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Travis’ test stress-tested (Scott #C77)
In the latest LPS Journal,(1) Travis offered a test for the 1954 UNICEF airmail #C77: a way to tell whether one is looking at the larger version (the one rejected but not returned to Herman Jaffe)(2) or the smaller version (the one issued), if no scale is present to help distinguish between the two. Travis noted that the larger version has additional red colour on the faces of three (actually four) out of the six children at the right of the design.
This sent my thoughts back to a couple of half-remembered articles from way back:
• There is, separately, also a red fault that occurs on some (but crucially not all) of the small-version stamps.(3)
• Another article concerned an unusual progressive colour proof. Progressive proofs are known for both sizes of stamp, and this example used a grey-blue instead of the usual dark blue.(4)
The illustration from that second article looks, on the face of it, like bad news.
It is monochrome, but the legend says that the proof combines grey-blue and red impressions (and the red must be present because of the stripes on the flag). That figure title says “Liberia Scott no. C77 (large size)”, showing the finished stamp alongside the proof at the same size. And yet the children’s faces do not have the extra red colour.
However, the text of the article refers to “an imperforate dark blue + red progressive of the smaller size stamp, upper left sheet position” [my emphases]. So the proof is consistent with the Travis test, and this supports the utility of having this scale-independent way to identify which size of stamp we have.
But is it just unfortunate that—for neatness—the illustration paired the proof at the same size as the larger stamp? Or is it the case that the left-hand image (of the finished stamp), which also does not have that extra red, is also showing the smaller stamp, and the caption was wrong to say “large size” in the first place?
(1) Travis Searls, “Tip¬top Tip: 1954 UNICEF Air Mail Stamp Discovery”, LPS Journal, The Journal of the Liberian Philatelic Society, 9(3), (July-September 2026), 23-24
(2) Joe Bolton, “Herman Jaffe, My Friend”, Journal of the Liberian Philatelic Society, 14(1), (January-March 1991), 8
(3) Greg Sereda, “The 1954 UNICEF constant flaw variety”, Journal of the Liberian Philatelic Society, 35(4), (October-December 2012), 11–13
(4) Jerry G. Walls, “A Color Trial of the $5.00 UNICEF Stamp”, Liberian Philatelic Society Newsletter, 9(2), (March-April 1986), 5-6
This sent my thoughts back to a couple of half-remembered articles from way back:
• There is, separately, also a red fault that occurs on some (but crucially not all) of the small-version stamps.(3)
• Another article concerned an unusual progressive colour proof. Progressive proofs are known for both sizes of stamp, and this example used a grey-blue instead of the usual dark blue.(4)
The illustration from that second article looks, on the face of it, like bad news.
It is monochrome, but the legend says that the proof combines grey-blue and red impressions (and the red must be present because of the stripes on the flag). That figure title says “Liberia Scott no. C77 (large size)”, showing the finished stamp alongside the proof at the same size. And yet the children’s faces do not have the extra red colour.
However, the text of the article refers to “an imperforate dark blue + red progressive of the smaller size stamp, upper left sheet position” [my emphases]. So the proof is consistent with the Travis test, and this supports the utility of having this scale-independent way to identify which size of stamp we have.
But is it just unfortunate that—for neatness—the illustration paired the proof at the same size as the larger stamp? Or is it the case that the left-hand image (of the finished stamp), which also does not have that extra red, is also showing the smaller stamp, and the caption was wrong to say “large size” in the first place?
(1) Travis Searls, “Tip¬top Tip: 1954 UNICEF Air Mail Stamp Discovery”, LPS Journal, The Journal of the Liberian Philatelic Society, 9(3), (July-September 2026), 23-24
(2) Joe Bolton, “Herman Jaffe, My Friend”, Journal of the Liberian Philatelic Society, 14(1), (January-March 1991), 8
(3) Greg Sereda, “The 1954 UNICEF constant flaw variety”, Journal of the Liberian Philatelic Society, 35(4), (October-December 2012), 11–13
(4) Jerry G. Walls, “A Color Trial of the $5.00 UNICEF Stamp”, Liberian Philatelic Society Newsletter, 9(2), (March-April 1986), 5-6