FORMAT INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PRINTERS LTD. AND THE ARCHIVE

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

LATEST PAGES ADDED
Isle of Man
British Airways Letter Service
A documentation of the sale of 1981 Royal Wedding Stamps, Varieties and Errors Through Stanley Gibbons Promotions.
Study of the 1985 Leaders of the World Audubon Birds Series
Upper Yafa
Cayman Islands
Bardsey Island (British Locals)

WARNING!

Modern fake reproductions of stamps originally produced by the Format International Security Printers are flooding the market.
Please visit the section to learn and avoid these fake issues!

Between the years of 1967 and 1989 the firm called "Format International Security Printers Ltd." printed stamps for many of the nations in the British Commonwealth areas and also supplied many foreign countries. The British Crown Agents were their largest and main customer. Another was Philatelists Ltd. later being the Philatelic Distribution Corporation (PDC).

In the study of the printer many new discoveries have been and are being made as the study progresses. It is unknown by the majority of "experts", dealers and collectors that the practices and procedures used by the Format Printers and the associated agencies and businesses were being followed by many other stamp printers and the associated agencies and businesses as well. The Crown Agents and Philatelists Ltd. and so forth were not exclusive to just using the Format Printers for their stamp printing needs. They used many other printers as well.
The fact that the trials against the owners and associates of the Format Printers revealed that they were producing larger quantities of stamps than were issued by the countries. The fact that varieties in limited quantities were produced for the philatelic agencies to promote the stamp issues and produce more revenues for the agencies and the perspective countries philatelic bureau's was unknown until the trial.
The problem that arose from the revealing of printers documents, which are usually destroyed within a short time after the stamp issue is discontinued, is that rather than the collecting community understanding that the majority of agencies and printers were doing the same practices, they singled out the Format Printing company and associated agencies as being unique in the practices.
Because of the devastating effect it could have upon the stamp market as a whole, printers, agencies, dealers and "experts", disassociated themselves from the Format Printers and immediately sought to deny that they did anything like it or similar to it in any way. As many to this day will say, "The House of Questa, B.D.T., Cartor, De la Rue, Waddingtons, The Crown Agents, IGPC, and many others would never do such a thing!". I am afraid you are wrong.

There are quite a few stamp related sites and especially certain well known stamp forums I will not name which tend to produce personalized opinions and unsubstantiated claims about the history of Format and the stamps they produced. Apparently some of these people want to blame Format for anything that involves errors, varieties, over produced stamps and anything else that does not conform to their outdated way of thinking.
An example would be for instance the 1985 Caribbean Royal visit overprints. Some claim that Format created all the overprints for them and thus in turn created all of the errors of double overprints, inverted overprints, and so forth.

For those who wish to make these unsubstantiated claims, The House of Questa, Waddingtons, and various other printers were also the creators of these "errors". The House of Questa indeed made the majority of them. If these supposed knowledgeable collectors, dealers and "leaders" had done any research at all on the subject before making their statements they would have come to the conclusion I stated. A simple contention to look at is that the production that was involved in producing the overprints on all of the stamps involved would have required a massive amount of time and use of a variety of different sized equipment of which Format did not have. If Format had created all of the overprints and produced them it would have taken all of their time to do it and thus they would not have had time to produce the hundreds of sets that they produced during 1985. Get it?

Some "Leaders" and "experts" want to claim Clive Feigenbaum created the Leaders of the World issues. Wrong again. Do your research before making claims! The program was in production long before he ever was involved. He was simply involved in the reprinting at the end.

So, for those who really want to know the history and to learn about the many mysteries and discoveries about the Format Printers based on documented proof and proven evidence and not by hearsay and biased unresearched opinions then you are welcomed here to study and explore what has now become a huge reference area for the philatelic community.

The evidence

In researching the Format Printers I obtained several thousand pages from the trial exhibits of the prosecutor. These are organized and show the creation, production and distribution of stamp issues for various countries. These documents were thought to have been destroyed. I am sure there are some out there that would like it to be that way. For them I state,
"Sorry, they still exist!".
Many documents are the communications between stamp bureau management, stamp agency management and printer management. Many show direct orders for varieties and larger quantities of issues than what are ordered and issued by the philatelic bureau's of the countries. This is because the contracts between the philatelic bureau's and the agencies allowed it. Yes, several sets of documents are of the contracts themselves. All of these documents are usually destroyed and the general public never sees them. One of the benefits of "high security". Try to find "true quantities" of stamp issues and you will find it virtually impossible to do.

The most profound evidence are the stamp issues themselves. Studying thousands of stamp offering on the internet, patterns emerge which are absolute evidence and proof that other printers were producing varieties and errors, many times on an even more massive scale, than the Format Printers ever did. Many of the varieties are being sold for extraordinary prices. If the knowledge were known that they are not that rare these dealers would be run out of town!

Because of the bias created by the trial, many of the varieties created by the Format Printers are not listed or noted in the major stamp catalogues, when thousands are noted and listed that were printed in the same fashion by other printers. It is mainly because certain stamp societies run by powerful stamp dealers influenced the catalogs and used the Format Printers as a "scapegoat" to cover up the fact that the majority of varieties on the market produced before, during, and after Format, were made the same way. Under orders by the agencies to do so.

