Stamp errors

This article was originally published in December 2013: The United States Postal Service (USPS, which is heavily in debt) is destroying an entire run of stamps because the activities illustrated on three of the stamps in the fifteen stamp series…

August 20th marks the day in 1897 when the British physician Ronald Ross confirmed that the female anopheles mosquito transmitted malaria to humans. Each year that day August is commemorated as World Mosquito Day. Dr. Ross’s research and discovery earned him…

In 2018, Malawi produced a miniature stamp sheet with a major error, resulting in the withdrawal of the sheet from sale. Featuring a Vulture, and part of an issue entitled ‘Vultures of Malawi’ (see stamps below), it was missing the…

First issued by the US postal Service in December 1993, the Legends of the West stamps shown here promised to be a very popular set. But one incorrect image made it one of the most infamous errors in American postal…

A series of 42 stamps featuring flags of 21 countries was issued in 1951 by Korea. They were produced to recognise assistance provided by those 21 countries during the three-year Korean War. Armed forces were sent from 16 United Nations…

A stamp issue from the South Arabian postal administration of Aden in 1968 was dedicated to the old and, what might have been considered by its designers in 1968, new wonders of the world. The stamp sheet has two triangular…

The country name on Albanian stamps has changed many times over the years – in 1937 it was written SHQIPNI and in 1939 it was called SHQIPTARE. The Albanian language, called ‘shqip‘ or ‘shqipe‘ by Albanians, is of interest to linguists because, as a…

On January 13, 1983, the Deutsche Bundespost issued a series of four values ​​for Berlin under the title ‘Historic Berlin Street Pumps’. It was only after the stamps’ release that the Berlin Water Works company noticed that something was wrong…

Take a close look at these USSR stamps, issued in December 1984 for the New Year celebrations, which depict Moscow’s Spasskaya Tower. The tower’s clock reads ‘5 before 12′, but the stamp’s designer made a mistake by showing six o’clock…

As the second highest value of a stamp series in honour of famous musicians/composers, this stamp from Paraguay appeared on July 1, 1980 with an edition of 35,000 copies. The stamp shows a reproduction of the painting ‘Dancers, Green and…

The Soviet Union amazed the world on Nov. 3, 1957, with the launch of the small satellite Sputnik 2. On board was a small dog, Laika, the first animal to actually orbit Earth. Unfortunately Laika was doomed to die during…

On May 13, 1970, two special stamps were issued in the German Democratic Republic (DDR) for the 25th anniversary of broadcasting in the GDR. The two stamps were printed as a pair. The 10 Pfg. has shortwave antennae in front…

For Christmas 1983 and also to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Italian artist and architect Raphael (1483-1520), the postal administration of the British Crown Colony of Gibraltar issued a series in November 1983, consisting of three…

The normally careful and precise Swiss postal administration made a mistake with one of the stamps from the series “Constellations and Landscapes” which ran from 1982-86. The stamp, issued in 1983, shows what is meant to be a naked virgin…

Dancer with a Bouquet of Flowers is the title of a painting by Edgar Degas shown on a stamp in a series featuring famous composers with artwork by Degas, issued by Paraguay in 1980. But some things were not quite…

A pair of stamps issued by the Republic of Chad in 1969 commemorated the travels of two German explorers of the continent of Africa. The right-hand stamp has a portrait of 19th century German explorer Heinrich Barth (1821-1865) next to…