I obtained some part sheets of this stamp recently and having also bought the Stanley Gibbons Specialised album for the Kings I found a few flaws were mentioned. And so I was pleased to find I have two of the listed three. These are the stamps in question…

GB KGVI Olympics Flaws

GB KGVI Olympics Flaws

So there are three flaws listed in the Gibbons catalogue. The one I don’t have is the “Crown Flaw” (QCom15a) which looks like a white smudge on the front of the crown…

QCom15a Crown Flaw

QCom15a Crown Flaw

Referring back to the first image of my stamps, the affected stamps are the two on the left. The green arrows indicate the position of the flaws. Click the image for a bigger view.

The south-west stamp shows the “Crown Flaw Retouch” (QCom15b) and this really isn’t that spectacular and you would never notice without very close inspection. An image from my microscope shows the area that has been filled in and reshaped. The top image that follows is the normal stamp and the one under is the flaw. You can see it is still somewhat misshapen.

Regular Stamp

Regular Stamp

QCom15b Crown Retouched

QCom15b Crown Retouch

The north-west stamp of the block shows the “Hooked 3” flaw, which again you would never notice but it is just discernible to my eye. Here again the top image shows the regular stamp and the one underneath is the flaw.

Regular Stamp

Regular Stamp

QCom15c Hooked 3

QCom15c Hooked 3

Of course these are a lot easier to spot if you have a sheet. The catalogue indicates where they appear. And a stamp normally only 50 pence mint jumps up in value accordingly.

  1. QCom15a Crown Flaw – Cylinder 1 No dot, Row 20, 2 across. CV £75.00
  2. QCom15b Crown Flaw Retouch – Cylinder 1 No dot, Row 20, 2 across. CV £50.00
  3. QCom15c Hooked 3 – Cylinder 1 No dot, Row 19, 2 across. CV £35.00

If you have a few of these common stamps they might be worth another glance.