Designs, Essays, Proofs and Unissued Stamps
.
United Nations Malaria Eradication Campaign, 1961
.
Non-aligned Nations Conference, Colombo, Shri-Lanka
2 low values of planned set of 4 -
allegedly never issued.
A set of four stamps was printed and sent to Bhutan. Allegedly, the two low values were never officially issued. The quantity of these two values that are in the open market makes one believe that they really were issued. They have been accepted by officials at the GPO in Thimphu, Bhutan (the capital), for use on registered letters, as this example shows.
.
Malaria Eradication - Prepared, disapproved and unissued, 1962
Three values were prepared for release in 1962 or 1963 (after the program ended). The vignettes were prepared by a designer that worked for Harrison & Sons security printers in London. The Bhutanese disagreed strongly with the results. It pictured Buddha in conjunction with a program to kill mosquitos. Picturing Buddha was itself religously questionable, and the combination of the two factors made issue of this set impossible.
The proofs are very rare, and almost never on offer. George Alevizos, a stamp dealer in Santa Monica, California, offered these through auctions in the 1970s and 1980s - that is the last time these have been publicly offered, to my knowledge. A copy of a letter from the archivist at Harrison and Sons expressing surprise that these leaked into the marketplace, is among the documents available elsewhere in the Postal History area..
The proofs are very rare, and almost never on offer. George Alevizos, a stamp dealer in Santa Monica, California, offered these through auctions in the 1970s and 1980s - that is the last time these have been publicly offered, to my knowledge. A copy of a letter from the archivist at Harrison and Sons expressing surprise that these leaked into the marketplace, is among the documents available elsewhere in the Postal History area..
$
0.00
|
|
Non-aligned Nations, unissued low values, August 1976
These two values were intended to be the companion stamps to Scott 238-9.
The price is for single stamps, never hinged
The price is for single stamps, never hinged
$
35.00
.
Singapore Stamp Exhibition, Issue of 2 Jun 1995
This issue was released in miniature sheetlets of 6 + 3 labels and as a 20Nu souvenir sheet.
Delayed Stamp Issues
The two issues below were prepared long before they were eventually issued officially. The illustrations here are for the purpose of offering covers (when available) that are postmarked prior to the issue date. The stamps themselves are listed in the sections listing mint, used and FDCs.
-
-
Singapore '95 Stamp Exhibition, unissued in full sheet format
Scott 1113a - 1113f & 1114, MNH
At least part of the set exists in blocks that show they are also in the market from larger sheets of 25 or 50 stamps.
At least part of the set exists in blocks that show they are also in the market from larger sheets of 25 or 50 stamps.
$
0.00
Reading & Writing Issue, 1974 - 1993 Centenary of the Universal Postal Union commemorative.
This set became the last issue of the Bhutan Stamp Agency in the Bahamas. The King of Bhutan died and there was a change in regime from the Wangchuk family (with which Mr. Todd, the stamp agent, had made his original contractual arrangement in Kalimpong, India, at Bhutan House) Bhutan House was a royal residence that served as a consulate (and where there was a Bhutanese post office for a few weeks). In 1994, a member of the Dorji family came into power as the new king. His inaugural stamp issue commemorating his ascension to the throne was a product of the Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation in New York, which was awarded a successor stamp marketing agent contract.
The stamp stock that was sent from the USA to Bhutan was locked up at the customs office in Phuntsholing (where the philatelic agency was until 1988, prior to moving into the new GPO building in the capital, Thimphu). It was only in 1992 or early in 1993 that the Bhutan customs began to prod the post office to pay the duty and get the stamps out of storage. That the post office was a government agency and exempt from duty appears to have not mattered to customs. The dispute was eventually worked out. When the stock was taken into post office possession, the 80ch value was in short supply. Quantities of this value had been stolen and appeared on mail in the mid 1970s (see the illustrated examples). Today, it is the 80ch value that keeps mint sets from being completed.
The issue (15 stamps in sheets of 25 each, plus one souvenir sheet) was quietly placed on sale on 2 May 1993, in both perforated and imperforate formats. Only a handful of FDCs were prepared, using a generic, non-pictorial "first day of issue" cancellation device. The FDCs are rare.
Because the issue was placed on official sale in 1993, they are offered within the mint, used and FDC listings. If a price appears here above $0, then a pre-issue cover is available. Scans will be provided if you have an interest in one of these. The illustrated examples above are not for sale.
$
0.00
World Wildlife Fund - Bhutan Environmental Protection Fund Establishment, 1992 - 1993
This set was intended to be a World Wildlife Fund (now: Worldwide Fund for Nature) issue. The printer omitted the WWF logo, and the Bhutan postal officials attempted to get the logo overprinted. That plan did not work because the WWF refused to license the use of the logo on the stamps. The license was denied because the face value was too high under program rules and the WWF had an exclusive contract with a Swiss stamp dealer who wasn't involved in the creation.
The post office intended to release the sheetlet in 1992, but all of the issues surrounding it caused the post office to put off the issue date until it learned what it would or would not be able to do.
This set is actually a semipostal. All of the receipts from the sales were made over to the Fund that the issue commemorates. Mail matter with the stamps affixed was essentially carried at financial loss to the post office.
Scotts catalog listing notations indicate that some copies of the sheetlet were made available to the trade earlier than the issue date. Mailed copies affixed to covers, when they were spotted by the postal officials prior to issue, were sequestered in the office of the Deputy Director for Posts until the stamps were issued. Thus, covers like the one pictured here from 16 Mar 1993 (four months before the 1 July 1993 official issue date) are few and far between. Note the cancellation shows "16 Feb", while the manuscript repeating of the R-letter number, day and month shows "16/3". This letter actually travelled from Bhutan to New York, USA and then to Frankfurt, Germany (where the U. S. military post office 09090 was located).
$
0.00
