Chimneys of the North Borneo 10c Stamp

See any difference between the four stamps below? Not yet? You will notice it very soon. 


For years I have been fascinated by myNBstamp's write-up on the extra chimney variety that is found in QE II definitive series so much to the extent that it was etched in my mind to look for it whenever I had the chance to. Conveniently, I was blessed with a lot of duplicates to which I found a mint and a used copy of the extra chimney variety. 


Mint. Note the extra chimney, top middle.

It is said that this variety occur in R1/10, the tenth piece of the first row, which, also according to myNBstamp, it may have occurred only in the first print in 1954. The used copy that I have is also dated 1954, which at this point further suggest that the hypothesis may just be right!

Used, dated 1954.


Normal 10c without the extra chimney for comparison.

I find these varieties very interesting especially when they are on North Borneo stamps. Who knows how much more varieties actually exist considering that documentations of these occurrences is not as extensive, topped with my lack of reading material. 

Searching for these varieties very quickly reminds me of the plethora of errors and print flaws seen in German Reich's 1923 issue (MiNr. 313 - MiNr. 330). A little detour, I have little luck on finding any, perhaps a broken line on the rosette on MiNr. 318 - this I will update in the near future in a different post. 

That said, the quest for finding more continues on. 

Thanks for dropping by. 


Note on stamps:

North Borneo 1954 ISC342 10 cents maroon 'Logging' 
Wmk. Multi Script. CA 
P. 13.5 x 14.5

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