SAINT VINCENT LEADERS OF THE WORLD AUTOMOBILES AND TRAINS PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF STAMPS
The Cars and Trains Progressive Color Proof Stamps for Saint Vincent 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 Vincent 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 Vincent issued 5 sets of the Automobile series and 6 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 Vincent 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 Vincent side of the police evidence most of the progressive color proof packs for the Leaders of the World Automobiles and Locomotives series
were in two crates. The two crates were purchased in auction soon after their release in 2008 by a stamp seller on eBay under the user
names of CityCollectibles and StampsInternational2010. From what was told to me by sources I will not name and I cannot verify it that
the crates were "sold for peanuts!". The crates with Saint Lucia, Tuvalu and other unknown countries (I am thinking probably British Virgin Islands for one)
did not sell at that time and were returned to the original owner, Mr. Jonathan Feigenbaum, son of the late Clive Feigenbaum.
Some time in 2011 under the user name of CityCollectibles the buyer began sales of the progressive color proof panes on eBay.
Because of the random way in which the British Metropolitan police just threw the packs into the evidence bags and into the crates
the seller CC found it to be too difficult and time consuming to reunite the different color proofs to their perspective values.
Instead they took a number of random packs and took one pane from each creating lots of 25 to 100 panes and gave them a price range
of $25-60.00 for each lot! The lots sold like hotcakes!
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 which all of it is now sold and gone....boo hoo for you!
In my recovery of Format material I was lucky enough to catch on to the sales of the Saint Vincent side of the police evidence stock.
I began purchasing one of each of the random lots and thus have accomplished reuniting at least one set of each value that was in the
stock for Saint Vincent and the dependencies. There are certain series (many of the automobiles series)that were not in the
stock. Either they do not exist or were never taken in the raids. Certain series again only four of the six or eight values were in the stock.
I note here that now many of the panes are being cut and sold as individual stamp sets. Because of the random way they have been dispersed
all over the world many sets will never be fully recovered and thus we now have a new rarity factor. Owning a full set of panes will be
an extreme rarity in the not so far future! In the beginning 3,000 sets were produced. Now the number of complete sets for many of the values
may be cut in half or even more!
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!
It appears at this time that the Stampdile network retained very little of the automobiles and locomotives progressive color proofs for Saint Vincent, unlike with Bequia
in which a majority of them were retained. It is with some certainty that the Saint Vincent progressives from the police evidence stock are indeed reprints.
However at this time I theorize that they were being reprinted because no older versions of the progressives were retained for the Saint Vincent issues
as is evident on the Stampdile website. The reprinting was halted at the end of 1988 and thus it is possible that the series that were in the police evidence stock may
be the only progressive color proof sets (aside from the uncut press sheets which are extremely rare) left in existence!
Although several sets were listed on the request for reprints list used as evidence in the trials at the time of this writing none appear to be on
the market. They still could exist, locked away in storage or in some dealers stocks. Time will tell.
1st Series Automobiles issued November 9, 1983
At present it appears none of the progressive proofs were saved for the 1st series automobiles. There is evidence that a few uncut press sheets of
the progressives did survive. They are extremely rare if not unique.
1st Series Railway Locomotives issued December 8, 1983
All eight of the 1st series trains progressive color proof sets were confiscated by the British Metropolitan Police for the trials against the printer and associated companies.
They were retained until 2008 upon with their release they were auctioned off in bulk. They were sold on eBay in random bulk lots of 30-100 panes mixed with different series
along with series from Saint Vincent Grenadines, Union Island and Bequia in the year 2012 and sold out.
They are now scattered across the world and many will never be reunited. Therefore the full intact pane sets are fast becoming exceedingly rare.
1ST SERIES LOCOMOTIVES PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF PAGES
2nd Series Railway Locomotives issued July 27, 1984
All eight of the 2nd series trains progressive color proof sets were confiscated by the British Metropolitan Police for the trials against the printer and associated companies.
They were retained until 2008 upon with their release they were auctioned off in bulk. As with the 1st series, they were sold on eBay in random bulk lots of 30-100 panes mixed
with different series along with series from Saint Vincent Grenadines, Union Island and Bequia in the year 2012 and sold out.
They are now scattered across the world and many will never be reunited. Therefore the full intact pane sets are fast becoming exceedingly rare.
2ND SERIES LOCOMOTIVES PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF PAGES
At present it appears none of the progressive proofs were saved for the 2nd series automobiles. There is evidence that a few uncut press sheets of
the progressives did survive. They are extremely rare if not unique.
3rd Series Railway Locomotives issued November 21, 1984
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 9, 1988.
There is also evidence that a few uncut press sheets of the progressives did survive. They are extremely rare if not unique. Single sets and such with large selvage
proving they came from the press sheets should command higher prices.
3rd Series Automobiles issued March 11, 1985
The 3rd series automobiles progressive color proof sets appear to only be available through the Stampdile network. All are in the six stage format. This shows strong
evidence that the sets were not reprinted.
THE 3RD SERIES AUTOMOBILES SIX STAGE PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF SETS
3,000 sets estimated to have been produced.
4th Series Railway Locomotives issued April 26, 1985
At present the location of the progressive proofs is unknown for the 4th 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 four higher values of the 4th series progressives were created around September 16, 1988.
There is also evidence that a few uncut press sheets of the progressives did survive. They are extremely rare if not unique. Single sets and such with large selvage
proving they came from the press sheets should command higher prices.
4th Series Automobiles issued June 7, 1985
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 4th series progressives were created around September 9, 1988.
Only the progressives for the souvenir sheet can be found of which they appear to only come from the press sheets found in the archive.
There is also evidence that a few uncut press sheets of the progressives did survive. They are extremely rare if not unique. Single sets and such with large selvage
proving they came from the press sheets should command higher prices.
5th Series Railway Locomotives issued June 27, 1985
The four lower values of the 5th series trains progressive color proof sets were confiscated by the British Metropolitan Police for the trials against the printer and associated companies.
They were retained until 2008 upon with their release they were auctioned off in bulk. As with the 1st series, they were sold on eBay in random bulk lots of 30-100 panes mixed
with different series along with series from Saint Vincent Grenadines, Union Island and Bequia in the year 2012 and sold out.
They are now scattered across the world and many will never be reunited. Therefore the full intact pane sets are fast becoming exceedingly rare.
The location of the two high values is unknown at present. Possibly destroyed or never retained or produced. I cannot find them available in progressive proof form anywhere.
5TH SERIES LOCOMOTIVES PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOF PAGES
At present the location of the progressive proofs is unknown for the 5th 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 5th series progressives were created between November 12, 1988 and December 9, 1988.
There is also evidence that a few uncut press sheets of the progressives did survive. They are extremely rare if not unique. Single sets and such with large selvage
proving they came from the press sheets should command higher prices.
6th Series Railway Locomotives issued July 15, 1986
At present the location of the progressive proofs is unknown for the 6th 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 6th series progressives were created around January 13, 1989.
There is also evidence that a few uncut press sheets of the progressives did survive. They are extremely rare if not unique. Single sets and such with large selvage
proving they came from the press sheets should command higher prices.
This concludes the study of the progressive color proofs produced for the Leaders of the World Automobiles and Locomotives series issued by Saint Vincent.
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