Test and Dummy Stamps

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   Test or dummy stamps are produced by stamp printers either for testing their printing and production techniques or for promotional or tendering reasons. They are also commonly used for testing vending machine stamps.
Here are some examples. This first lot depicts Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor who was also Charles I of the Spanish Empire. They were printed by the Austrian printing company Osterreichische Staatsdruckerei who were the official state printers, Maschin probe means machine sample.

Machine Sample by Spicer57, on Flickr

These are examples from Bradbury Wilkinson and Harrisons:

Dummy by Spicer57, on Flickr

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Daniel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: Twickenham Status: Offline Points: 982	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Test and Dummy Stamps Posted: 16 March 2018 at 11:08
	Test or dummy stamps are produced by stamp printers either for testing their printing and production techniques or for promotional or tendering reasons. They are also commonly used for testing vending machine stamps. Here are some examples. This first lot depicts Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor who was also Charles I of the Spanish Empire. They were printed by the Austrian printing company Osterreichische Staatsdruckerei who were the official state printers, Maschin probe means machine sample. Machine Sample by Spicer57, on Flickr These are examples from Bradbury Wilkinson and Harrisons: Dummy by Spicer57, on Flickr

Daniel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: Twickenham Status: Offline Points: 982	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 16 March 2018 at 11:22
	Here are examples from Germany, Switzerland, Brazil and the UAR, the United Arab Republic, which was a union between Egypt and Syria from 1958 to 1961. Specimen or test stamps by Spicer57, on Flickr

Daniel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: Twickenham Status: Offline Points: 982	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 16 March 2018 at 11:39
	This is a test sheet for Royal Mail for the 2012 Olympics held in London. It depicts a generic design/template for the stamps which were printed at short notice to honour British Olympic Gold Medalists. Somehow this generic design reached the printing stage and actual postage stamps were produced. Team GB Generic Sheet by Spicer57, on Flickr

Daniel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: Twickenham Status: Offline Points: 982	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 25 March 2018 at 14:08
	Here are used and mint versions of the stamps that should never have been, as mentioned in the above post: gold medal proto stamps by Spicer57, on Flickr

Daniel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: Twickenham Status: Offline Points: 982	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 05 September 2018 at 09:22
	Here is a sheet from Cartor produced for a Japanese philatelic exhibition, PhilaNippon 2011. It features 2 self-adhesive stamps. One depicting the Japanese character Hello Kitty and a second a plant, possibly a Chrysanthemum, a flower strongly associated with Japan, printed with metallic ink. Cartor, a French security printer was acquired by Walsall Security Printers in 2004 and a new company was formed, International Security Printers. Cartor Philanippon 2011 by Spicer57, on Flickr

Daniel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: Twickenham Status: Offline Points: 982	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 03 March 2019 at 12:01
	Here is a colour test stamp for Harrisons consisting of a small sheetlet. Harrisons by Spicer57, on Flickr

Daniel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: Twickenham Status: Offline Points: 982	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 06 August 2019 at 12:10
	This sheet was produced for Coated Papers Limited (CPL), a part of the Tullis Russell Group, by The House of Questa in March 1987. It shows a scene of The Old Flint Mills at Cheddleton, local to CPL at the time. CPL moved to Tullis Russell in Bollington in 1989. It was printed on 7 different types of paper, each noted on the central gutter. This one being printed litho 4 colours on Standard Litho Stamp Chromo 102 gm². CPL Sheet by Spicer57, on Flickr More information can be found here; http://www.stampprinters.info/Coated%20Papers%20Ltd%20Specs%20and%20Samples.pdf

Daniel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: Twickenham Status: Offline Points: 982	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 02 May 2020 at 08:44
	Scan_20200502 by Spicer57, on Flickr

Daniel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: Twickenham Status: Offline Points: 982	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 06 May 2020 at 07:58
	Scan_20200506 (3) by Spicer57, on Flickr This is a test Machin 29p grey definitive stamp, without the value, produced by Courvoisier of Switzerland

Daniel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: Twickenham Status: Offline Points: 982	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 18 March 2021 at 10:36
	Rembrandt Intaglio Printing Company Ltd, Peace and Commerce Essays Variously attributed to Harrisons or Bradbury Wilkinson (seemingly the usual suspects), these essays are confirmed in Glenn Morgan's Dummy Stamps issue 36, 2014 as being printed by Rembrandt Intaglio Printing Company of Lancaster in the 1910s in photogravure. As described with accompanying letters (stating that they were shown to the Post Offfice) in a Phillips sale in 1991. British definitive size, they read Peace and Commerce along the top and are denominated Two 2 Pence along the bottom. Relatively scarce. 9 examples shown here in various colours and borders. Scan_20210127 by Daniel, on Flickr