Great Britain SG#1272/1307, 1985 Commemoratives, a Specialized Lot of 27 Different VFNH Stamps, With Different Papers

A specialized group of 27 different VFNH stamps, covering most of the 1985 commemorative issues, with two distinct paper types for the Locomotives and insect stamps, as discussed below.

Gibbons cat for the basic singles is 8.70 pounds = $17.40. The stamps offered here grade between 75 and 84. Undoubtedly some of the paper varieties will be scarcer, though no data on the relative scarcities of the different papers has been published to the best of my knowledge.

A Note About Paper used by Harrison & Sons in the 1971-1990's Period

The stamps during this period are printed primarily by Harrison and Sons by photogravure, with some issues being lithographed by House of Questa into the 1980's and later by Walsall and Enschede. Harrisons used three different types of white coated paper and two different types of gum, which were introduced over the life of the commemorative issues, and it is possible that issues that were current during the transition from one paper to another may exist on more than one type of paper, and with more than one type of gum. The three types are:

• Original Coated Paper (OCP) - The original coated paper has a slightly off-white appearance and the gum is a smooth, creamy PVA. Under UV the fluorescence level is generally very bright on the front, being at least MF or HF. On the back there is a wide range of fluorescent reactions from LF through to HB. On their own, most stamps look HB on the back, but it becomes apparent when you compare one stamp to another that there are some stark differences. Occasionally this paper will contain varying concentrations of fluorescent fibres.
• Fluorescent Coated Paper (FCP) - This paper is whiter than the OCP and glows very brightly under UV light on both the front and the back. By and large most stamps are HF or HB on both the front and the back. The gum is sometimes the original cream gum, but is most commonly the bluish green PVAD gum (PVA with added dextrin). FCP was introduced in 1974-1975. This paper never contains any fluorescent fibres, the fluorescence being uniform and clear.
• Advance Coated Paper (ACP) - This paper is similar to FCP, but is even brighter under UV. The gum is less bluish than the earlier PVAD, but is not the cream colour of the OCP. The fluorescence of this paper varies widely both on the front and the back, especially. In the early 1980's you can find LF and HB on the same issue, as well as a number of readings in between. The brightness of the chalk coating on the front varies from MF to HB, again with 2 or 3 different varieties on the same issue. By the 2000's the paper fluorescence becomes much more uniform.