News - Philately Bulgaria

Validations07 March 2025

Validation of postige stamps "Exotic Fruits in Bulgaria"

Posted by Administrator Friday 07 March 2025 - 15:03:32

Today, at the Central Post Office in Sofia, a new postage stamp with a variable edition on the theme 'Exotic Fruits in Bulgaria' was validated!Until now, postage stamps mainly presented typical fruits of our country.

On the suggestion of the artist Stoyan Dechev, the theme was expanded to bring more variety to the stamps used for universal postal service.

For philatelists, a block list with horizontal perforation, containing two series of the two nominal values, has been printed.

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Wrong postage stamps05 March 2025

Found Errors in the Postal Issue "For Security and Cooperation in Europe - Madrid 1980"

Posted by Administrator Wednesday 05 March 2025 - 16:39:14

Today, I will present a small study on the well-known small sheet "For Security and Cooperation in Europe - Madrid 1980" (BK 2931), conducted on 116 copies of the edition. The examined sheets include both small sheets from the first printing (numbered from 1 to 40,000) and small sheets from the subsequent reprinting (numbered from 40,001 to 55,000). The initial goal of the study was to determine if there are any color differences or discrepancies between the sheets from the initial and additional runs, as mentioned in Mr. Kuzman Dragiev's article in issue 5 of 2022 of the "Philatelic Review" magazine. However, during the examination, I discovered several recurring printing errors, which I will now describe.

First, a few words about the color differences and discrepancies in the print runs. Upon careful examination, I found that there are no two sheets that are identical. In all 116 small sheets I examined, there were various discrepancies in the layering and shades of the colors. In some cases, the colors matched, but there were discrepancies in their layering, leading to shadow effects on parts of the sheet or the entire sheet. In other cases, the opposite was true.

Now, regarding the printing errors. It was previously known about one error on the mini sheet - the wrongly placed number on the top side of the sheet. The extent of this error in the print run is unknown. As I mentioned earlier, there were many variations in the printing, but among them, three other errors clearly stood out, which are found in specific locations and on more than two sheets.

Error 1: Dot on the letter "R". This error is found in about 14% of the mini sheets from the initial print run, or in this case, 12 copies. It is usually found in sheets with numbers around 4000, but it can also be found in sheets up to about 6000. The dot is located exactly 27 millimeters from the top edge and 18 millimeters from the right edge of the mini sheet. This is the most commonly encountered error.

Error 2: Dot in the left hook of the letter "U". This error is found in about 8% of the sheets from the initial print run, or in this case, 9 copies. It is found in sheets numbered from 4000 to 6000. Its distances are 30 millimeters from the top edge and 57 millimeters from the right edge of the mini sheet. It is difficult to see with the naked eye.

Error 3: Spot located between the two hooks of the letter "U". This error is quite interesting for three reasons. Firstly, it is found only in the reprint of the mini sheets - in this case, in sheets numbered 40536, 40742, and 41553. It is visually very clearly expressed and extremely rare - it can be found in about 3.5% or just 3 copies of the examined mini sheets. As seen in the photo, the spot is clearly visible to the naked eye and is located 46 millimeters from the top edge and 56 millimeters from the right edge of the mini sheet.

If we compare the results of the examination with the printed copies in the respective print run, we get approximately the following results:

Mini sheets with Error 1 – approximately 5600 copies printed
Mini sheets with Error 2 – approximately 3200 copies printed
Mini sheets with Error 3 – approximately 525 copies printed

These figures are of course approximate, based on the statistics of the examined 116 copies.

In conclusion, we can say that the small sheet "For Security and Cooperation in Europe - Madrid 1980" (BK 2931) has extremely poor print quality, leading to the aforementioned errors.

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