English-Afrikaans se-tenant stamps of South Africa
One of the peculiarities of philatelic world are se-tenant stamps of South Africa. Between years 1926 and 1951 (and a single set in 1955) all South African stamps were issued with an English inscribed stamp and an Afrikaans inscribed stamp alternating throughout the sheet.
1930/45 South Africa, ½d Springbok (antelope). This is a sample of so called unhyphenated pictorials as country name “Suidafrika” is joined as one word; later this was changed to two words with the insertion of a hyphen “Suid-Afrika”. Michel #45/46.
These stamps are usually wanted and collected in horizontal pairs (with premium prices especially on higher values). Vertical pairs and single stamps on the other are generally considered as second class unwanted items, and as such they suffer from heavy devaluation.
Personally I found the practice as one of those weird abnormalities, that collectors or markets have developed at some stage. After all, I think most of the stamps were used as singles like the below:
1937 South Africa, Coronation of King George VI stamps. Single copies like these are considered unwanted by some collectors. Catalog wise the difference between valuation of a single stamp and joined pair is huge.
If collecting pairs was not challenging enough, then 1942/44 war stamps add up. Because of rouletting these are collected as pairs or strips-of-3.
1942/44 South Africa. War issue, 1d nurse. These are preferred as strips-of-3 where the middle stamp is pierced on both sides.
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Keijo, I’ve been intrigued by these, too. What I hadn’t really thought about until your post was how they are and are not collected. Reminds me of plate number coils in the US (strips of 3 or 5 versus singles).
I’ve uploaded a mobile photo of a page from my Scott Blue International album of these stamps, but I don’t know whether the link will come through or not in this comment:
Hi Bob,
though I don’t prefer mint stamps, that is one ATTRACTIVE looking page
I completely agree on mint versus used. I’m “irritated” when I add a mint never hinged stamp to my albums, because no matter how inexpensive, I feel obligated to put the stamp in a mount so as not to “ruin” it for future collectors. At least your stockbook approach avoids that issue.
In a way it’s funny how back of the stamp matters more than front these days. But I guess money talks, not real interest towards “glue collecting”. LOL
In addition to the English/Afrikaans on South African stamps,
in some cases the same pictures were used for pre- and post decimal system. 3d (three pennies) has become 2 and a half cents etc. So you would have the variances of language and currencies although the picture stays the same.
Thanks for the addition Peter