As the research progresses, the evidence, patterns and comparisons will show the above statements to be true. Like so many other historical events that have now been proven to be inaccurate and/or false, this research will change the views of the stamp collecting community in respect to varieties and quantities of the normal issues that exist. It will change views on valuation of varieties as a whole. Should they all be unvalued? Should they be valued in respect to true rarity? Or should we continue to allow shady dealers sitting on large quantities of a given variety to sell them at over inflated prices, depending on collectors lack of knowledge of the true history of the variety in question.

"Well, it wasn't made by Format so it must be a true error or variety!"

This type of logic has gone on ever since the trials and is completely false.

"Well, they made millions of errors for Leaders of the World issues!"

These are rumors based on hearsay. Documents proving this to be false are shown.

"Well, they made millions of a single stamp issue!"

Again this is false. Documents show us that in the majority of countries Format made stamps for, millions of a single stamp issue were never ordered nor produced. For LOTW issues they were never even planned to be produced in that quantity.

UNCUT PRESS SHEETS

As is standard practice with all the major stamp printing firms, production and printing of postage stamps is on large uncut sheets of as many panes as sound layout design dictates. This is usually in four to six panes. Most people call them sheets of stamps but this is actually the wrong terminology and why I call them panes. The individual panes are separated from each other by vertical and horizontal spaces (known as "gutters" in the trade) which provide the space needed for cutting the sheet into separate panes for final packaging and shipment. Depending on the size of the stamps these panes usually have twenty to one hundred stamps on them. They are what you see at your local post offices.

For detailed information on uncut press sheets please visit this page.

A HISTORY OF UNCUT PRESS SHEETS
For their own reference needs, the Format Printers set aside a quantity of press sheets in their archives as do most stamp printers. Judging by the auction sales and known private purchases when the liquidators sold the archive, it is now known that almost all of the issued and unissued stamp press sheets were stored in quantities of only five to ten sheets. A major portion existed in quantities of one to three sheets. In most cases only one uncut sheet represented an issued set of stamps. If an issue dealt with a member of the British Royalty, the number of uncut sheets ranged from three to seven in most cases. This does differ with certain very popular issues such as the 1986 Royal Wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson and certain Princess Diana imaged issues. With these a larger quantity was saved.

A little known fact is that all the philatelic agents have and had their own storage and from those sources certain large dealers have obtained their stock. This includes the unsold normal issues, specimens and imperforates. Also including unsold first day covers, souvenir sheets, deluxe sheetlets and unissued stamps. Many issues of the past had very large quantities left over that did not sell well at the time and thus these dealers are today sitting on thousands of sets of many issues thought to be rare. These dealers will never tell you what they have in terms of quantity because indeed it would devalue the issue if it were known.

As far as imperforates, specimen overprinted, progressive color proofs and "errors" are concerned, some quantities were saved but the exaggerated statements that "millions" of a single issue were made and saved by the printer and associates by certain biased agencies and stamp clubs and some enemies of the last owner of the company is not to be believed and should be ignored as we now have solid proof of what really was printed and saved via the Police Evidence from the trials and documentation directly made at the time of printing. This evidence completely conflicts with Scott catalogs statements for instance on the "LEADERS OF THE WORLD" issues by various British Commonwealth countries stating "Large quantities of the Leaders of the World issues were sold at a fraction of face value when the printer was liquidated". In comparison of the thousands of stamps that were issued for these sets, and the amounts found in the archive and elsewhere, "Large quantities" is a bit of a misleading statement. The logical minded person would take this statement as a warning and it has hurt the collectability of these issues as a whole. Indeed as a whole millions were made but in reality you could take just a couple issues for the U.S. or the U.K. and have a massively larger quantity that was produced than all of the Leaders of the World issues (including all the varieties) combined!

The "enemies" and as I have found to be complete liars have instilled this stigma by simply using a single word or two to influence the collectors and dealers of stamps to shy away from these issues as a whole and thus under value them as a whole. Namely because of competition at the time. They were made to defame the last owner of Format and to ruin his business. These words have been built upon over the past 25 years and embedded into the collecting markets literature and "experts" opinions without any research being done to prove it. I have done the research over the past 10 plus years taking the evidence that is left from all sides of the story in an unbiased and bipartisan view and have found the story to be quite different than the earlier articles and information has portrayed things to be.

A key fact that most of the rumor makers don't include is the fact that Mr. Clive Feigenbaum took over the printing company in 1987. He only retained control of the company until 1989 when the company went bankrupt. Therefore to blame him for everything that was produced by the company is completely inaccurate and basically...irrelevant. Varieties and "errors" have been produced by all stamp printers since the time it was discovered that there was a market for them.

As far as varieties such as imperforates, color proofs, specimen overprinted stamps and the like is concerned the study will show that from around 1960 to the year 2000 (and beyond), a major portion of the stamp printing companies including The House of Questa, Fournier, De la Rue, Cartor, on and on were producing the same varieties in limited quantities (in basically the same quantities) for collectors.
This is because they all received their orders from philatelic agencies to do this! The only reason most collectors and "experts" don't know this, is because all of these companies were not put on trial and thus exposed publicly that they were doing just that! This is one of the reasons, for instance, that Wally Rogers (one of the founders of Questa) so fervently denied any "ties" with the Format Printers even though (unknown to all) he was one of the founders of Format.

Therefore to blame the printing companies and/or the owners of said companies for creating varieties illegally is a false conception. You must blame only the philatelic agencies and the countries they represent for ordering them! The same thing is happening to this day. Even the U.S., Canada, Australia, on and on, are doing this. There is nobody that can deny this fact.

