WORD FROM T - Kei

A quarterly bulletin featuring articles, reports and checklists covering all phases of gems, minerals and jewelry on stamps.
UNIT OFFICERS
Winter 2012
No. 112
President
Alan Dean
230 Hymus Blvd. Apt.408
Pointe Claire, Dorval, QC
H9R 5P5
Canada
E-mail:
[email protected]
Vice-President
François Brisse
289 Oakdale Crescent
Beaconsfield, QC
H9W 1X3
Canada
E-mail:
[email protected]
16
Secretary Treasurer
Gilberte Proteau
138 Lafontaine
Beloeil, QC
J3G 2G7
Canada
E-mail:
[email protected]
New Issues
Ian Hunter
6 Tiller Place S.E.
Airdrie, AB
T4A 1S6
Canada
E-mail: [email protected]
Editor
François Brisse
WORD
FROM T
CONTENTS
Word from the President
Nickel Mining in New Caledonia
Fathi Habashi & François Brisse
Gold Through the Ages - Part 1
Josef Charrach
Greenland Mining History
Af Karsten Secher
Diopside
Wikipedia
Jersey Post's Diamond Jubilee Stamp sells out
Jersey Post
New Issues
Ian Hunter
2
3
8
12
13
14
16
Word from the President
During almost 70 years of collecting postage stamps, I have dealt with many ‘stamp dealers’
throughout the world. Among those that have survived, the struggle to exist in a diminishing
marketplace has never before been so prevalent as in today’s world. Such is the case of a very
prestigious dealer in California, Keimar Stamps, who have had to curtail their New Issues Service
quoting that a few giant companies have cornered the market, vending their stamps and covers at prices
they can obtain by bulk purchasing stamps from the issuing countries as well as from printers of bogus
stamps. Not all dealers take the time to check the authenticity of their purchases. Many countries either
know or close their eyes regarding stamps not issued by them but which carry their name. It is
important to point out that since we have been dealing with Keimar, they have alerted us to important
information, which we pass on to our membership via this column.
In a recent e-mail from Keimar, it was stated “We have contacted the company that develops all of the
stamp issues from Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, St. Thomas, Comoros, some Congo, Mauritania, etc. We
had suggested they send us a cancelled cover of these different countries as they did with the mineral
cover from St. Thomas. We never received any response.” Caveat emptor!
I recently received an e-mail from Jack Denys, president of the American Topical Association
following a letter from Dr. Rajnikant Shah to the ATA. Dr. Shah proposed to launch his Mineral on
Stamps website during the ATA meeting planned for June 23, 2012 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
The ATA responded by suggesting that the GMJSU hold a meeting at that time. It must be pointed out
that all executive members of this Study Unit live in Canada. With our current membership we cannot
afford the expense of becoming involved in such a venture. A review of Dr. Shah website, indicates the
collection consists of stamps of 1999-2000. This collection should be significantly enhanced if it is to
warrant a high profile exhibition.
I encourage members to exhibit their stamps at any local, national or international shows.
Alan Dean,
Unit President
Identification of the souvenir sheet on the front page.
Part of a registered letter send by Wolfgang Beyer one of our members in Germany showing a beautiful
group of rubies. This precious stone is shown in a set of three semi-postal stamps: ruby, emerald and
sapphire issued January 2, 2012.
2
Nickel Mining in New Caledonia
Fathi Habashi and François Brisse
When, in 1860, Jules Garnier (1839-1904) (Figure 1) graduated from the School of Mines of Saint
Etienne, France, he was sent to the French colony of New Caledonia, a group of islands east of
Australia and north of New Zealand (Figure 2). As chief mining engineer, he made a study of the
mineral resources of the island.
Figure 1. Jules Garnier the discoverer
of nickel in New Caledonia (Sc C54)
Figure 2. Location map of New Caledonia at the centre of a triangle made up of Australia, New Zealand
and Fiji.
