THE 1983 ROYAL WEDDING
SURCHARGE ERROR STAMPS
AND OTHER VARIETIES PRINTED BY THE FORMAT INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PRINTERS LTD.

The 1983 Royal Wedding Surcharged Sheetlets and Stamps and What was Found in the Archive

In 1983 the Format International Security Printers Ltd. were commissioned By the Barbuda postal authorities to surcharge the 1981 Royal Wedding set of stamp sheetlets with new values. The new set produced is imaged below:

BARBUDA
1983 THE 1981 ROYAL WEDDING (1st issue) BUILDINGS SURCHARGED Scott #592-4, SG #677-82
Printed in sheetlets of 6.



According to prior written information and internet research the following findings will be presented and will stand until solid evidence is presented proving otherwise........

THE 1983 ROYAL WEDDING SURCHARGED SHEETLET ERROR



During production of the booklet pane sheetlets an error was produced. The 50c surcharge was placed on the $1 pair and the 45c surcharge was placed on the $1.50 pair. This only occurred on the sheetlets with rose-pink backgrounds.
The booklet pane sheetlets are perf 14.5 and the perforations run through the edges of the sheetlets. The regular sheetlets are perf 11 x 11.5 and the perforations do not run through the edges of the sheetlets.
There are no surcharge errors on the regular sheetlets.
Based on the orders written on one of the uncut press sheets I calculate that approximately 1500 error sheetlets were produced. According to the inventory lists made by Mr. Robson Lowe there were 266 sheetlets found in the archive during the liquidation. What has happened to the rest is up for debate. Most of the copies found in the archive have been dispersed worldwide. I note that some sellers on the internet recognize the error sheetlets while others do not.
It is noted that Scott Catalog has no mention of this error. This is probably part of the reason that the error is not recognized.
Stanley Gibbons lists the errors as individual stamps numbering them as 677bb, 678bb, 679bb, and 680bb. Gibbons notes that they all occur on the rose-pink sheetlet (perf 14.5).
In view of the scarcity of the sheetlet being sold on the internet, a good estimate would be that the sheetlet as imaged above is worth between $20-30.00 at least!

As stated in Stanley Gibbons all sheetlets as well as the error sheetlet exist in imperforate form. Noting it appears no color proofs were made. It appears that imperforates are quite rare. Some were used on FDC's.
What is NOT noted is that there are other varieties of the sheetlets as well, as in perforation varieties. The most rare of all varieties of this issue are presented below.

The following was written by Robson Lowe as to what was in the archive. It is NOT accurate as to description of the sheets but gives a general view of the rarity of these uncut press sheets:

BARBUDA
1981 issue - uncut proof sheets (2), perf sheets uncut
imperf between (2)
1983 Surcharges - uncut proof sheets (7, one imperf
horizontally)
uncut proof sheets - 5 panes on wrong values
perforated
uncut panes imperf vertically (6)
uncut proof sheets (11), one imperf, three with panes
imperf at top

As you can see it is pretty hard to decipher. I will try to clarify a bit with the images.

I have none of the 1981 issue sheets.

A NORMAL UNCUT PRESS SHEET PERF 11 x 11.5 (I have 3)


A NORMAL UNCUT PRESS SHEET IMPERFORATE (I have 1)


This is where a problem arises. Robson Lowe did not note that the normal surcharged sheetlets exist imperforate at the top. Does this mean that the last line of his description should be the first line?
Let's rewrite the description:

BARBUDA
1981 issue - uncut proof sheets (2), perf sheets uncut
imperf between (2)
1983 Surcharges - uncut proof sheets (11), one imperf, three with panes
imperf at top
uncut proof sheets - 5 panes on wrong values
perforated
uncut panes imperf vertically (6)
uncut proof sheets (7, one imperf
horizontally)

Now THIS description falls more in line with what I have recovered.
It stands to reason that more of the NORMAL surcharged proof sheets would be saved for promotion of sales etc.

A NORMAL UNCUT PRESS SHEET IMPERFORATE AT THE TOP OF SHEETLETS
(I have 1)


I have none of the normal perforated uncut press sheets with the surcharge error.

AN ERROR OF SURCHARGE UNCUT PRESS SHEET IMPERFORATE VERTICALLY (I have 2)


AN ERROR OF SURCHARGE UNCUT PRESS SHEET IMPERFORATE (I have 1)


As we can see there are other varieties that do exist of this popular set. Most are exceedingly rare. If you have any of these full uncut press sheets then you have a true rarity. More than likely most of the remaining sheets have been either cut up or possibly even destroyed by uninformed collectors/dealers.

If you have any such items please contact me so it can be documented.

Basically this is the last word on the Barbuda 1983 surcharged Royal Wedding stamp errors and varieties. Any new information on this set will be taken into consideration and modifications made if needed.

References taken from:
Stanley Gibbons Leeward Islands
Scott Catalog
Inventory list for the Format Archive by Robson Lowe
My personal inventory
Online internet research

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