SAINT VINCENT
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 Saint Vincent 1986 Royal Wedding Forgeries.
The 1986 Royal Wedding stamps issued for Saint Vincent have an interesting twist as it appears a huge number of the imperforate uncut press sheets were retained intact! Also a number of specimen overprint errors exist. And to top it off the 2nd issue stamps seem not to be available on the market in tete-beche nor gutter form at all! Please read on for more details on these oddities.

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 one cannot define the difference well by the inscriptions as they are similar with Tuvalu issues as in they are black.
With Saint Vincent we have an anomaly. The reprints are similar with the Tuvalu issues for the 60c value yet the $2 value is similar to Montserrat and British Virgin Island issues! The originals have deeper toning than the reprints on the 60c and the reverse on the $2 values.
Following are the comparisons.


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


Again note the darker toning. Complexion much darker on the originals.


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


Note the deeper toning of the face on the reprints. This time a much deeper bluish hue almost purpling on Prince Andrews collar on the reprints.

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 like the issues which have Princess Diana pictured, the $2 issue from Saint Vincent is one of the rare stamps that pictures Nancy Reagan the wife of President Reagan. Thus it appears that the $2 uncut press sheets 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 PAIRS

NORMAL PERFORATED LARGE SELVAGE 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 5 uncut press sheets of the 60c value still intact.
At present I have 5 uncut press sheets of the $2 value still intact. These were found in the Bileski Estate holdings.

Basing on 300 sheets being produced of each value we can calculate that 5 x 300 = 1500 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 almost 85% 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!

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
82 tete-beche gutter blocks
80 straight up gutter blocks
7 tete-beche blocks
86 tete-beche pairs
For the 60c value
82 tete-beche gutter blocks
80 straight up gutter blocks
33 tete-beche blocks
86 tete-beche pairs

As far as large selvage stamps go, 10 pairs can exist from each sheet, 5 from each side, thus 1500 pairs. 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 $75-100.00! 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.

NORMAL PERFORATED TETE-BECHE BLOCKS

NORMAL PERFORATED TETE-BECHE GUTTER PAIRS

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. Both types exist on the Saint Vincent royal wedding stamps.

SPECIMEN OVERPRINT VARIETIES

SMALL BLOCK CAPITALS SILVER SPECIMEN OVERPRINTS

LARGE ITALIC SILVER SPECIMEN OVERPRINTS

Documentation and evidence show that:
No evidence on the large specimen overprinted stamps has been released. Sale of them has begun on eBay from the Saint Vincent side of the police evidence stock thus showing a quantity of them still exist. It looks like the owner of the stock is breaking the sheets for some of them.
I wish to note that like similar cases with other countries the $2 value appears to have half the values with inverted overprint. Noting all appear to be offset (a'cheval). Another bad print run.
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 recovered them all.
I now have found that much more exists. The smaller overprint is from the second printing.

It was documented to me a few years ago that 28 perforated 60c uncut press sheets with the small specimen overprint still existed.
It was also documented that 26 perforated $2 uncut press sheets with the small specimen overprint still existed.

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.

Here we must then calculate that for the perforated large and small specimen overprinted stamps. They are not rarer than the normal perforated gutter pairs etc. above.
This is because they are being sold as intact gutters and tete-beches. Therefore pricing should be based more on the Saint Lucia equations.

Therefore for the perforated SMALL specimen overprinted at least $15-20.00 for intact gutter pairs either tete-beche or not.
Tete-beche pairs $6-7.00 and blocks at $12-15.00.
Stamp pairs or singles with the LARGE corner selvage should run at $10-15.00 each!

The larger specimen overprinted gutter pairs, tete-beches etc. should command a 25% premium on top of that. This includes the $2 value with inverted specimen overprints.
75% of all the stamps on the sheets of the $2 value have the inverted overprint whereas 25% have the overprint normal but A'Cheval. Therefore for the rarer A'Cheval only pairs a 25% premium should be added.

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

PERFORATED 2ND ISSUE VARIETIES

Silver Overprint


The 2nd issue had both silver and gold overprints. The gold overprinted stamps were never issued postally.

Documentation and evidence show that:
It has been documented that 54 uncut press sheets of the 60c value with Silver overprint still existed a few years ago.
It has been documented that 55 uncut press sheets of the $2 value with silver overprint still existed a few years ago.
It has been documented that 21 uncut press sheets of the 60c value with Gold overprint still existed a few years ago.
There is no documentation on the $2 value with gold overprint.

I would like to note that I cannot find even one example of the 2nd issue in tete-beche nor any gutter forms. This could mean that only the documented press sheets have this and are all that is left. If anyone has information or examples please contact me.

Research shows that we can safely presume 150 sheets of the Silver overprinted were printed of each value thus producing 6,000 sets of pairs.
Since I cannot locate any in tete-beche nor gutter form pricing for such is not available at this time.
Intact uncut press sheets are 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 nothing is available on the market pricing for such is not available at this time.
Intact uncut press sheets are in the rare to extremely rare category now.

MAJOR OVERPRINT ERRORS

At present all I have seen is the $2 value with inverted and offset LARGE specimen overprinted stamps being sold on eBay. Here is an image.

