THE 1988 BEQUIA REGATTA STAMPS
AND OTHER VARIETIES PRINTED BY THE FORMAT INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PRINTERS LTD.

The Production of the 1988 Saint Vincent Grenadines Bequia Regatta Stamps

In February of 1988 the Format International Security Printers Ltd. were commissioned By the St. Vincent postal authorities to produce another issue of stamps depicting various scenes of boats. The stamps were to commemorate the Bequia Regatta. The set of stamps were produced for Saint Vincent Grenadines and they issued the stamps on March 31, 1988.
This is the set which was produced and issued:

1988 BEQUIA REGATTA Scott #586-90, SG #554-7, MS558






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

According to the documents obtained from the trial exhibits the following quantities were produced and distributed to Saint Vincent and the Philatelic Distribution Corporation (PDC).

To Saint Vincent;
30,000 perforated sets
2,000 perforated sets overprinted specimen
10,000 perforated souvenir sheets
2,000 perforated souvenir sheets overprinted specimen

To the PDC;
10,000 perforated sets
2,000 perforated sets overprinted specimen
1,000 imperforate sets overprinted specimen
2,000 perforated sets missing color
1,000 imperforate sets missing color
3,000 sets of progressive color proofs
5,000 perforated souvenir sheets
1,000 perforated souvenir sheets overprinted specimen
1,000 imperforate souvenir sheets overprinted specimen
1,000 perforated souvenir sheets missing color
1,000 imperforate souvenir sheets missing color

To the Universal Postal Union:
565 perforated sets and 565 perforated Souvenir Sheets

Pricing is in range in the standard catalogs.

The following are the varieties that were produced and sent to the PDC. The varieties were confiscated by the British Metropolitan Police and held until 2008. Some of the varieties were missing in the stock and I have seen none available on the market. The varieties that were in the stock I note. They were sold in bulk lots on eBay in 2012-13. They sold out quickly and were still in intact panes of 25. Most were in two attached panes of 25 with a gutter between them. THE NORMAL IMPERFORATE PROOFS


To Saint Vincent:
None were sent

To the PDC:
3,000 imperforate sets and 1,000 imperforate Souvenir Sheets. The imperforate sets were sold on eBay in bulk lots. It is unknown what happened to the imperforate souvenir sheets.

Retail pricing should run at around $5-10.00 for set of singles as imperforates. Pricing for the souvenir sheet as imperforate cannot be established because at present, none can be found.

THE PROGRESSIVE COLOR PROOFS



According to the Documents there is no evidence that progressive color proofs of the Souvenir Sheet were ever produced. There are non on the market anywhere.
The documents show that....

To the PDC:
3,000 sets of the progressive color proofs of the single stamps were sent.

Pricing should run at around $10-15.00 for a complete set of progressives.

THE SPECIMEN OVERPRINTS




To Saint Vincent:
2,000 perforated sets overprinted SPECIMEN and 2,000 perforated Souvenir Sheets overprinted SPECIMEN

To the PDC:
2,000 perforated sets overprinted SPECIMEN and 1,000 imperforate sets overprinted SPECIMEN.
1,000 perforated Souvenir Sheets overprinted SPECIMEN and 1,000 imperforate Souvenir Sheets overprinted SPECIMEN

I have seen none of the imperforates with SPECIMEN overprint on the market.

Pricing should run at around $5-7.00 for a complete set of singles and $10-15.00 for the souvenir sheet overprinted SPECIMEN.

GUTTERS ETC.



Judging from what is available it appears that the gutters and cross gutters from uncut press sheets have an extreme rarity factor. I can find none. Cross gutters are extremely rare and it seems no uncut press sheets can be found. Normal gutter pairs (with logo in the middle) also appear not to exist! Therefore only the imperforates may only exist with gutters which would come from double panes.

VARIETIES

No made for collector errors are available on the market for this issue. There do exist plate flaws and such.
The documentation does show the production of missing color stamps was done. They may have been destroyed.
The documents show that....

To the PDC:
2,000 perforated sets missing color and 1,000 imperforate sets missing color were produced and sent.
1,000 perforated Souvenir Sheets with missing color and 1,000 imperforate Souvenir Sheets with missing color were produced and sent.

This basically sums up what was produced for the Saint Vincent Grenadines 1988 Bequia Regatta issue. If and as more information becomes available, this page can and will be updated accordingly.

References taken from:
Trial exhibit #43
Stanley Gibbons Windward Islands and Barbados
Scott Catalog
Inventory list for the Format Archive by Robson Lowe
The Bileski Documentation
Online internet research

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