THE HISTORY OF FORMAT

The ties between the Format International Security Printers and The House of Questa

To understand some of the history of Format, you have to also look at the history of The House of Questa.
Evidence now proves that there were very strong and deep ties between the two companies! This has been a very controversial subject over the years with total denial of the facts that these two companies had close ties and were working together.
I have produced a new page showing hard evidence proving ties between them. Here is the link!

The Ties between the Format Printers and The House of Questa Printers
PREVIEW OF SOME EVIDENCE

Absolute proof they were located right next to each other.
Both were lithograph printers using the same printing presses.
Both printed many of the common design stamps of the commonwealth countries. Examples being the 1981 royal wedding, 21st birthday of Princess Diana and so on.
The same designers and artists used to make the stamps.
The same style of stamps produced.
The proof presentation folders showing that they were located at the same location, Questa remaining there all the way through the late 90's!!

EXAMPLE 1 OF HOUSE OF QUESTA ADDRESS


EXAMPLE OF FORMAT INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PRINTERS ADDRESS


EXAMPLE 2 OF HOUSE OF QUESTA ADDRESS


Shocking news, yes? The ties between the two companies have and are being covered up because of the trials against the Format Printing company which exposed what a majority of stamp printers and the agencies that used them were doing to the world. After the trials and because they were so closely tied, the Questa owners/directors tried to disassociate themselves with Format with distorted accounts about their history stated in articles and even on voice recorded tapes. They tried to destroy all evidence of association by destroying all internal documents and philatelic materials in the archives. Sorry to say to them but, you failed.

One thing they did not realize nor think of at the time was that the general population would have computers and internet access in the future and thus be able to still find the evidence they could not destroy and/or cover up. How could they know? Windows did not even exist at the time.
They did not realize we would have access to their financial records, Patent records, liquidation records on and on! These are documents that cannot be altered and can be used as positive proof in any court proceedings.

The association of the two companies has been avoided over the years by stamp dealers, experts and major societies because when put together they produced the majority of the commonwealth nations stamps and Questa produced stamps for the United Kingdom itself! Both companies producing stamps from the late 1960's to late 1990's having a major control in the 1980's and Questa through the 1990's. Of course if the association of the two companies is fully established in the stamp collecting community this could basically change the status of all varieties and errors of stamps produced in the 70's, 80's, and 90's for many countries, the commonwealth and many stamps from Great Britain! Why? Because the House of Questa also massively produced imperforates, specimens, progressive color proofs AND "made for collector errors" in the same quantities as the Format printers did!!

Think about it....

What will this mean to dealers and "experts" who have been peddling these varieties as great rarities for years?
What will it do to their reputations and status?
What will it do to major stamp catalogs that have been listing and selectively not listing varieties based on who made them for years?
It will make them all look unresearched and inaccurate, would you so agree?

Quite the dilemma yes? Either devalue and delist them all or equalize their standing in the collecting community by valuing, listing them and letting the public know their status in notes.
Don't take my word for it. Look at the evidence yourself. Look at what is being sold. Look at what exists.
Some "experts" including certain stamp societies and forum "leaders" I have run across will deny this and fight tooth and nail to change your view with arguments and words but the evidence is solid and cannot be denied. The evidence I now have is going to expose the truth once and for all and it is documented fact not words. Thus, I must state that the Format International Security Printers were not unique in producing varieties for collectors at all since it will be proven that basically all the British stamp printers and many others were doing the same thing!

On the status of Questa varieties and whether they were made on purpose or not...think about it. Why are there so many varieties and errors that exist that were produced by The House of Questa when supposedly according to Walter Frederick Rogers one founder of The House of Questa, "We had 20 quality control inspectors that wouldn't let a flyspeck flaw get out.".

Getting back to the history.

Format began printing stamps for Arab countries and states starting with Fujeira 1967 Cats. They produced many beautiful sets for them up until 1971 when Questa took over fully. The majority of lithograph stamps for the Trucial States were then printed by Questa.

This is a write up on the company written in 1989 that was found in the original document files that were saved by the printers last owner.

The Company

Format company has been established 21 years, it has produced postage stamps
for over 112 territories at different periods; Crown Agents being a major
customer over an eighteen year period. The technique of production i.e.
screen rulings in reproduction and manner of printing have produced a superior
product acknowledged as probably the best in its field. The company has
many "Firsts" to its credit with others following, it has always been
progressive in outlook and adaptable. It is the only company to solely
produce stamps; this specialization with other aspects of quality control
setting the standard that others aspire to achieve.

Caldew was originally the parent company from which the security company
stemmed. When colour T.V. was in it's infancy the Caldew camera was the
only one in Europe capable of producing the original shadow masks for the
T.V. screens and was used by Mullards boffins to produce the screens that
were masters for all subsequent T.V.. This expertise was of high quality
giving Format a good lead on all it's competitors. Prior to this 95 percent of
stamps were produced by gravure whereas now 95 percent are produced by litho.
This denotes the Format impact on the market.

The company branched off into the many countries I have linked below. The list is growing as the research continues.
Financial records and other historical documents are being analyzed and connected showing a virtual maze of the involvement in production of postage stamps over the years of the companies existence. Ties between Format and other printers involved in the production of common design series and many other issues is evident.

