This subject is a very sore point for some collectors, and remains as one of the great examples of stamps losing their value.

The variety centred around the London 1980 International Stamp Exhibition issue, released on the 9th April 1980. The stamp was a large commemorative, printed in black on white paper. It was soon discovered that a green variety of the stamp had been issued by mistake. It was well publicised in the philatelic community and dealers and collectors alike stocked up on the issue. Exact values are unknown, but the stamp was available for 50p over the counter, and was sold for between five and ten times its value via the dealers.

Royal mail refused to admit the stamp existed, and after consultation Gibbons agreed and refused to list in it their monthly catalogue updates. They claimed, as did Royal Mail, that it was an error with the drying process of the ink, and was not a true variety.

Many experts argued as the stamps were very clearly green, and the debate raged for a long time. During this time the ink on the stamps, as predicted, dried properly and the stamps returned to their true black colour!

By the 90’s it was well publicised that it was now virtually impossible to distinguish the colour variety and they were removed by most dealers as they could not be authenticated. The stamps were now worth exactly the same as the normal issue, much to the annoyance of the collectors who had paid over inflated prices!

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