The $2 Value with Specimen Overprint Inverted

These errors are true errors. They are more common though as it appears the whole printing had the error and 75% of the values on each sheet has the error. Also as stated earlier the other 25% has the overprint offset. With the basis of 2,000 sets being produced then obviously 1,500 pairs have the inverted error and 500 pairs have the overprint A'Cheval.

THE PERFORATED 1ST ISSUE MISSING VALUE ERROR

At present none can be found on the market but they do exist. If you have examples or information please contact me.

Documentation and evidence show that:
It has been documented that 23 uncut press sheets of the 60c value with Missing Value still existed a couple years ago.
It has been documented that 21 uncut press sheets of the $2 value with Missing Value still existed a couple years ago.

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 possible these stamps may not be made for collector errors at all but produced to be printed with new values at a later date. Perhaps in conjunction with the 2nd issue overprints. 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 evidence that a higher number of sheets were produced fall outside the normal practices of the printer. They are an interesting novelty nonetheless and a mystery still.

Evidence shows that 100 sheets were produced making 4000 sets possible. It is possible that the bulk of the sheets were lost or destroyed. Until that fact is known the same rules should apply as the small specimen overprinted stamps above as far as value.
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 close to the same (or a little less) than the perforated small specimen overprinted stamps above.

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

FROM IMPERFORATE UNCUT PRESS SHEETS

So far there exists imperforate proofs including finals and imperforate SPECIMEN overprinted sheets. Also imperforate missing value errors. This totally disputes the statement in Stanley Gibbons that imperforates come from booklets.
STILL 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 versus buying the booklet panes.

The 1986 Royal Wedding Booklets

IMPERFORATE PROOFS

This is going to shock everyone!

Documentation and evidence show that:
It has been documented that 272 uncut press sheets of the imperforate 60c value still existed a couple years ago.
It has been documented that 310 uncut press sheets of the imperforate $2 value still existed a couple years ago.
For what reason so many exist is a mystery. Possibly part of the count includes what was with the progressives.
Therefore probably 12,000+ sets can exist on top of all the booklet panes! Hopefully whoever gains access to them will cut them with the knowledge of how to do so to define them separately from booklet panes.

Based on these numbers and other research one should value these at half the value of perforated missing value stamps.
WARNING: please be very careful in purchasing these imperforates as previously shown many come from booklets and are not actual proofs. Due to the large quantity that exists though the booklets for Saint Vincent may actually be rarer than the proofs!

IMPERFORATE SPECIMEN OVERPRINTED PROOFS

At present it seems that only imperforates with the small block capital lettered overprint exist.
Documentation and evidence show that:
It has been documented that 26 uncut press sheets of the imperforate 60c value with SPECIMEN Overprint still existed a couple years ago.
It has been documented that 30 uncut press sheets of the imperforate $2 value with SPECIMEN Overprint still existed a couple years ago.
Evidence shows that 50 sheets were produced making 2000 sets possible.

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!

IMPERFORATE MISSING VALUE ERROR PROOFS

Documentation and evidence show that:
It has been documented that 23 uncut press sheets of the imperforate 60c value with Missing Value still existed a couple years ago.
It has been documented that 21 uncut press sheets of the imperforate $2 value with Missing Value still existed a couple years ago.
This shows that at least 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

Documentation and evidence show that:
It has been documented that 73 uncut press sheets of all the 7 stages (including finals) of the 60c value still existed a couple years ago.
It has been documented that 73 uncut press sheets of all the 7 stages (including finals) of the $2 value still existed a couple years ago.
Based on this we know all the progressive color proofs still exist which equals 3,000 sets.

Based on the findings a set of color proof pairs of either value should be valued at $20-30.00.
Tete-beche block sets and gutter blocks (tete-beche or not) of each value should be valued at $50-75.00.

This basically sums up the stamp varieties for the Saint Vincent 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

Documentation and evidence shows that:
At present at least 5,000 copies of this issue were saved. Possibly more.
This is based on the following evidence found in the St. Lucia holding.

1.) 3,000 copies have been found in the St. Vincent portion of the police evidence.

2.)These are for sale by numerous internet sellers and stamp dealers.

3.)One dealer of Format Material (mentioning no names) is selling bulk lots of 5 seeming to have many copies.

Because of these factors pricing for this souvenir sheet should run at average Scott listed pricing of $3-5.00.

THE IMPERFORATE SOUVENIR SHEET

Documentation and evidence shows 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 2,421 of which a few were damaged.

In accordance pricing should be around $10.00 each.

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.
We found none in the the police evidence. None appear to be on the market. Destroyed?

In accordance pricing should be around $20-25.00 each considering rarity if they are found to exist.

THE PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOFS OF THE 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.
We have acquired only around 450 sets of the above imaged via the police evidence. It is probable the rest are lost forever.

Pricing should be around $65-75.00 for each set unless more are recovered which is now doubtful.

A note on the above progressives:
Notice there are two all colors proofs. This is because the full progressive color proof set has 9 stages. The eighth stage is the black addition. Many progressive color proof sets from many different issues have been and are being sold without this stage present thus they are not complete sets.
We have also noticed that the final color progressives for other country souvenir sheets are sometimes 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. At this time there is no evidence that any made for collector errors were made for this particular souvenir sheet.

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

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