Format designed and printed stamps for countries all over the world. Heavily in British Commonwealth, Caribbean and African countries. From the Falkland Islands to Haiti, from Liberia to Oman, the Format Printers were there.

The Format Printers Archive

Issued stamps were never sent in uncut sheets to any of the various country issuing agencies. Most that existed were stored in the Format Printers archive. Being to large for standard storage equipment, Most of the full uncut sheets were folded and refolded before storing them. Damage to many of the sheets was considerable. This was not considered a problem by the printers though because they had no intention of ever selling them. Because of their large size, uncut sheets cannot be mounted in albums. In the early 90's when the archive was sold, dealers and collectors knew that they could be mounted and framed for display, but considered that even three days of exposure to sunlight can fade the colors. We know now that you can display them with the proper protections, basically being UV protective glass or plastic. We know now that many of the full uncut sheets have been broken up into gutter units, se-tenant pairs, imprint strips, color guide strips, etc., which are now available to the public market and are extremely collectible and many are very valuable as many are one of a kind.

Canada and the United States have now been selling uncut press sheets for years to the public in limited quantities. They started selling them soon after the sale of the Format Archive. It is possible and most probable that the sale of the archive influenced the U.S. and Canada to begin to sell press sheets because of the interest generated by the sale. Some U.S. and Canada modern press sheets sell for hundreds of dollars even though thousands are produced simply for profits!

Other countries are now following the same practices and the collection of them is rising every year. They are issuing them in "limited" numbers of 5,000 or 10,000 etc. So what if there are only a few or maybe just one in existence? What would that be worth? A thousand? Two thousand? Ten thousand? The intact uncut sheets from the Format printers archive are the rarest in the world! Most exceeding the rarity of the 1935 U.S. Farley sheets that are intact still to this day!

VARIETIES

In Linn's Stamp news September 2012 an article was made about imperforates only found on U.S. uncut press sheets.
These are made for collector items and not sold in local post offices. Thus I must ask, what is the difference between these made for collector varieties and the ones made by the Format Printers and other printers? The answer is no difference at all. Therefore should they be valued while imperforates from the issues made by the Format Printers should not? Absolutely not!
Should they be valued at higher prices? Why when tens of thousands of sets are made in comparison to say 5,000 sets made by Format?

Recently we have had the 100th anniversary of the inverted Jenny airmail stamp. One hundred sheetlets with the airplane "right side up" were produced and seeded purposely along with the millions of sheetlets that were issued. These are "made for collector errors" produced to promote sales of the issue. They are selling for up to $50,000 dollars! Stamp dealers have influenced the major stamp catalogs to now list them with numbers even though everything about them goes against the listing policies of the catalogs. Therefore I ask:
What is the difference between these U.S. made for collector errors and the made for collector errors produced by Format?

THE TAKEOVER AND THE TRIALS

In 1987 in a bitter takeover fight, A new shareholder, namely Mr. Clive Feigenbaum, took over management of the Format International Security Printers Ltd.. The displaced shareholders accused the new management (one of whom was the British Crown Agents manager) of creating deliberate printing errors and secretly selling them to the public as great rarities without informing the public that they were deliberately made. The St. Vincent Missing Tennis Ball and Inverted Royal Ruby Wedding issues are two good examples. The question is, were they deceiving the public which would have been a crime. I think not as here is evidence that they were made only for promotions of the issues.


Basically, it came down to all the accused parties being found not guilty of all charges. Yes, they did create "made for collector errors" and yes they did present them to the public, but they did imply that they were made by the printer in limited quantities for collectors. Interestingly, only a couple of them appear to have been in the archive. Many "made for collector" stamps are produced by many countries in the millions. The issuing countries have a population that would never use them all in a lifetime! What has happened to many of these "errors" is that some shady dealers are still to this day trying to sell them as true error stamps and using deceitful tactics not stating that they were made for collectors by the printer, lying about their rarity, and trying to convince non-savvy collectors that they are a great investments. To these dealers I say,
"YOU are now being exposed!".

After the trial apologies were made to all the accused parties. The British Government paid all the costs for the trial. But sadly the firm went bankrupt. So a government appointed liquidator was given the task of selling the Format Printers archive and all assets. The actual process was turned over to Christie's/Robson Lowe which was and is a highly reputable auction house in London.

Tuvalu and the Leaders of the World - A Philatelic Scandal
compiled article

Please be aware the following link is to an article that was compiled from articles written with a lot of bias against the accused parties and should not be taken completely as fact whereas as court trials go...much is hearsay. If you look closely you will see that most calculations are way over exaggerated and vague and wording of some statements is keyed toward defaming and putting in a bad light the accused. The statements about millions of "flawed" stamps in reality included the varieties like imperforates, color proofs and so forth which are not flawed stamps at all! In the end of the article the short statement (and admission) is made that all parties involved were found not guilty of all charges thus showing the trials were a waste of time and monies against the wrong parties. In my opinion they should have gone after the dealers who were selling the made for collector "errors" as genuine errors.
You can read Brian Cannons compiled version on the trial here:

I have added notes showing you clarifications, discrepancies and inaccurate statements that are written within the article.

The Tuvalu Stamp Trial

THE SALE OF THE FORMAT PRINTERS ARCHIVE

The sales of the archival materials spanned over six years.

