Argentina 1935-51 Definitives

[rubiera]

This stamp has several majore plate varieties. The most common has a small scratch in the lower left numeral. It is common enough for me to posit that this plate variety is in one of the master dies, and should be found more than once on the plate(s).





This second plate variety is also common and has a dot in the oval. It is a candidate for showing up more than once on the plate(s).





This one has some ink below the E of REPUBLICA. It is very rare, therefore likely not repeating.





tony

[rubiera]

The small number of major varieties and the larger number of minor ones points to no more than two plates used.

For this one I only have one specimen:



For this one I have two or three specimens:





For this one I have two or three specimens:





tony

[rubiera]

The first offset stamps I find are from 1941/42 and type A (round jacket). All are red brown. The regular issues seem to be printed on the 1E3 paper:









The officials also seem to be printed on 1E3 paper, but this paper is thicker and the watermark is somewhat diffused.





I find a darker shade of this stamp in 1946, but only on the officials:





And I find the regular issue dated 1949:





I need to continue to look at these offset issues to verify how many distinct issues there are. The main question is if the stamps dated 1946 and 1949 are separate issues or late usages of the 1941/42 issue.

tony

[rubiera]

This watermark is the easiest to distinguish for the whole series:



The regular issue is usually found with a worn impression. All are type A. There is a wide range of colors. I include three here.







For the officials, I find two significantly different colors:





tony

[rubiera]

This stamp seems to be rare. The paper is thick and the perforation usually faulty. I only find officials for these. All are type A.









tony

[rubiera]

I find an issue from the 1942/44 time frame for the officials, type A:









The regular issue with straight rays type A I find used beginning in 1949:









I find this stamp with a comb perforation, very rare:





The type B (pointed jacket) regular issue I find used beginning in 1950:









Official type B straight rays from 1950:





tony

[rubiera]

This stamp is only found as type A, on paper CL2A. I do not find it as an official. These have a horizontal-running watermark.

The following strip has an unusually clear impresion.



This pair has a peculiar shade and comes from a relatively clear printing.



This is the most common shade for the horizontal watermark stamps, and shows the typical significant plate wear found for this printing.



This is an exotic color, brown black.



tony

[rubiera]

These have the watermark running in the vertical direction, are also type A, and not found as officials. It seems like a different paper when I compared them with the horizontal watermark specimens. I need to look at these further.





tony

[rubiera]

The first printings on the 1L papers, from 1951 to 1953/54 are all of type B.

On the 1L1 paper:





I find these with worn out impressions:





ALso find them on the 1L5 paper, so-called Zarate in the Argentinean specialized catalogs:





The official on the 1L1 paper:





tony

[rubiera]

I find these on a wide range of shades of gray brown, from very light to very dark.









Officials:





These are the very last printings of this series.

tony

[rubiera]

I am still trying to figure out these red brown stamps. They are type A on the 1L1 paper and may be a separate printing.









This stamp may be the equivalent to the one I refer to as 1E3 from 1949....more work is required here.

tony

[rubiera]

I find a few of these, all type B, and only on the regular issues:





I used to refer to this stamp as a "small die" type, but after measuring it, I have realized that the worn impresion, probably from an acid bath applied to the plate, makes the stamp seem smaller than it is.

tony

[rubiera]

9. Clays first batch 1c/5c/10cBR CL1A and CL1B
10. 1E3; 1/2c, 1c, 2c, 2 1/2c, 3cSMGy, 4cGr, 8c, 12cR, 15cSC-L, 20cMG-D, 25c to 20p
11. 1E4: 1/2c, 5c-t, 25c to 20p
12. 2N: 1/2c, 10cBR
13. 3cM, 15cMG, 20cLC on all papers (1E3, NGR, NOP, 2N, 2C, 2D, 1L)
14. Clays of 1943: 30c, 40c, 1p, 2p (super rare), 20p
15. NGR from 1/2c to 20p
16. NOP from 1/2c to 20p as far as I know to date
17. 2C/2D: 1c, 2c, 10cBR, 12cR, 25c to 5p
18. Clays of 1952: 10cBR, 25c-SO, 40c, 50c, 2p
19. 5c-SO NGR and 2C/2D
20 on to the long list of printings on the 1L1 to 1L5 (Zarate) papers

tony

[eurialo&niso]

Tonio

Firstly let me pay you my compliments as you did all this with much care. you took great pains over all this.
great work and research.
Let me feel admiration for the way of showing up the watermark too.

Please, introduce the subject expounding few guidelines concerning the historical and social-political situation of your country in that period for a deep grasp of the pictures allegories; and tecnichal notesabout argentinian philatelic policy (printers, methods of print, papers etcc..)

stefano

[rubiera]

Ciao: Tonio

Firstly let me pay you my compliments as you did all this with much care. you took great pains over all this.
great work and research.
Let me feel admiration for the way of showing up the watermark too.

Please, introduce the subject expounding few guidelines concerning the historical and social-political situation of your country in that period for a deep grasp of the pictures allegories; and tecnichal notesabout argentinian philatelic policy (printers, methods of print, papers etcc..)

stefano

Stefano:

Thanks for the compliments. What I know about the context of when these stamps were introduced comes from the book by Deluca transcribing documents from that era. In these documents, the story told is that on account of several costly postal forgeries to the previous issue (San Martin 1923-35) it was decided to print stamps that would be difficult to forge. Indeed this is what happened, since the only major forgery took place when the 20 pesos stamp was issued without a watermark in 1946. In earlier posts here I have transcribed this document as well as shown images of this rare postal forgery of the 20 pesos value.

I will leave it to others who know more than I do to describe Argentina in the 1935-51 era.

tony

[rubiera]

This is an interesting error: the stamp was issued January 1, 1936 and couldn't have been cancelled in 1935.





tony

[rubiera]

These two variations are cause of doubt. Both appear to be single instances in the respective watermark screen.

The first one looks like the 1E1 screen, but has narrower rays.



The second one has a small RA and looks like its on the 1E3 screen. Since I have only seen this small RA as a single, I am assuming it is 1E3.



tony

[rubiera]

I noticed this error one year ago. I had not seen it before. It looks like the die lost some ink. It may be a non-repeatable variety.





Has anyone seen this error, or one similar to it?

tony

[rubiera]

Poor register of the plates for the bi-color values cause relative shifts in all directions.

For the 30c, the shift causes vertical lines in the background plate to be seen.





This one shows an even larger shift.





tony

[rubiera]

At first glance this variety seems to belong to the background color, but after checking shifted specimens, I find that this minor plate flaw is on the frame plate. By how many of these I find, it looks like this is a master die variety and should be found on more than one position on the sheet.





These are 1E1 stamps. This one is postmarked 1936.





tony