on the originals.
The hair is darker on the originals this time!


Note the deeper toning of the face on the originals. This time a much deeper richer reddish brown on Sarah's hair on the originals.

On this page we will try to break down quantities that exist to try to establish a value for the material. All varieties come from the uncut press sheets and the saved print runs. These numbers may change as more information becomes available.

An interesting note is that the uncut press sheets which have Princess Diana pictured appear to have been broken more extensively.

Section 1 will deal with the single stamp issues and section 2 will deal with the souvenir sheet.

PRICING IS FOR VARIETIES FROM UNCUT PRESS SHEETS, NOT NORMAL ISSUED STAMPS

SECTION 1

THE PERFORATED VARIETIES

Normal gutter varieties etc.

Based on the configuration of the uncut press sheets we will base quantities on the Bileski method of cutting or breaking the sheets. Also included in the equations will be the fact of how many intact sheets still exist.

Please note that once the stamps are separated from the large selvage or gutter and or the tete-beches are separated they cannot be distinguished from the normal issued stamps or that they did not come from booklet panes.

FROM NORMAL PERFORATED UNCUT PRESS SHEETS

NORMAL PERFORATED GUTTER BLOCKS

NORMAL PERFORATED LARGE SELVAGE CORNER STAMP PAIRS

Through my findings from emailed accounts and stocks purchased from the police evidence stock I have finally been able to come out with the quantitative figures of what was produced for the series in general. For all normal issued 1st and 2nd issues of the 1986 Royal Wedding stamp issues printed by the Format Printers, 300 press sheets of 80 stamps were produced. For the smaller island issues 150 were produced. Thus 12,000 stamp pairs were produced of each value for the main countries and 6,000 stamp pairs produced for the islands and dependencies.

At present I have only 3 uncut press sheets of the 60c value still intact.
At present I have 3 uncut press sheets of the $2 value still intact. These were found in the Bileski Estate holdings.

Here we have a difference from other island issues because of the 60c value having the image depicting Princess Diana
Because of the demand and popularity of it the pair was reprinted at a greater number than the $2 value.
Therefore we have a mixed calculation.

Basing on 300 sheets being produced of the 60c value we can calculate that 5 x 300 = 1500 of these gutter pairs could exist. The same number of tete-beche blocks could exist.

Basing on 150 sheets being produced of the $2 value we can calculate that 5 x 150 = 750 of these gutter pairs could exist. The same number of tete-beche blocks could exist.

This is not the case though as evidence shows that many of the tete-beches have been separated with no regard to their rarity. I found many broken sheets separated from the middle of the tete-bech pairs. Many separated from the gutters thus destroying the gutters. This has greatly decreased the number of tete-beches in both forms that can still exist. Looking back on the history of their sales in the market few are offered and when they are the owner usually only has one or a couple. This shows that very few have been saved intact.

In my acquisitions of the Bileski estate I have managed to reunite a major portion of the tete-beches he created of the 1st issue. For some countries almost 100%! With Saint Vincent Grenadines almost 50% considering the recovery of the intact press sheets as well.

Referencing from the Robson Lowe count of sheets found in the archive and the additional sheets recovered from the police evidence stock I can assure you that the tete-beches and gutters are pretty rare!

In a general statement I received for Saint Vincent Grenadines it is documented that approximately 300 press sheets of the 60c value were recovered from the police evidence stock of which included perforated and imperforate normals, silver and gold overprints, Specimen overprints (probably reprints), and missing values. The quantities have not been defined individually but we can presume that they are very limited in many cases with larger numbers in the silver and gold overprinted and missing value sets.

The known to exist count for Saint Vincent:

Approximately 100 tete-beche gutter blocks and 100 straight-up gutter blocks of both values exist. Around 40 of tete-beche blocks. Around 90 to 100 of tete-beche pairs.

I personally have recovered from the Bileski side
The $2 value
57 tete-beche gutter blocks
54 straight up gutter blocks
13 tete-beche blocks
56 tete-beche pairs
For the 60c value
56 tete-beche gutter blocks
54 straight up gutter blocks
9 tete-beche blocks
56 tete-beche pairs

As far as large selvage stamps go, 10 pairs can exist from each sheet, 5 from each side, thus 1500 pairs for the 60c values and 750 pairs for the $2 values. Not a lot with the millions of collectors out there.

Because of the formation of booklets only corners are the sure way of proof that they came from the press sheets. Only around 90-100 of each value probably exist now. Then divide that by 4 for the different corners. You see my point? Rare!

Pricing should run $25-35.00 for intact gutter pairs either tete-beche or not.
Tete-beche pairs $25.00 and blocks at $50-75.00! They are extremely rare!
Stamp pairs or singles with the LARGE corner selvage should run at $20-25.00 each!
Intact uncut press sheets are in the extreme rare category now unless more are found.
Again I am referencing to the normal 1st issue. The majority has been broken!

