THE MISSING TENNIS BALL ERROR STAMPS
AND OTHER VARIETIES PRINTED BY THE FORMAT INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PRINTERS LTD.
Information and Reference on The 1987-8 Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships Stamps and What was Found in the Archive
In 1987 the Format International Security Printers Ltd. were commissioned By the St. Vincent postal authorities to
produce a series of stamps depicting the key players and winners of the 1987 Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships. Three sets
of stamps were produced for Saint Vincent and its dependencies. They were:
SAINT VINCENT
1987 INTERNATIONAL LAWN TENNIS PLAYERS Scott #988-996, SG #1057-64, MS1065
Another mini sheet exists with the same two stamps on it but their value has been changed to $10.00 each and
it is embossed on gold foil. It is from a "restricted printing".
SAINT VINCENT GRENADINES
1988 INTERNATIONAL TENNIS PLAYERS Scott #614-22, SG #582-9, MS590
SAINT VINCENT GRENADINES BEQUIA
1988 INTERNATIONAL TENNIS PLAYERS Scott #260-7
An unissued souvenir sheet exists
UNISSUED SOUVENIR SHEET
Quantities are probably 300-500 exist. Value estimated $10-35.00.
According to prior written information and internet research the following findings will be presented and will stand
until solid evidence is presented proving otherwise........
THE MISSING TENNIS BALL ERROR
In 1988 the infamous St. Vincent missing tennis ball errors on Scott# 990 and 991 appeared on the market. Some shady stamp
dealers presented these as legitimate errors and sold them to unknowledgeable collectors and dealers for large sums. In
actuality these 'errors' were produced by the Format Printers on purpose to promote collector interest and to fill certain
stock holders pockets. Plates were purposely made with the tennis ball missing. During police raids on the company the plates
were one of the things found. As the images show there is NO WAY the error can be made (such as missing yellow color),
as all colors are present. Some shady dealers/sellers with ties to the company presented these at the time of appearance stating
that only 200-250 of these 'errors' exist even though the printers revealed that more than that were produced. I estimate that
3,000+ were placed on the market. Any catalogs stating otherwise and written/produced in the '90s are inaccurate and possibly
biased toward the writers personal gains.
From present day analysis and personal buying endeavours these stamps have a value of no more than $5.00 for singles.
Anyone asking more is OVERINFLATING the value and should NOT be dealt with on ANY stamp dealings at all!
THE SPECIMEN OVERPRINTS
No SPECIMEN overprinted souvenir sheets for St. Vincent Grenadines
Scott # 622 found for sale.
No SPECIMEN overprinted souvenir sheets for the UNISSUED St. Vincent Grenadines Bequia
souvenir sheet found for sale.
Present day analysis shows that the SPECIMEN overprinted stamps of this series can be found all over the stamp market.
OBVIOUSLY thousands were produced and saved. SPECIMEN overprinted stamps are supposed to be made by the printers
for use as color standards for matching later printings and/or for reference copies and examples to send to U.P.U. members
and future customers of the printing company. Obviously these SPECIMEN overprinted stamps were overproduced for profits.
Yes, they are rarer than the issued sets, but they are NOT rare!
Present day analysis for these stamps is that at most the value is 50% higher than present day catalog values for issued sets.
IMPERFS, PROOFS, ETC;
It appears that all aspects of these sets in proof, ie; imperforates, progressive proofs etc; have rarity factors.
Present day analysis shows very little is on the market for the Grenadines and Bequia if any exist at all.
I note the St. Vincent set and souvenir sheet (Scott# 988-96) are for sale
in imperforated form and also in progressive proof form at the time of this writing.
Quantities in existence unknown at present but appears that there are large quantities available.
Judging from pricing by sellers probably 1000 to 3000 exist. Value between $25-45.00 a set
These are perforated cross-gutter proofs from the uncut master(press) sheets.
They are rarer than most everything else that exists for this series except for master proofs and original drawings etc;.
A detailed explanation on the uncut master(press) sheets will be linked here in the future.
Basically 1-7 of the sheets were saved in the archive thus only 1 to 7 of these exist.
Because these were not kept with the other parts of the master sheet ie; side gutters, top and bottom
gutters etc; the value is in the range of $50-100.00.
The master proofs of which George Alvizos
was the main buyer of in the '90s are extremely rare! View the images for more information.
References taken from:
Stanley Gibbons Windward Islands and Barbados
Scott Catalog
Inventory list for the Format Archive by Robson Lowe
Online internet research
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