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Monday 3 June 2013

Peter Ashford collection 6: Armenia First Yessayan, Mount Ararat





Serious collectors of Armenia know that one way to test whether the stamp shown above is genuine - from the Yessayan printings in Constantinople - is to look for a dot or a dash above the top frame line, two thirds along from the left. Stefan Berger has written about this on his website

www. stampsofarmenia.com 

Sometimes I have been asked, Is the dot or dash always there?

This large block is interesting because it is from the early printings in milky-blue. Multiples of later printings in a darker blue and with some wear to the lithographic plate can be found with the "50k" overprint in black, but multiples from this early state are rare. So I looked at this one with interest.

There is always a dot or dot + dash but sometimes it is almost invisible. Click on the Image below to see it magnified - you can easily see the amount of variation:



In the past, I have done work to establish transfer groups. Usually it is quite easy. But on this part sheet, I cannot see what the transfer group may have been ... maybe I am missing something

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