NORMAL PERFORATED TETE-BECHE BLOCKS

NORMAL PERFORATED TETE-BECHE GUTTER BLOCKS

NORMAL PERFORATED "SPECIMEN" OVERPRINTED STAMPS FROM UNCUT PRESS SHEETS

The above imaged format exist for the SPECIMEN overprinted stamps as well. There are two versions of the SPECIMEN overprint. The first being larger letters in italic in silver and the second being smaller block capital lettered in silver. It appears that only the smaller block capital lettered overprint still exists in larger gutter block and tete-beche forms. At present I cannot find any of the larger italic overprinted stamps in this form which means they may have been so extensively broken that now none exist! Still some may turn up with the police evidence stock.

SPECIMEN OVERPRINT VARIETIES

LARGE ITALIC SILVER SPECIMEN OVERPRINT ON ALL VALUES

SMALL BLOCK CAPITALS SILVER SPECIMEN OVERPRINT ON 60c VALUE

SMALL BLOCK CAPITALS SILVER SPECIMEN OVERPRINT ON $2 VALUE

Documentation and evidence show that:
No evidence on the large specimen overprinted stamps has been released.
It has been documented that 5 intact perforated uncut sheets with the smaller SPECIMEN overprint existed quite a few years ago.
This was from the archive and documented on the Bileski/Robson Lowe end. They were all broken into gutters and tete-beche blocks and pairs.
I have not recovered them but know who got them.
I now have found that much more exists. The smaller overprint is from the second printing.

Judging from what was relayed to me on the 300 sheets and purchases from a certain seller on eBay the sheets are being slowly broken and sold in random lots. With the way they are being broken many of the gutters and tete-beche formations are being destroyed as I write this.
The above imaged blocks of 6 show an example of why this is so. You cannot take such from the sheet without either breaking the gutter along one side of the sheet or breaking the tete-beche attached pairs in the middle of the sheet!

Based on equations from the Saint Lucia side of the police evidence stock and practices of the printer, it is estimated that 50 sheets of the large overprint were made thus producing 2000 sets whereas 75 sheets were made with the smaller overprint thus producing 3000 sets.

Based on the findings unless more sheets are found for the large specimen overprinted style then either tete-beches and such are non-existent or so extremely rare that they would be worth a fortune!
Based on the findings of what exists and what is happening to the smaller specimen overprinted style at this point the rarity of such is equivalent or even more rare than the normal issue varieties above and thus either should be priced the same or a bit higher. I can assure you that if the breaking of the sheets continues in the fashion presently being done they will retain these values.

Again intact uncut press sheets are fast becoming into the extremely rare category now.

PERFORATED 2ND ISSUE VARIETIES

60c Value with Silver Overprint

$2 Value with Silver Overprint

$2 Value with Gold Overprint

The 2nd issue had both silver and gold overprints. The gold overprinted stamps were never issued postally.
At present only the $2 value has been available with gold overprints. I am sure the 60c value exists with it. Time will tell.
As you can see by the forms imaged the press sheets again are being broken in such a way that the tete-beches and gutters are being separated and thus the rarity is increasing. Documentation and evidence show that:
There is no documentation on the 1986 Royal Wedding issues for Saint Vincent Grenadines with silver or gold overprint.
Only that they are part of the 300 recovered sheets from the police evidence stock.

Research shows that we can safely presume 150 sheets of the Silver overprinted were printed of the $2 value thus producing 6,000 sets of pairs.
Research shows that we can safely presume 300 sheets of the Silver overprinted were printed of the 60c value thus producing 12,000 sets of pairs.
Again this is because of popularity and demand for the stamp imaging Princess Diana.

Still at this point these should be valued at approximately the same range as the normal 1st issue tete-beches and gutter pairs. This is because of the way they are being separated on the sheets and the unknown factor that it looks like a lot have already been broken over the years without regard to tete-beche and gutter forms.

Intact uncut press sheets are fast becoming in the very rare category now.

Research shows that we can safely presume 50 sheets of the Gold overprinted were produced of each value thus producing 2,000 sets of pairs.

Again, because only the $2 value has been available on the market pricing for such is not available at this time except to compare pricing with gold overprinted sets from other western hemisphere countries.

Intact uncut press sheets are in the rare to extremely rare category now.

MAJOR OVERPRINT ERRORS

In the police evidence stock I have found several uncut sheets with major errors of the overprint both in Silver and Gold! These uncut sheets of course were destined to be destroyed but were confiscated as evidence before this could happen. These sheets have multiple types of errors as in inverted overprints, A' Cheval overprints and just plain messed up overprints! Here is an image of one such sheet.

