JOINED-UP THINKING ABOUT A DIFFERENT WAY OF COLLECTING -- SE-TENANT STAMPS
To me, collecting by format is a fun and yet challenging area that is likely to become more popular. When tell people I collect postally used se-tenants (different stamps that are joined) they often think I am a bit of a pioneer, forgetting that plate blocks, plate number coils and even first-day covers are collecting by format.
In addition to blocks, full panes and other examples, I look for logical usages of se-tenants on cover, which I feel helps show these stamps perform many postal functions and offer more than just a pretty face.
In fact, collectors forget that the first-ever postage stamp, Britain’s penny black, is a se-tenant issue. This is because the check letters on each stamp, introduced as a security device, mean that each stamp on a sheet of 240 is different. So any multiple is an early se-tenant.
Indeed, one of my favourite se-tenant covers bears a nice, four-margin, plate 2 penny black pair tied by red Maltese cross cancellations. This portion of an entire letter is noteworthy for two reasons. First, the pair on the double weight cover is a much scarcer vertical one; penny black pairs tend to be horizontal because clerks often cut them into horizontal strips to facilitate sales at the counter. So this one might have been from a block purchased by one of the law firms that used so many of the first postage stamp.
Second, the red Glasgow back stamps clearly shows the item was posted on May 23, 1840, just 17 days into the stamp era. Covers from May 1840 carry a nice premium, but, astonishingly, the date was not mentioned in the auction description.
At least two other early classic stamps also were issued in se-tenant formats – Brazilian bull’s-eyes and the Geneva cantonals of Switzerland. Indeed, I am fortunate enough to own a pair of the latter on cover – well, not exactly. My cover does date from the middle of the 19th century, but the stamps are modern versions from a mini-sheet added to an old entire letter in 1943 to create an anniversary cover. The stamps, like the 1843 classics, are se-tenants because the design above the 5c stamps is different on the left- and right-hand sides.
Moving fully into the 20th century, I particularly like examples of another group of "classic" se-tenants that, again, are not often recognized as such. South Africa’s and South-West Africa’s bilingual issues came in English and Afrikaans versions and solved a potential language problem over decades. Again, any pair of these is a se-tenant.
As I live in Britain I see many South African covers sent to the mother country, but perhaps my current favourite is a 1948 commercial cover from a printing firm in Mossel Bay to England. It bears a block of four halfpenny stamps that pays the current 2p surface rate. What I like about this cover is the logical usage of the block of four. As students of these stamps have long realised, a block of four provides every possible vertical and horizontal combination of the English and Afrikaans pairs.
Of course the United States has produced hundreds of se-tenants and these also result in interesting postal history. The 25-cent grosbeak and owl booklet stamps of 1988 were printed in the many millions and used pairs and blocks are common, but locating logical usages on cover is much tougher. As it happens, in 1988 the overseas airmail rate was double the domestic rate, and a pair on a cover I have to the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh neatly covered the 50-cent tariff.
Another group of issues that isn’t thought of as being se-tenant but can be are the computer-vended coils that for years have been dispensed mainly in northern Virginia post offices. The postal user specifies the face value so it is a simple matter to create se-tenants. A typical example of my handiwork is a highly contrived but probably unique cover to myself in Scotland. It bears a 21-cent stamp sandwiched between two 20-cent ones, overpaying the rate by a penny, and making up an A11 PNC strip of three. A priceless classic it most definitely is not, but don’t ever try to tell me there is nothing new under the sun.
If this article has whetted an appetite for se-tenants, look at my All-Seasons Price List below. It includes many lots of se-tenants, both off and on cover.
In addition to blocks, full panes and other examples, I look for logical usages of se-tenants on cover, which I feel helps show these stamps perform many postal functions and offer more than just a pretty face.
In fact, collectors forget that the first-ever postage stamp, Britain’s penny black, is a se-tenant issue. This is because the check letters on each stamp, introduced as a security device, mean that each stamp on a sheet of 240 is different. So any multiple is an early se-tenant.
Indeed, one of my favourite se-tenant covers bears a nice, four-margin, plate 2 penny black pair tied by red Maltese cross cancellations. This portion of an entire letter is noteworthy for two reasons. First, the pair on the double weight cover is a much scarcer vertical one; penny black pairs tend to be horizontal because clerks often cut them into horizontal strips to facilitate sales at the counter. So this one might have been from a block purchased by one of the law firms that used so many of the first postage stamp.
Second, the red Glasgow back stamps clearly shows the item was posted on May 23, 1840, just 17 days into the stamp era. Covers from May 1840 carry a nice premium, but, astonishingly, the date was not mentioned in the auction description.
At least two other early classic stamps also were issued in se-tenant formats – Brazilian bull’s-eyes and the Geneva cantonals of Switzerland. Indeed, I am fortunate enough to own a pair of the latter on cover – well, not exactly. My cover does date from the middle of the 19th century, but the stamps are modern versions from a mini-sheet added to an old entire letter in 1943 to create an anniversary cover. The stamps, like the 1843 classics, are se-tenants because the design above the 5c stamps is different on the left- and right-hand sides.
Moving fully into the 20th century, I particularly like examples of another group of "classic" se-tenants that, again, are not often recognized as such. South Africa’s and South-West Africa’s bilingual issues came in English and Afrikaans versions and solved a potential language problem over decades. Again, any pair of these is a se-tenant.
As I live in Britain I see many South African covers sent to the mother country, but perhaps my current favourite is a 1948 commercial cover from a printing firm in Mossel Bay to England. It bears a block of four halfpenny stamps that pays the current 2p surface rate. What I like about this cover is the logical usage of the block of four. As students of these stamps have long realised, a block of four provides every possible vertical and horizontal combination of the English and Afrikaans pairs.
Of course the United States has produced hundreds of se-tenants and these also result in interesting postal history. The 25-cent grosbeak and owl booklet stamps of 1988 were printed in the many millions and used pairs and blocks are common, but locating logical usages on cover is much tougher. As it happens, in 1988 the overseas airmail rate was double the domestic rate, and a pair on a cover I have to the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh neatly covered the 50-cent tariff.
Another group of issues that isn’t thought of as being se-tenant but can be are the computer-vended coils that for years have been dispensed mainly in northern Virginia post offices. The postal user specifies the face value so it is a simple matter to create se-tenants. A typical example of my handiwork is a highly contrived but probably unique cover to myself in Scotland. It bears a 21-cent stamp sandwiched between two 20-cent ones, overpaying the rate by a penny, and making up an A11 PNC strip of three. A priceless classic it most definitely is not, but don’t ever try to tell me there is nothing new under the sun.
If this article has whetted an appetite for se-tenants, look at my All-Seasons Price List below. It includes many lots of se-tenants, both off and on cover.
posted by Chad Neighbor at
21.2.07
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