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

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

A Specialized Study of the Varieties and Quantities Produced

Would YOU store YOUR specialized stamps 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. Arguments are welcome if you have the evidence to back it up!

In 1983 Saint Lucia joined other commonwealth countries in the production and issuance of the Leaders of the World (LOW) Automobile and Locomotive series of stamps. Between 1983 and 1986 Saint Lucia issued 4 sets of the Automobile series and 5 sets of the Locomotives series. This page will link to images of the existing Progressive Color Proof panes with enlarged images of the pairs in all stages so that collectors and dealers can define which progressive color proof belongs to which series and value.

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

Here is an image of the panes for just one value of Saint Lucia's 1985 Butterflies.


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

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

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

On the Saint Lucia side of the police evidence most of the progressive color proof packs for the Leaders of the World Automobiles and Locomotives series were in the crate. Sadly the crate retained water damage over the years and thus some of the stock was damaged or completely destroyed! This has now caused an even greater rarity factor on some values being in complete color proof sets as in some cases one or several colors were damaged or completely destroyed.

In my recovery of Format material I was lucky enough to acquire much of the Saint Lucia side of the police evidence stock. Most of the packs of color proofs for the LOW cars and trains were intact less a few panes used either for the presentation folders or for resale. With the combination of the packs and documented invoices from the trials and elsewhere I have substantial proof on the quantities that were produced as a whole for all LOW issues. For the progressive color proofs I state again.....we are lucky they survived! Unlike what has happened on the Saint Vincent side of the stock, I have retained the organization of the panes and made them available to purchase on Delcampe or in my little store here.

To those "experts" and certain dealers who run private forums and such that want to call this material "wallpaper" and "junk" and state emphatically "nobody buys this junk!", according to the sales on eBay of the Saint Vincent side of the stock of which all of it is now sold and gone....perhaps you should rethink your status!

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy the show!

1st Series Railway Locomotives issued October 14, 1983

The existence of certain values in this series as progressive color proofs is now in question. Certain values were found to be scattered between the Saint Lucia holding and the Saint Vincent holding. The majority of panes for this series were retained. Many did have slight damage to the outer edges and it appears many were destroyed due to extensive damage or lost.
I have exclusive ownership of the majority of the panes which make up the four low values which were not offered in the sales of the Saint Vincent holding. A few single sets and presentation cards of them are available on the market at a steep price from other sources.
An interesting note is that I have the packets containing three of the seven colors for two of the high values where the other four colors were sold from the Saint Vincent holding. Noting that the pane sets imaged for them are at present the only known complete pane sets known to exist. The locations of the other four colors sold through the Saint Vincent holding is unknown. Perhaps never to be reunited.
I will note which ones on their special pages linked below.
Also noting in reference to the panes that the $1.00 Bodmin is missing entirely, possibly lost or completely destroyed.
So far only panes of the final proofs of the $2.00 Flying Scotsman have been found. Both sets can be found as singles sets along with most of the other values of this series at a steep price.

1st Series Automobiles issued June 25, 1984

The majority of panes for this series were retained from the Saint Lucia Holding. Some did have slight damage to the outer edges but for the most part they are all in beautiful condition.
I have exclusive ownership of the majority of the panes. A few single sets and presentation cards of them are available on the market at a steep price from other sources.

2nd Series Railway Locomotives issued September 21, 1984

At present the location of the progressive proofs is unknown for the 2nd series locomotives if they exist at all. According to the list of requested reprints shown on the main introductory page at which time according to printing standards the progressive color proof panes were produced the four high values of the 2nd series progressives were to be created on January 20, 1989.
This was at the time when the raids by the British Metropolitan Police on the company and other problems began. On the request for reprints list you can see that the final group was not checked off which is evidence that the reprinting (at least at this time) of this series never happened!
As the communication at the top of the list shows, there was an earlier reprint list. I theorize that it contained the earliest series (1st and 2nd and so forth) for the countries involved because as you can see the majority of the earliest series are not on the list used for the trials
Evidence such as specimen overprinted sets and presentation folders with 7-stage progressives show that the 2nd series locomotives issue was reprinted at an earlier time.
The request for reprints of this series, being at the end of the list shows possible evidence of plans to create made for collector errors which were probably not included in the earlier reprinting as evidence shows the majority of the earliest series for most of the countries involved do not have these kind of errors.

2nd Series Automobiles issued December 19, 1984

Only the four high values appear to still exist as progressive color proof sets.
At present the location of the four lower value progressive proofs is unknown for the 2nd series automobiles. According to the list of requested reprinting shown on the introductory page at which time according to printing standards the progressive color proof panes were produced the four lower values of the 2nd series progressives were created around September 9, 1988.
The majority of the four high value panes for this series were retained from the Saint Lucia Holding. Some did have slight damage to the outer edges but for the most part they are all in beautiful condition.
The possibility that the four lower values are either destroyed or lost is very real. No evidence anywhere of their existence at this time.
None were found in the Saint Vincent holding. I have exclusive ownership of the majority of the panes. A few single sets and presentation cards of the four high values are available on the market at a steep price from other sources.

3rd Series Railway Locomotives issued February 4, 1985

The evidence shown on the main Saint Lucia LOW page shows with the imaged invoices that this series was reprinted.
At present the location of the progressive proofs is unknown for the 3rd series locomotives. According to the list of requested reprinting shown on the introductory page at which time according to printing standards the progressive color proof panes were produced the 3rd series progressives were created around September 30, 1988.
None were found in the Saint Lucia holding and other than one seller on eBay with ill repute (I mention no names) who is selling some of the values in imperforate and color proof forms from 7-stage sets at extraordinary and ridiculous prices, none are on the market. I believe this seller is holding the panes and misinforming collectors about the quantities that exist and due to past dealings by many other collectors out there, I would avoid purchasing them at all costs at the prices asked!
Unless this dealer can prove beyond a shadow of doubt his claims, I advise avoiding dealing with in all regards. There is too much documented evidence to the contrary.

3rd Series Automobiles issued March 29, 1985

At present the location of the progressive proofs is unknown for the 3rd series automobiles. According to the list of requested reprinting shown on the introductory page at which time according to printing standards the progressive color proof panes were produced the 3rd series progressives were created around September 2, 1988.

4th Series Railway Locomotives issued June 26, 1985

The majority of panes for this series were retained from the Saint Lucia Holding. Some did have slight damage to the outer edges but for the most part they are all in beautiful condition.
I have exclusive ownership of the majority of the panes. A few single sets and presentation cards of them are available on the market at a steep price from other sources.

5th Series Railway Locomotives issued January 27, 1986

The majority of panes for this series were retained from the Saint Lucia Holding. Some did have slight damage to the outer edges but for the most part they are all in beautiful condition.
I have exclusive ownership of the majority of the panes. A few single sets and presentation cards of them are available on the market at a steep price from other sources.

4th Series Automobiles issued October 23, 1986

At present the location of the progressive proofs is unknown for the 4th series automobiles. According to the list of requested reprinting shown on the introductory page at which time according to printing standards the progressive color proof panes were produced the four high values of the 4th series progressives were created around January 13, 1989.
It is possible they are still in storage in some dealers stock.



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

Your friend and fellow collector and researcher,
JLowe

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