Uncut Press Sheet of the 80c Value for Saint Lucia with Silver Overprint errors

For Saint Vincent Grenadines the 60c value with inverted overprints has shown on the market being sold without even being noticed that they were an error! Again the sheet being broken with apparent disregard to the tete-beche formations in the middle of the sheet.
As you can see from the imaged full press sheet, the following error occurred on both ends of the sheet.
Here is the example.

The 60c Value with Silver Overprint Inverted in Large Gutter Block

The 60c Value with Silver Overprint Inverted

At this time it appears only this error exists. It is possible that others such as gold ones may turn up.
These errors are true errors and thus are very valuable. Research is ongoing as to what that should be as some of the sheets may have very different variations of errors meaning some pairs may be unique in their form.

THE PERFORATED 1ST ISSUE MISSING VALUE ERROR

The 60c Missing Value Error

The $2 Missing Value Error

A bit of news on this one folks. Due to other country documented evidence, even though there is none for this country, the calculations should still hold that 100 sheets were produced making 4000 sets possible.

In my study of the printing practices of the printer I have seen these type of stamps in other countries. A good example being the Guyana Reichenbachia Orchids series. Several stamps were produced with different values and the same stamp produced in this fashion as well. The value being placed at a later time. It is probable these stamps are not made for collector errors at all but produced to be printed with new values at a later date.
Perhaps made this way to change the value with the planned 2nd issue. There are no documents on the production of the 1986 Royal Wedding issues so we may never know. Standard printing practices for the made for collector errors was for 3,000 of a given stamp. That would mean only 75 sheets would be made. Given this higher number of sheets produced fall outside the normal practices of the printer. They are an interesting novelty nonetheless and a mystery still.

Based on these numbers and other research one should value these at around $5.00 a pair. Gutter pairs and blocks and selvage pairs should be priced the same as the normals above.

UPDATE May 2018

I just purchased on eBay a selection of "investment" stamps sold by Franklin Philatelics LLC. These were sold in 2003 when they were located in Florida. These criminals ripped off the investor for over $11,000! In this "collection" was both values of the Saint Vincent Grenadines missing value error. Because I have not seen this issue with this error offered in the many years I have been looking, I suspect that these criminals possibly possessed all that exist. In recent years Latvia based sellers moved large quantities of the errors on eBay showing us that the stock was retained. Because these sellers on eBay were offering them in bulk like the image above shows, either the seller got them from these cons because they can no longer sell them for the outrageous price they ask or more of the stock was located somewhere else. As I stated before, the research shows that probably 4,000 exist and therefore they are worth at most $5.00 for a pair. Here are images of the receipt, stamps and certificate of which there were two. The certificates are bogus computer generated garbage and nothing they sell was ever "issued" as the certificates imply. Never buy anything from anyone that wants to give you certificates like these.

In catching up on the complaints against these cons one comment listed names these people are using. The comment states:
"Other names of interest include Grand Continent Collectibles, Barrington Chase, Bookmark Collections, Lloyd's Certified Philatelics, Chamberlain Philatelics, Franklin Philatelics, Regency Classic, Midwest Marketing, Hampton Collectables, Hampton House, Windsor House, Monroe Collectibles, Set-in-Stone Collectibles, and others from the past, such as First Liberty Collectibles, Financial Frontiers, and Equifin."
Exposing and convicting these cons for fraud would be a wonderful thing!

A Franklin Philatelics LLC Front Cover


Saint Vincent Grenadines 1986 Royal Wedding Missing Value Errors that were sold by Franklin Philatelics LLC for $1600.00!
Note how cheap these cons are. they wouldn't even spend a couple dollars to get an issued pair to compare with!




A Franklin Philatelics LLC False Guarantee
These were never "issued" and are not a "genuine printing error". Totally bogus!


Franklin Philatelics LLC Receipts for the Ripoff


Again I stress, do not even listen to anyone calling you telling you they have a good "investment" in stamps. Hang up and run away! Once you are caught in their web they will take your hard earned money and you will not be able to get it back! Last known location of these cons...Oceanside, California. Living the high life on all their victims money....

END May UPDATE

This basically sums up the perforated varieties of the single stamp sets.

FROM IMPERFORATE UNCUT PRESS SHEETS

So far there exists imperforate SPECIMEN overprinted $2 values and Also imperforate missing value errors of both values.
At this time I can find no sources for normal issued imperforate proofs nor progressive color proofs.
One should be aware that many imperforate booklets and panes do exist. Please visit my page on the 1986 Royal wedding Booklet Panes for more detailed information on what to look for when buying the proofs (which at this time seem not to exist) versus buying the booklet panes.