In 1864 Garnier discovered a new nickel mineral at Nouméa, on the shore of the Dumbea river, at the
southern tip of the island. This mineral was named garnierite after him; the mineral is described as an
apple-green amorphous material consisting of a nickel-magnesium silicate (Figure 3). One of the many
chemical formulae proposed for garnierite is (Ni, Mg)4[Si4O10](OH)4. 4 H2O. Garnierite is mined from
laterite deposits, formed by weathering and secondary mineralization of igneous rocks. The nickel is
contained in the blue-green bands of the ore. The specific gravity of this mineral ranges from 2.3 to 2.8.
Mining of the nickel deposit started in 1875
and in the following year the first blast
furnaces were erected at Pointe Chaleix near
Nouméa. Earlier plants were at the same time
closed. The matte produced was shipped to Le
Havre in France for refining.
Figure 3. A specimen of garnierite
3
Lateritic nickel ores formed by intensive tropical weathering of olivine-rich ultramafic rocks such as
dunite, peridotite and komatiite and their serpentinized derivatives, serpentinite which consist largely of
the magnesium silicate serpentine and contains approx. 0.3% nickel. This initial nickel content is
strongly enriched in the course of lateritization. Two kinds of lateritic nickel ore have to be
distinguished: limonite types and silicate types.
Limonite type laterites (or oxide type) are highly enriched in iron due to very strong leaching of
magnesium and silica. They consist largely of goethite and contain 1-2% nickel incorporated in
goethite. Absence of the limonite zone in the ore deposits is due to erosion.
Silicate type (or saprolite type) nickel ore formed beneath the limonite zone. It contains generally 1.52.5% nickel and consists largely of Mg-depleted serpentine in which nickel is incorporated. In pockets
and fissures of the serpentinite rock green garnierite can be present in minor quantities, but with high
nickel contents - mostly 20-40%. All the nickel in the silicate zone is leached downwards from the
overlying goethite zone.
Typical nickel laterite ore deposits are very large tonnage, low-grade deposits located close to the
surface. They contain in the range of 20 million tonnes and upwards with some examples approaching
a billion tonnes of material. Thus, nickel laterite ore deposits contain many billions of dollars of in-situ
value of contained metal. The typical nickel laterite mine often operates as either an open cut mine or a
strip mine.
In New Caledonia, Eramet’s subsidiary Société Le Nickel (SLN) mines substantial deposits of oxidized
ore (garnierite) at four mining centres variously located in the north and south parts of the island. SLN
operates four open-pit mines, and a fifth is operated by a subcontractor. The ore is subsequently
processed at SLN's Doniambo smelter, near Nouméa. Doniambo is the world's largest ferronickel
producing plant which processes about 3 Mt/y of nickel ore from the Thio, Kouaoua, Thiébaghi and
Népoui-Kopeto pits, and from the Étoile du Nord operated by Société minière Georges Montagnat.
The Doniambo smelter produces 80% of its 62 000 tonnes/year capacity as ferronickel and the
remaining 20% as nickel matte (75% Ni) for refining at Eramet’s plants in France.
The Kouaoua mining centre is located on New Caledonia's east coast, 140 km north of Nouméa. The
mines are about 10 km from the coast. The offshore loading facilities are sited right in the middle of a
sheltered deep-water bay. In 1977, SLN started the development of the very big deposit at Méa.
Capacity in terms of production and bringing ore down to the coast is of the order of one million
tonnes/year of sorted ore. Output in the region amounts to some 27 million tonnes of silicate ore, of
which 17.5 million tonnes is from solely from Kouaoua.
The Népoui-Kopéto mining centre is located on New Caledonia's west coast, in North Province, some
250 km from Nouméa. A number of deposits have already been worked at this site over a period
spanning more than a century. The Népoui-Kopéto mine is composed of bodies of silicated ores, the
mining of which has meant opening up 43 km of roads. The output is some 850 000 tonnes/year. The
Thiebaghi mining centre (Figure 4) is located on New Caledonia's west coast, 400 km north of
Nouméa. At one time, this massif was mined for chromium and cobalt, nickel ores being a relatively
recent discovery (around 1970).
