STAMPS OF SOUTH AFRICA
THE PICTORIAL DEFINITIVES OF 1926-54

HOW TO DISTINGUISH THE MAJOR PRINTINGS

At first sight, the South African Pictorial Issues of the period 1926 - 1954 can be quite confusing. There is a considerable variety of different printing methods, redrawings, design, colour and size changes for the collector to sort out.
Not everybody gets it right, as a visit to the relevant section of eBay will often attest.

The pages subsidiary to this attempt to clarify these differences. Most of the values have a page of their own; two (11/2d and 10/-) do not warrant this as there is no problem distinguishing the printings of these values.



There were three or four major printings of these issues depending on whose catalogue you use; I have used both Stanley Gibbons (SG) and Scotts (Sc); I do not own a copy of the South Africa specialised catalogue.




The following lists the different face values and designs of this issue.
Links to the subsidiary pages are provided where necessary. These pages, one to each face value, illustrate, in detail, the differences between the various issues.

Halfpenny (1/2d.) Springbok.
Black to grey and green. (Small)

One Penny (1d.) Van Riebeck's Ship.
Black to grey and red. (Small)

Penny-ha'penny (11/2d.) Gold Mine (One issue, two shades).

Two-penny (2d.) Union Buildings in Pretoria.

Threepence (3d.) Groot Schuur.
Black and red or all blue.

Fourpence (4d.) Native Kraal.
Brown.

Sixpence (6d.) Orange Tree.
Green and orange. (Small)

One Shilling (1/-) Black and Blue Wildebeest.
Brown and blue.

Two and sixpence (2/6) Ox-wagon inspanned.
Green and brown.

Five Shillings (5/-) Ox-wagon outspanned.
Black and green.

Ten Shillings (10/-) Capetown and Table Bay (1927) or Groot Constantia (1939).






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For comments, suggestions (or even grateful thanks :-)) please email me

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or later at: rjbw@shaw.ca

A Continuing Project, First Published 28 December 2002, Last Modified 14 April, 2003.

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