The 1986 Royal Wedding Booklets

IMPERFORATE SPECIMEN OVERPRINTED PROOFS

IMPERFORATE SPECIMEN OVERPRINTED PROOFS OF THE $2 VALUE

At this time and as evidence shows from other countries only the small block capital lettered overprint exists imperforate. At this time it appears that only the $2 value exists in this form for Saint Vincent Grenadines.
Documentation and evidence shows that:
50 sheets were produced making 2000 sets possible. The sheets are being cut with no regard to many of the tete-beche formations. The example shown shows that the gutter has been destroyed taking the block from the right side of the sheet.

Therefore pricing should be at least $20-25.00 for intact gutter pairs either tete-beche or not.
Tete-beche pairs $8-10.00 and blocks at $15-25.00.
Stamp pairs or singles with the LARGE corner selvage should run at $12-18.00 each! A maximum of 50 of each corner can exist!

IMPERFORATE MISSING VALUE ERROR PROOFS

IMPERFORATE MISSING VALUE ERROR PROOFS OF THE 60c VALUE

IMPERFORATE MISSING VALUE ERROR PROOFS OF THE $2 VALUE

Documentation and evidence show that:
25 sheets were produced making 1000 sets possible. Thus these do have a rarity factor. We will base on 50 sheets.

Based on these numbers Gutter pairs and blocks and selvage pairs should be priced the same as the imperforate specimen overprinted stamps above.

PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOFS

At present there is no evidence that progressive color proofs of the single stamp issues were saved.
Possibly all were destroyed? Possibly still in the Police Evidence waiting to be discovered? Time will tell.

This basically sums up the stamp varieties for the Saint Vincent Grenadines 1986 Royal Wedding single stamp issues printed by the Format International Printers Ltd.
As new information and evidence is found it will be added to this page.


SECTION 2

THE SOUVENIR SHEET

Following is the rundown of what was saved in regards to the souvenir sheet.

THE PERFORATED SOUVENIR SHEET

It is estimated that 6,000 normal issued souvenir sheets were produced. This is based on practices by the printers during the time. Usually quantities of souvenir sheets in respect to the single issued stamp sets was around 30% of the quantities issued. Because there are no documents we will base the figures at the highest rate of 50%. Catalogue values for the normal issue are thus in perspective.

THE IMPERFORATE SOUVENIR SHEET

Documentation and evidence show that:
At present based on practices of the printer at the time 2,000 imperforate souvenir sheets were made.
Another 1,500 were produced with the progressive color proofs. I have acquired all but a few via the police evidence. The count is close to 3,000.

In accordance pricing should be around $10.00 each considering one cannot break them from the progressives thus limiting them to 2,000+ available for sale.

THE PERFORATED AND IMPERFORATE SOUVENIR SHEET WITH SPECIMEN OVERPRINT
Documentation and evidence show that:
At present based on practices of the printer at the time 1,000 of each were made.
No perforated nor imperforate copies have been found at present. Time will tell if they should still exist.

THE PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOFS OF THE UNISSUED SOUVENIR SHEET

Documentation and evidence show that:
At present based on practices of the printer at the time 1,500 progressive color proof sets of the souvenir sheets were made.
I have acquired around 500 sets via the police evidence. Another pack of the final browns without inscriptions. They are not offered on the market generally. At this point I believe very few other than these still exist.

In accordance pricing should be around $75.00 for each set.

A note on the above progressives:
Notice there are nine stages. The eighth stage is the black addition. Some of these sets were sold without this stage present thus they are not complete sets. We have noticed that the final color progressive is also being sold as an error as it does not have the silver inscriptions. This is not correct. It would only be an error if it was perforated as shown below.

THE MISSING SILVER INSCRIPTIONS ERROR OF THE SOUVENIR SHEET

Based on practices of the printer at the time 1,000 errors of the souvenir sheets were made.
Again I would like to note that this "error" falls in line with the missing value stamps shown above. Could it be possible that this souvenir sheet was made this way for a possible change in value and/or a change in country name perhaps? We may never know. It is odd though that the printer would make these simple errors of no value and no inscriptions etc; on such a large scale. The commonality of them being quite noticeable. If they were misperforated as in way off the mark etc; then that would be grounds for calling them "errors".
It has been stated that they are possibly "running proofs" where the printer runs a bunch to test final colors and positioning of the perforations. For imperforate versions...simply testing the final colors for whatever reasons.
Please understand these were confiscated right from the printing company and from their archive. If the same type of raids were done on say Waterloo or the ABN company would not the printing trials, running proofs etc; also be considered "errors" and possibly included with the actual made for collector errors to boost the evidence against the printer in the trials? Think about it. There are no other type of "errors" for this souvenir sheet.

This basically sums up the stamp varieties for the Saint Vincent Grenadines 1986 Royal Wedding souvenir sheet. As new information and evidence is found it will be added to this page.

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