A NOTE ON THE POLICE EVIDENCE

The status of the police evidence taken from the archive and several other locations was at the time of the final sale in 1995 of the archive ignored and covered up by the liquidator Mr. Stanley Rose. In his view of the confiscated material he wrote "It will make a markedly deleterious effect on the stock holdings of dealers world-wide". Mr. Rose in his own words stated he personally went to the police store and viewed the evidence seized. What he did not state was that in reality the police evidence seized were the imperforates, progressive color proofs, many specimen overprinted stamps and some "errors". What the police (who are not philatelists) seized in the raids that looked like errors to them were not errors at all but simply varieties!

Further more, I must state here that the stock that was seized was completely different than the stock sold from the archive in it being the above mentioned varieties and thus would not be detrimental to dealers stocks worldwide but indeed would enhance dealers stocks instead! The reason being that the majority of varieties in the police evidence stock were never available to the stamp market until it's release in 2008!
The letter this was taken from was Mr. Roses response to Mr. Feigenbaum's objections to the final sale of the archive in 1995. Mr. Rose was determined to not delay or stop the final sale for reasons unknown. Possibly for financial reasons, be it personal or public, or possibly being tired of dealing with the liquidation which was over a six year period.

Any way you look at it, the response letter by Mr. Rose is what started the rumors of "millions" of stamps flooding the market when the police evidence holding would be released.

Back to the archive.

The first sections of the archive were sold through private treaties. It is at this point that more conflicts arose between Mr. Feigenbaum and certain dealers. Much of the sorting and organization of the different sections of the archive that were sold privately was done by Keith Low (unrelated to Robson Lowe).
The first section sold privately were the sheets (presumably uncut press sheets) of mint stamps, (which inadvertently included some unissued varieties as well). They were sold to Allan Grant of Rushstamps in the UK. Much of the material from the archive he still has and is selling. Through observations of sales by this company I can safely state that they have a huge amount of the imperforates and specimen overprinted varieties. Also large quantities of the unissued stamps from many countries. In many cases except what was found in the archive....the whole print run. This means that many unissued stamps and souvenir sheets including imperforates and such that were thought to be rarities are simply not so. This is because for years large stamp dealers like this have not revealed quantities that they have in their stocks because indeed it would devalue them. Because of my research into them, they are now beginning to "unload" the stocks in bulk sales on eBay and other avenues. This is good because now we can establish true values for the material. Sadly many collectors have been duped into paying large sums for varieties that we now know are not rare at all! Thanks to these dealers, much of the material is almost unsalable. Not a good legacy for a stamp dealer to hold.

The remainder of the mint stamp sheets were sold to Robert W. Lyman presumably in two or three sections. In turn he sold portions to George Alevizos in Los Angeles and some to Kasimir Bileski. Portions of the material handled by Mr. Alevizos were featured in his various auctions through his web site and some are still present today in his eBay lots! Many are rarities as in artists works and such but here too he is selling items which are not rare at over inflated prices. Examples being imperforates from many countries where other dealers are selling them over and over again for much smaller amounts. Time to rethink what you have that are true rarities and "unload" what is not!

In 1993 Christie's had a major auction sale in New York of the archival material. Roger West, owner of Avion Stamps, was one of the major buyers of the material so it is said. He is still selling items from the archive on his web site. He is a member of the Stampdile Network. Being a said member it basically comes down to Mr. West buying back part of the material and joining Mr. Feigenbaum in the selling of it.

The materials held as evidence for the trial was released in 2008 and parts of that were also made available. The late Clive Feigenbaum's son Jonathan Feigenbaum is carrying on with his father's business.

Justwendy Thematics is also a member of the Stampdile Network. Basically, all three sites are selling the same material and are tied together by a central database. Even though they have different styles of web sites, the images and offerings are the same.
They too need to look at the material and separate the true rarities from the varieties that exist in larger quantities and start pricing them at fair market value. Come on, selling something for $30.00 that others are selling for $3-5.00 including myself, it is obvious that changes need to be made. The methods of printing and the retention of the material is proven so let us give the collectors a break and be fair and balanced as to price.

Several of the crates were auctioned off containing the St. Vincent/Nevis side of the Leaders of the World Automobiles/Locomotives varieties and other issues such as the Ships, Cricket and Soccer issues including the imperforates, specimen overprinted, progressive color proofs and some "errors". They were put into randomized lots on eBay by City Collectibles and virtually all of it has been sold and spread across the world. The panes (and a few Royal Wedding uncut press sheets) are now being cut up and sold by various dealers, many in not complete sets. Because of the randomized way they were placed in lots by CityCollectibles this has happened. It was stated that it was too difficult to match the progressive colors to their perspective values and I can understand why. Thousands of panes in packs of 120 randomly thrown into crates is a difficult and very time consuming endeavor.

WARNING

I have noticed a large fluctuation in pricing for the varieties sold from the St.Vincent side of the police evidence. Certain buyers of the material are pricing sets and pieces at very over inflated prices. Once again greed raises its ugly head. Please be aware of my research and refuse to do any business with such shady dealers. They are everywhere on all the auction sites.

THE TUVALU AND SAINT LUCIA SIDE OF THE POLICE EVIDENCE STOCK

The organization of the Saint Lucia side was a difficult task for me. It took a lot of work and time to put together the seven stages of progressive color proofs for each value in an organized fashion.

