1952 Ashmun souvenir sheet C69a

I was looking at this spectacular sheet again the other day and thought I ought to find out more about it

However a cursory Google search revealed little other than a few technical details (date of issue, designer etc) which surprised me (but I may be looking in the wrong place)

Does anyone have any other information about the sheet?

For example:
* it's listed as a commemorating the founding of Liberia by Ashmun. However I can't tie 1952 in woth other key dates (Liberia independence 1847, Ashmun death 1828 etc)
* background to the design. It's a very unusual design to say the least
* any info on numbers produced and how it was sold?

Comments

  • Hi Mik,

    Not sure how useful Bileski propaganda is but I thought I would share what came in the collection I bought.

  • Travis

    thanks
    As I commented it seems odd that so little has been written about the souvenir sheet

    I couldn't see anything in the LPS journal either
  • Further to this, I see in Saleski's publication that he lists

    a) Color proof of SS design without stamps (in black, deep green, blue, red)

    and

    b) Color proof of SS. No stamps and stamp border in one of 8 colours

    Can anyone clarify what the difference is between the 2? (maybe with a scan?)

  • edited July 2018
    Mik,

    the SS is made up of the
    - SS design (the decoration/artwork around the stamps)
    - the stamp centers (printed in the same color as the decoration)
    - the stamp borders

    for b) it actually says "... no stamps and all stamp borders in ... [one of eight colors]" !
    I think this is important, because the colors refer to the stamp borders, not the design. I could be wrong, but this is my interpretation:

    Color proof a) consists of the artwork only in one of four colors, no stamp centers and no stamp borders.
    Color proof b) has the artwork in one color, no stamp centers, but all borders, and they are all printed in the same (one of eight) color.

    I believe proofs of type b) were sold a while ago on eBay.
  • Manfred

    thanks again
  • I'm still trying to make sense of some of these sheets that I have

    On his website Manfred shows what he describes as color proofs where all the stamps are printed in the same colour - ie the artwork is the same as the original SS, the stamp (the centre in black) is the same but the stamp borders/frames are all in one colour

    He shows 8:
    lilac rose
    scarlet
    orange red
    deep green
    dark blue
    ultra
    purple
    brown

    Rogers/Bileski (p164) also states that there are trial colour proofs" in one colour (on gummed paper) but lists 10 colours:
    blue
    indigo
    red
    carmine
    green
    violet
    brown
    orange
    ultramarine
    black

    These seem to almost match Manfred's:
    lilac rose = carmine (?)
    scarlet = red (?)
    orange red = orange
    deep green = green
    dark blue = blue
    ultra = ultramarine
    purple = violet (?)
    brown = brown

    I'm trying to match these up with Saleski

    Saleski (p170) lists 8 Color Proofs (CP-SS494B etc) saying "No stamps and all stamp borders in ... ) one colour

    green
    scarlet
    purple
    brown
    blue
    orange red
    lilac rose
    dark blue

    which implies the black centre is missing unlike those shown by Manfred and mentioned by Rogers.

    Saleski also lists 7 colour trials (p175) (CT-SS494B etc) saying " Grayish white paper. Outside design and centres of stamps in black as issued. But all stamps (ie stamp frames) in one colour" and mentions that shades will vary. He lists:

    dull blue
    ultramarine
    green
    brown
    orange red
    violet
    magenta

    I have (I think) one of these in brown and one in violet (the same as Manfred's shown) but Manfred lists 8 colours, Rogers 10 and Saleski 7!

    Saleski then lists 4 colour trials (CT-SS494B2t) as with the previous but on "tinted paper" He then says "the black of the design will therefore vary ... so will the colour of the stamps". He lists:

    emerald (very pale green)
    red (very pale orange red)
    violet (light lilac)
    magenta (very light reddish pink)

    I have 2 sheets where the paper is definitely not white or grayish white seems to have taken some of the colour of the stamps (ie could be tinted): one which is orangey-red and the other lilac/violet so I assume these could be from that set.

    Can anyone comment/help any further?





  • Not to mention the "progressive" printings of the souvenir sheet. Sheets exist with just one frame (1 cent), two frames (1 & 2 cents) and so on until all eight finally make up the sheet. Illustrated as an example is the sheet with six values completed.
  • If only the other sheets were as easy to identify!
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