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The 1937 Coronation Stamp of King George VI: Introduction to Cylinder 6

Introduction

The results of an empirical research that used a comprehensive study of the flaws constant on the Coronation stamp to identify hundreds of stamps used on many hundreds of covers in 1937 showed that Cylinders 6 and 7 accounted for a large part of the entire production. Cylinder 6 could have accounted for as much as 30% and Cylinder 7 nearer 40% of the entire production of the Coronation stamp.

What distinguishes the two cylinders from a philatelic point of view is that while Cylinder 7 received a lot of attention, with flaws being retouched virtually every time it was cleaned and rechromed, Cylinder 6 appears not to have been retouched ever – although the very last printing, after the Coronation when the pressures were lifted, does have a flaw change that seems to be a certain retouch. Apart from this all the flaws shown here are constant for the life of the cylinder.

The flaws are important in attempting to analyse the sequence of printing but also other elements, like the positioning of the printer's counter numbers, and inking marks in the margins. The sequence of states of the Hawk Moth Flaw in the bottom margin of the stop pane is a perfect example of this.

Comprehensive as this study might seem, it is essentially superficial, produced over many years, much of it before I developed the habit of signalling flaws on scans with red arrows. Any and all constructive comments and more advanced information from members will be very well received. Thank you.

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Frame 1

  1. Introduction
THE NO STOP PANE
  1. Cylinder 6 no stop: identifying printings and states
  2. The significance of the Ray Flaw
  3. Constant Flaws (1)
  4. Constant Flaws (2)
  5. The First State (Pane 1)
  6. The First State (Pane 2)
  7. The First State (Pane 3)
  8. The First State (Pane 4)
  9. The Second State (Pane 1)
  10. The Second State (Pane 2)
  11. The Second State (Pane 3)
  12. The Second State (Pane 4)
  13. The Third State (Pane 1)
  14. The Third State (Panes 2, 3 and 4)
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Frame 2

THE NO STOP PANE (cont)
  1. TANGIER overprint
  2. The Penultimate (Fourth) State (Pane 1)
  3. The Penultimate (Fourth) State (Pane 2)
  4. The Penultimate (Fourth) State (Pane 3)
  5. The Penultimate (Fourth) State (Pane 4)
  6. The Missing Control letter
  7. Stamp with flaw used on cover
  8. Anonymous piece (1)
  9. Anonymous piece (2)
  10. Cylinder block, late printing
  11. Separating the states of the final printing
  12. The Fifth State (Pane 1)
  13. The Fifth State (Pane 2)
  14. The Fifth State (Pane 3)
  15. The Fifth State (Pane 4)
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Frame 3

THE STOP PANE
  1. Control and Pearl-in-Orb
  2. The Hawk Moth Flaw
  3. The First State (1)
  4. The First State (2)
  5. The First State (3)
  6. Two Multipositive Flaws
  7. The First State (4)
  8. The First State (5)
  9. Constant Flaws
  10. The Second State (1)
  11. The Second State (2)
  12. The Second State (3)
  13. The Second State (4)
  14. Moroccan Agencies
  15. The Third State (1)
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Frame 4

THE STOP PANE (cont)
  1. The Third State (2)
  2. The Third State (3)
  3. The Third State (4)
  4. The Fourth State (1)
  5. The Fourth State (2)
  6. The Fourth State (3)
  7. The Fourth State (4)
  8. The Fifth State (1)
  9. The Fifth State (2)
  10. The Fifth State (3)
  11. The Fifth State (4)
  12. Some constant flaws
  13. Flaws on a marginal block
  14. Tennis Ball Flaw, last state
  15. identifying an anonymous piece
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Frame 5

THE STOP PANE (cont)
  1. Page from an old study (a)
  2. Page from an old study (b)
  3. Page from an old study (c) - the Comet Flaw
  4. The almost ex-Comet flaw
  5. Remarkable dry print
  6. Cylinder blocks used on cover
  7. Constant flaw used on FDC
  8. Redirected mail with cachet and stamp with flaw
  9. Cover registered on day of issue
  10. Collectible flaw used on FDC