I have recovered a major portion of the St. Lucia/Tuvalu side for the research. Much has been fully reunited and counted and documented for future knowledge for collectors and dealers. Printing quantities are basically the same for all these issues and thus one can base the same figures on the St. Vincent/Nevis side of the materials as well even though it was not counted and documented by CityCollectibles. Specialized pages have been created for more details on specific issues.

AN EXAMPLE OF THE SAINT LUCIA AUTOMOBILES PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF PANE SETS


It has been stated that there was a different stock from the Format Printers Archive which consisted essentially of Belize and Lesotho material. Mr. Clive Feigenbaum was very vague about this stock, according to one source, but insisted it was separate from the remaining Format stock. Assuming this means it was retained outside of all sales of the archive.

KASIMIR BILESKI

More knowledge of the archival material seems to have been presented by Kasimir Bileski, A world renowned stamp dealer from Winnipeg, Canada, than any other person associated with the stamp market and the Format International Security Printers Archive. He was most famous for the discovery of the Canadian Seaway invert. He was one of the biggest buyers of the archive of Waterlow and Son, and of the Royal Collections of Egypt. I had the privilege of dealing with him many years ago and he gave me some very beautiful and rare materials from not only the Format Printers Archive but from the Royal Collections of Egypt and Canadian rarities as well. Much of which I sold years ago. You can read about him here.

Kasimir Bileski's Biography
Sadly Mr Bileski is not with us now.

In 1990 he began buying the Format Archive material from Christie's in private sales and purchased ALL of the unissued varieties section. He purchased more at the Christie's auction in March 1993. The final auction for all the remaining Format material from the archive was held by Christie's/Robson Lowe on July 14th, 1995 in which he purchased some of the Commonwealth to fill in his previous buys and the final lot of the day, a very large grouping involving all the foreign country printings including Liberia, Haiti, and other Latin American countries, plus all else. He did an enormous amount of research on what he had purchased from 1990 to 2004.

A discrepancy

I need to point out here that I have discovered that many write-ups he made were inaccurate. This is because they were written from Mr. Bileski's earlier purchases in 1990 and 1993 at which time he did not know other items and quantities existed of which he purchased in the final sale of the archive in 1995. Also because he did not know what was in the police evidence stock which now effects validity of many of the notes he made because it was not released until 2008 which was after his death. Also noting that silence from other dealers involved in regards to what they had (and apparently still have) in their stocks throws a lot of the notes right out the window!

Many of the uncut press sheets he broke up in such a way as to display them in an album. Many of them are still one of a kind. Many souvenir sheet press sheets he cut into pairs creating as he liked to call them, "instant rarities of the first degree!". An example are the Diana Royal Wedding souvenir sheets in pairs. Perforation varieties, proofs, color trials, essays, progressive color trials, unissued, and much more he discovered and wrote about. Sadly , he has passed on before he could finish his research, as it seems we as collector/researchers all do. His daughter, Jeannette, has kindly presented his estate through numerous auctions to the stamp collecting community. The problem now though, is that it has been broken up and sold in smaller and smaller groups and auction lots. It has been scattered and sold and many of the items that are in the extreme rarity class are being sold with no knowledge of what they really are! Items that should be sold for hundreds if not thousands of dollars are being sold from anywhere in the range of a couple dollars to fifty dollars. This is why I am presenting this and the following web pages to try and help the stamp collecting community understand and gain knowledge of what was in the archive and actually printed and saved. Many of you collectors and dealers will soon find out that you may have an item or items in your possession that are much more valuable than you realize.

Waterlow and son was inventoried extensively and rarity is known. The Royal Collection of Egypt the same and prices are in accordance. The Format International Security Printers Archive was not extensively inventoried. Maybe because of the trials or maybe because they were around for only a short time. Possibly because they are more "modern" issues. The stamps issued during their short time have enormous historical significance though. The Royal Weddings, Discovery of America, Olympics, Special events, Beautiful topicals, Art, all were in the archive. This is why the research needs to be done. Already a lot of information and or stamps and combinations of them has been lost forever. Let us try to preserve what is left before it is too late.

Quantities of many of the items remains a mystery. Certain sources of the material do not wish to reveal information of this nature because of fears of devaluing their stock. Obviously this means they are holding larger quantities of certain issues and trying to sell them at over inflated prices. An example would be the 1987 Saint Vincent Royal Ruby Wedding issue with inverted frames. Or how about the 1985 Elvis Presley stamps with inverted frames of which I have now found them to be reprinted after Format no longer existed! The Royal Ruby Wedding inverts produced for promotional reasons but claimed to be true errors by a few bad sellers. Thousands were produced! Not a few hundred. Anyone who invested 100's or 1,000's of dollars in them I am sad to say were duped. They are worth $5-10.00 a set of singles at most. Anyone trying to sell them for large amounts should be questioned in all dealings. Also some of the regular issued stamp sets from some countries were reprinted several times creating a moderately large holding.

Another example is St. Lucia Locomotives. Certain issues of imperforates are for sale stating only 10 exist and priced at over inflated prices. I have the document proving 5,000 were produced. Where are the other 4,990? Interesting yes? Issues which may have this problem have been noted with modified generalized statements made from Scott Catalog and Stanley Gibbons Catalogs. Please be aware that these statements should be referenced to the general perforated issues whereas with the varieties one should hold in reserve as to what actually exists and not be completely swayed by the generalized statements. Yes, in many cases 5,000 etc; exist. But let's get real....millions do not! Please be aware of these items before investing large sums of money on them.

