Irish Commemorative Varieties 1941

Here are some examples of varieties found in Irish Commemorative Stamps. Click on the links below the stamps to view the varieties. The following abbreviations are used in the descriptions. "Scott" or "Sc" for " The Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue", "MW" for The MacDonnell Whyte Stamps of Ireland Specialized Catalogue", and "Hib" for "The Hibernian Specialised Catalog"

Easter Rising Provisional Issues Issued in sheets of 240, upper and lower panes of 120 (12 x 10)

2d Scott 118, MW C17a "Snub-nosed e" R5/3- No graphic

2d Scott 118, MW C17b "Short '1' in 1916" - No graphic

2d Scott 118, Hib C17b "'IS' joined" R5/5 - No graphic

2d Scott 118, Hib C17c Crossbar missing on first "e" - No graphic

3d Scott 119, Hib C18a "m" and "n" joined - No graphic

3d Scott 119, Hib C18b Blue ink spot at bottom left shamrock - No graphic

Easter Rising Issued in sheets of 120 in upper and lower panes of 60 (6 x 10)

Scott 120, MW C19

MW C19a "Broken Statue" 12 positions in each pane

MW C19b "Broken Pillar" 6 positions in each pane

MW C19c "Damaged Capital" R12/4

MW C19d "Broken Windows" R10/1 (only in half the sheets)

Hib C19e "Broken Bayonet" R13/3

This issue was produced using "cliches" or "stereos" of 10 images in a 2 x 5 layout. This is illustrated here using a block of ten stamps. The panes were made up of 6 stereos in a 3 x 2 pattern, three across and two down as follows.

This was repeated for each pane. The Broken statue variety is found in positions E & G of each stereo (using the layout I displayed in the link above) and the Broken Pillar variety is found in position I of each stereo. Therefore, the Broken Statue is found at R3/1, R3/3, R3/5, R4/1, R4/3, R4/5, R8/1, R8/3, R8/5, R9/1, R9/3, R9/5 of the upper pane and R13/1, R13/3, R13/5, R14/1, R14/3, R14/5, R18/1, R18/3, R18/5, R19/1, R19/3, R19/5 of the bottom pane. The other varieties are not repeated in each stereo, but only occur once a sheet, with the exception of the Broken Windows variety that occurs only once in every two sheets. This is because the stamps were actually printed in sheets of four panes with right and left panes in addition to the upper and lower panes. This is demonstrated in a scan I made that shows two blocks of stamps that are both R9/1 through R10/2 and include R10/1 which is the position for the Broken Windows variety. However, only the block without perforations in the left selvege has the Broken Windows variety. The stamp with perforations in the left selvege does not have the variety.
Click here to view this.
The Broken Windows variety is probably in the Left pane, since the perforations from the left pane would continue over into the selvege of the right pane. The damage that caused this variety must have occurred after the whole sheet was prepared. After printing and perforation the right and left sheets were separated prior to issuing the stamps.

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