Airmail collage — Tongan Scouting
Piece details
Identity
- Piece codeStamp code YYYY.ENT.SS-PP — series code plus stamp order (e.g. 1900.CGH.01-02).
1980.TON.02-06- SeriesThe set this stamp belongs to.
- 22nd Olympic Games, Moscow
1980.TON.02· piece 6 of 10 - EntityPostal authority that issued the stamps (country, territory, or historical entity).
Tonga (TON)- Year / date
- 1980-04-30
- Face valueDenomination on the stamp; +n is a charity surcharge when present.
- 29 s
- Format
- Stamp
- TypeIssue kind. Charity issue = postage + voluntary surcharge (e.g. 6+4), not an overprint.
- Airmail
- Colors
- Multicolour
- CollectionIn collection if you have it; Purchased if it is bought but not yet received (do not buy again); Wanted otherwise.
- ○ Wanted
Production
- Designer
- Walsall Security Printers
- Printer
- Walsall Security Printers
- Process
- Offset lithography
- PerforationsHole gauge between stamps (e.g. 12, 13½). Higher ≈ finer.
- Die cut (self-adhesive)
Catalog numbers
- DomfilDomfil thematic catalog number (scouting).
- 980.18
- ScottScott catalog number (Americas).
- TO C287
- MichelMichel catalog number (Europe / DE).
- TO 759
- YvertYvert & Tellier catalog number (FR).
- TO PA282
- Stanley GibbonsStanley Gibbons catalog number (UK / Commonwealth).
- TO 758
Notes
Die-cut self-adhesive on square peelable backing. White circular tablet lettered 10th ANNIVERSARY OF THE INTRODUCTION OF SELFADHESIVE STAMPS, THE FRIENDLY ISLES, Tonga and AIRMAIL 29s AIRMAIL, with the centenary of Sir Rowland Hill (1795–1879) and Bernard Mechanick as inventor of freeform self-adhesive stamps. The collage includes the gold Tongan Scouting fleur-de-lis, the 1974 UPU dove, Oil Search 1969, and other earlier freeform stamps. A silver bar lettered 1980 OLYMPIC GAMES and a silver rectangle with the black Moscow Games mascot Misha sit at the head; the Moscow 1980 emblem and Olympic rings at the lower left. Red Tonga. Offset lithography, die cut. The new face is printed on a silver square over the original value.
Series history
Tonga issued ten self-adhesive commemoratives at Nuku'alofa on 30 April 1980 for the 22nd Olympic Games in Moscow. They are the 1979 tenth-anniversary freeform self-adhesives, with new faces in the circular tablet and a black-on-silver overprint lettered 1980 OLYMPIC GAMES, the Moscow Games mascot Misha, and the Moscow 1980 emblem with the Olympic rings. Walsall Security Printers lithographed the underlying designs. The stamps are die-cut and peel from a square backing printed with advertising.
The five postage values keep the circular die-cut over a fan of earlier Tongan freeform stamps: 13 seniti on 5 seniti, 20 seniti on 10 seniti, 25 seniti at the same face as the 1979 postage 25 seniti, 33 seniti on 50 seniti, and 1 paʻanga on 1 paʻanga. Each tablet still reads POSTAGE.
The five airmails keep the collage with the gold Tongan Scouting fleur-de-lis: 9 seniti on 15 seniti, 16 seniti on 17 seniti, 29 seniti on 18 seniti, 32 seniti on 31 seniti, and 47 seniti on 39 seniti. Each tablet reads AIRMAIL.
Three official values completed a thirteen-stamp issue; they are not listed here.