The following links will be to pages showing each of the individual countries that the Format International Security Printers Ltd. printed stamps for and what stamps were printed by them. Each page will give information on varieties that exist. Many will have links to specialized pages on individual issues and sets.
There are specialized pages below the country links for large series and other issues of interest and below that a few videos I made!

Quantities that were found in the archive and/or exist will be noted where available.

Some have stories to tell of why they were made or were placed in the archive. Many are a mystery still. I do have some for sale myself. Check out my eBay, ebid and Delcampe lots which are linked to on the home page. I do not sell through this website anymore. Questions and comments and/or more information is always welcome. Enjoy the show!

JLowe
Owner and webmaster of Golowe's Collector Stamps

All Content Copyright © 2012 Golowe's Collector Stamps, All Rights Reserved

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT SOME OF THE FOLLOWING PAGES HAVE A LOT OF IMAGES AND NEED TIME TO DOWNLOAD. PLEASE BE PATIENT.

COUNTRY LINKS

1967 and 1968 Stamps Printed for AJMAN by The Format International Security Printers (12megs) 1969 Stamps Printed for AJMAN by The Format International Security Printers (9megs) 1970 Stamps Printed for AJMAN by The Format International Security Printers (4megs) 1971 Stamps Printed for AJMAN by The Format International Security Printers (8megs)

Stamps Printed for ANGUILLA by The Format International Security Printers (10megs)

Stamps Printed for ANTIGUA by The Format International Security Printers (38megs)

Stamps Printed for BAHAMAS by The Format International Security Printers (9megs)

Stamps Printed for BANGLADESH by The Format International Security Printers (3megs)

Stamps Printed for BARBADOS by The Format International Security Printers (3megs)

Stamps Printed for BARBUDA by The Format International Security Printers (47megs)

Stamps Printed for BARDSEY ISLAND by The Format International Security Printers (8megs)

Stamps Printed for BELIZE by The Format International Security Printers (34megs)

Stamps Printed for BERMUDA by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for BERNERA ISLAND by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for BHUTAN by The Format International Security Printers (22megs)

Stamps Printed for BOTSWANA by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for BRITISH ANTARCTIC TERRITORY by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for BRITISH HONDURAS by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS by The Format International Security Printers (10megs)

Stamps Printed for BRUNEI by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for CALDEY ISLAND by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for CAYMAN ISLANDS by The Format International Security Printers (4megs)

Stamps Printed for CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC by The Format International Security Printers (28megs)

Stamps Printed for CHAD (TCHAD) by The Format International Security Printers (36megs)

Stamps Printed for CHRISTMAS ISLAND by The Format International Security Printers (3megs)

Stamps Printed for COMORO ISLANDS (Comoros, Comores) by The Format International Security Printers (25megs)

Stamps Printed for CONGO PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC by The Format International Security Printers (12megs)

Stamps Printed for COOK ISLANDS by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for DAVAAR ISLAND by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for DOMINICA by The Format International Security Printers (12megs)

Stamps Printed for DUBAI by The Format International Security Printers (9megs)

Stamps Printed for EASDALE ISLAND by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for the FALKLAND ISLANDS by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for SOUTH GEORGIA (Dependency of the Falkland Islands) by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for the FALKLAND ISLANDS DEPENDENCIES by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for FIJI by The Format International Security Printers (5megs)

Stamps Printed for GAMBIA by The Format International Security Printers (4megs)

Stamps Printed for GHANA by The Format International Security Printers (11megs)

Stamps Printed for GIBRALTAR by The Format International Security Printers (8megs)

Stamps Printed for GILBERT AND ELLICE ISLANDS by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for GRENADA by The Format International Security Printers (24megs)

Stamps Printed for GRENADA GRENADINES by The Format International Security Printers (42megs)

Stamps Printed for GUYANA by The Format International Security Printers (16megs)

Stamps Printed for HAITI by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for HONDURAS by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for ISLE OF MAN by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for IVORY COAST by The Format International Security Printers (10megs)

Stamps Printed for JAMAICA by The Format International Security Printers (4megs)

Stamps Printed for KENYA by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for KIRIBATI by The Format International Security Printers (4megs)

Stamps Printed for LESOTHO by The Format International Security Printers (31megs)

Stamps Printed for LIBERIA 1969-1975 by The Format International Security Printers (13megs)

Stamps Printed for LIBERIA 1976-1980 by The Format International Security Printers (14megs)

Stamps Printed for LIBERIA 1981-1988 by The Format International Security Printers (14megs)

Stamps Printed for LIBYA by The Format International Security Printers (36megs)

Stamps Printed for LUNDY ISLAND by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for MALAWI by The Format International Security Printers (5megs)

Stamps Printed for MALDIVES by The Format International Security Printers (34megs)

Stamps Printed for MAURITANIA by The Format International Security Printers (9megs)

Stamps Printed for MAURITIUS by The Format International Security Printers (4megs)

Stamps Printed for MONTSERRAT by The Format International Security Printers (15megs)

Stamps Printed for NAURU by The Format International Security Printers (5megs)

Stamps Printed for NEVIS by The Format International Security Printers (30megs)

Stamps Printed for NICARAGUA by The Format International Security Printers (12megs)

Stamps Printed for NIGER by The Format International Security Printers (19megs)

Stamps Printed for NIUE by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for OMAN by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for PAPUA NEW GUINEA by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for PENRHYN ISLAND by The Format International Security Printers (2meg)

