COMMONWEALTH - Stanley Gibbons Commonwealth and British Empire 1840-1970 2010

Published by Stanley Gibbons. 618pp. Colour. English

Inc Great Britain, British post offices abroad, omnibus issues, booklets, miniature sheets, stamps on cover, officials, postage dues, occupation issues, overprint, watermark, and perforation varieties, major printing errors, English/French/German/Spanish/Italian glossary, specialist philatelic societies directory

Philatelic Exporter review, courtesy of David Rennie (October 2009):

The first thing to do when opening this year's edition, is to read very carefully the Editor's Preface on page iii.  Next you should look at page vii where all the new numbers and number changes are listed.  Finally read the Information and Guidelines section particularly the part which deals with "Papers" on page xiii.

Prices have been thoroughly reviewed in the light of the current buoyant market, especially for stamps issued before 1960.  Key areas include India and Malaya, but virtually all other territories show increases, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, British West Indies, the Atlantic Islands, African Colonies etc.  From 1960 the increases are much less obvious, Pacific Islands and Africa are flat, although even here French New Hebrides and Ghana show some gains.

As usual it is the sought after varieties, errors and scarcer items to which most attention is given.  GB prices of course fall into line with the recently published Concise (see June 2009 Exporter), the significant increases since last year being for mint 1d Blacks and the Embossed 6d and 1/- values.

Comparison of prices with the Michel West-Europa reviewed elsewhere are difficult, since the SG prices are "SG's estimated selling prices at the time of publication", whereas Michel reflects the accumulated wisdom of dealers' lists and advertisements, already published, auction realisations etc, and are priced in Euros, where of course the exchange rate has fluctuated in the past twelve months.

There have been a number of significant editorial revisions, notably relating to Chalky papers where the silver test is no longer regarded as satisfactory since it must involve some damage, albeit slight, to the stamp.  They have now described and listed the Thin Striated papers in Bahamas and Malaya.  SG mentions the Straits Settlements GVI Die II 2c orange (SG294) as the key stamp for comparison, which is fine.  May I suggest that they also provide a list of unique key stamps for the other more difficult coloured papers of the GV and GVI period, and the early QE glazed and white papers etc.

A new policy regarding the Inverted Watermarks and Double Prints of the Australian States has been implemented, and users should read the notes at the beginning of the States section relating to this. Some, but not all, listed items have been removed.  However there have been further watermark variety additions elsewhere including Hong Kong, India, Ireland Postage Dues etc. 

The second "B" overprint on the stamps of Straits Settlements for use in Siam has now been illustrated, with five values having this added to their listing, and all priced for used copies only.

In Malaya a number of missing colours are now listed and priced for the 1960 Orchid issues from several states.

Some new plate varieties and illustrations have been added to the ever-popular 1935 Silver Jubilee issues for Australia, Canada and New Zealand and also 14 new varieties in the "Windsor Castle" design. This issue seems to have increased by 9% mint and 13% used, according to the Silver Jubilee Study Circle website http://www.silverjubileestamps.com/

In Aden the 2½ Anna 1937 Coronation with watermark inverted has been added, and priced mint, (obviously a late addition since it does not appear in the Middle East catalogue reviewed elsewhere). A number of varieties have been added in various Indian States and in Rajasthan the Bundi stamps are now priced used, for the different coloured hand-stamps.  Some more high values have been priced for fiscal use in Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, Malaya and other areas.

Other new or newly illustrated varieties include the Montserrat "Tower" and "Plate Scratch," the New Zealand "Chisel flaw," and the Nevis "Crossed Lines on Hill."  More of the Newfoundland imperforate issues of the 1911-23 period are listed and priced in footnotes. Other countries to look at include Fiji, South Africa, Morocco Agencies, where issue dates have been revised, St Lucia, Petersburg and Tristan Da Cunha.

I continue to be amazed not only at the scope and detail in this volume, but by the continual flow of new information which comes to light and gets incorporated year on year. This year is clearly a significant volume both in terms of price updating and editorial improvement.