Stamps Printed for the PHILIPPINES by The Format International Security Printers (7megs)

Stamps Printed for PITCAIRN ISLANDS by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

1968 and 1969 Stamps Printed for RAS AL KHAIMA by The Format International Security Printers (7megs) 1970 Stamps Printed for RAS AL KHAIMA by The Format International Security Printers (12megs) 1971 Stamps Printed for RAS AL KHAIMA by The Format International Security Printers (6megs) 1972 Stamps Printed for RAS AL KHAIMA by The Format International Security Printers (19megs)

Stamps Printed for REDONDA by The Format International Security Printers (3megs)

Stamps Printed for SAINT CHRISTOPHER, NEVIS, ANGUILLA by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for SAINT HELENA by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for ASCENSION (Dependency of Saint Helena) by The Format International Security Printers (3megs)

Stamps Printed for TRISTAN DA CUNHA (Dependency of Saint Helena) by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for SAINT KITTS by The Format International Security Printers (10megs)

Stamps Printed for SAINT LUCIA by The Format International Security Printers (16megs)

Stamps Printed for SAINT THOMAS AND PRINCE ISLANDS (Sao Tome Principe) by The Format International Security Printers (7megs)

Stamps Printed for SAINT VINCENT by The Format International Security Printers (20megs)

Stamps Printed for SAINT VINCENT GRENADINES by The Format International Security Printers (9megs)

Stamps Printed for SAINT VINCENT GRENADINES BEQUIA by The Format International Security Printers (7megs)

Stamps Printed for SAINT VINCENT GRENADINES UNION ISLAND by The Format International Security Printers (5megs)

Stamps Printed for SAMOA by The Format International Security Printers (4megs)

Stamps Printed for SEYCHELLES by The Format International Security Printers (7megs)

Stamps Printed for SIERRA LEONE by The Format International Security Printers (9megs)

Stamps Printed for SOLOMON ISLANDS by The Format International Security Printers (3megs)

Stamps Printed for SRI LANKA (Ceylon) by The Format International Security Printers (3megs)

Stamps for STEEP HOLM ISLAND involving The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for the SUMMER ISLES by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for SWAZILAND by The Format International Security Printers (3megs)

Stamps Printed for TANZANIA by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for TIBET by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO by The Format International Security Printers (6megs)

Stamps Printed for TUVALU by The Format International Security Printers (20megs)

Stamps Printed for TUVALU FUNAFUTI by The Format International Security Printers (6megs)

Stamps Printed for TUVALU NANUMAGA by The Format International Security Printers (6megs)

Stamps Printed for TUVALU NANUMEA by The Format International Security Printers (6megs)

Stamps Printed for TUVALU NIUTAO by The Format International Security Printers (5megs)

Stamps Printed for TUVALU NUI by The Format International Security Printers (6megs)

Stamps Printed for TUVALU NUKUFETAU by The Format International Security Printers (6megs)

Stamps Printed for TUVALU NUKULAELAE by The Format International Security Printers (5megs)

Stamps Printed for TUVALU VAITUPU by The Format International Security Printers (6megs)

Stamps Printed for UGANDA by The Format International Security Printers (7megs)

Stamps Printed for the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (UAE) by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Stamps Printed for UPPER VOLTA (Burkina Faso) by The Format International Security Printers (18megs)

Stamps Printed for UPPER YAFA by The Format International Security Printers (10megs)

Stamps Printed for VANUATU (New Hebrides) by The Format International Security Printers (2megs)

Stamps Printed for YEMEN ARAB REPUBLIC by The Format International Security Printers (6megs)

Stamps Printed for ZAIRE by The Format International Security Printers (5megs)

Stamps Printed for ZAMBIA by The Format International Security Printers (6megs)

PRIVATE CARRIERS

Private Carrier Labels Printed for BRITISH AIRWAYS by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Private Carrier Labels Printed for RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF IRELAND by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

Private Carrier Labels Printed for SARK ISLAND SHIPPING COMPANY by The Format International Security Printers (1meg)

SPECIAL LINKS

Introduction to Modern Fake Stamps created from Stamp Issues Printed by the Format Printers

A documentation of the sale of 1981 Royal Wedding Stamps, Varieties and Errors Through Stanley Gibbons Promotions

Study of the 1985 Leaders of the World Audubon Birds Stamp Issues

Study of the Leaders of the World Automobiles and Locomotives Stamp Issues

Study of the Leaders of the World Cricket Players Stamp Issues

High Resolution 1200dpi Images of the Leaders of the World Stamps and Other Stamps Printed by Format International Security Printers

Study of the 1985 Leaders of the World 85th Birthday Stamp Issues Commemorating the 85th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

Study of the 1986 60th Birthday Stamp Issues Commemorating the 60th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II

Study of the 1986 Royal Wedding Stamp Issues Commemorating the Wedding of Prince Andrew and Miss Sarah Ferguson

The 1986 Royal Wedding Booklets

Introduction to the Stamps of the Trucial States Printed by the Format International Security Printers

The 1988 Seoul Olympics Unissued Stamp Sheetlets and Souvenir Sheets of Saint Vincent, Tuvalu and Dependencies (8megs)

The 1985 Michael Jackson Unauthorized Reprint Stamps and Souvenir Sheets and Links to Other Recently Discovered Unauthorized Reprint Stamp Sets (7megs)