Production capacity is expected to reach, or even exceed a million tonnes/year. New mining techniques
are currently being investigated at Thiebaghi. Systematic use of explosives has become necessary in
order to break up the iron crust.
4
Figure 4. Thiebaghi mine (Sc C269)
Thio is located on New Caledonia's east coast, in South Province, 120 kilometers from Nouméa.
Mining there started in 1880 at the beginning of the nickel industry and has been carried on ever since.
Two foundries were built and operated at Thio, first at Ouroué (1889-1891), then at Thio-Mission
(1912-1930). To date, 40 million tonnes of silicated ore containing some 900 000 tonnes of nickel has
been extracted from the Thio mines, at Plateau, Dothio, Bomets, Ningua, Kongouhaou and Camp des
Sapins (Figure 5). Mining operations are currently divided between two sites, each comprising several
bodies of ore. These are: The Plateau mine, on the left bank of the river Thio, near the sea and the
village, at an altitude of 600 metres. Since operations began, 25 million tonnes of ore, assaying 3 %
nickel, have been extracted from this deposit, one of the largest in New Caledonia and in fact anywhere
in the world; The Camp des Sapins mine, on the right bank of the River Thio, located at the centre of
the range, at an altitude of 800 m, and almost 50 km by road from the coast and the village. Output is
some 800 000 tonnes/year, most of it earmarked for export to Japan, the remainder going to supply the
SLN smelter at Doniambo.
Figure 5. Nickel ore conveyor at Thio (Sc C26)
The Doniambo smelter is located in the harbour of Nouméa (Figure 6), affording direct access to orecarriers and freighters, facilitates intake of ore from the, SLN mining centres and shipment of product
to Le Havre-Sandouville (France) refinery and to the ferronickel customers. Doniambo's output is split
80 % ferronickel and 20 % matte for conversion, at the Sandouville refinery into high-purity nickel
metal and salts of nickel and cobalt.
Figure 6. Nickel foundry in Nouméa (2F, 2F40, 3F, 4F, Sc 285-288)
For a brief period in the nineteenth century New Caledonia nickel ores were smelted in blast furnaces
to produce ferronickel. However, when attempts at refining the crude product failed to yield a nickel
metal of acceptable purity, the operation was abandoned. The rotary kiln-electric furnace smelting
process is now used almost universally for the production of ferronickel from oxide ores.
5
The first commercial scale electric furnaces to produce ferronickel units were installed by SLN at its
Doniambo smelter in 1958 (Figure 7). The refining of ferronickel resembles that of steel in that the
principal impurities are sulfur carbon, silicon, phosphorus, and oxygen. Ferronickel is not usually
treated to remove cobalt, copper, or arsenic, which may be present in significant amounts.
Figure 7. Ferronickel plant
in New Caledonia
As the process yielding ferronickel requires a large amount of electricity, a nickel processing plant was
built near a power generating dam (Figure 8).
Figure 8. Nickel processing plant
and dam (Sc 663)
Inco Ltd. owns the Goro nickel project in New Caledonia. Goro is the best undeveloped laterite ore
body in the world, with excellent average grades, 57 million tonnes of proven and probable reserves,
and a very large resource base. In December 2002, the Goro Project was put on hold and the company
began a comprehensive review of the project.
In October 2004, Inco announced that it had decided to proceed with the development of the Goro
nickel-cobalt project in New Caledonia (Figure 12). First production was expected in September 2007.
Inco holds a 69 percent interest in the Goro project. The three provinces of New Caledonia hold a 10
percent equity interest in the project, through their holding company Société de participation minière
du sud calédonien (SPMSC), and through a jointly owned company called Sumic Nickel Netherlands,
Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. and Mitsui Co. Ltd. own the remaining 21 percent interest in
the project.
New Caledonia’s second major nickel producer is Société Minière du Sud Pacifique (SMSP), majorityowned by the Northern Province. It operates five limonitic nickel mines and the ore is delivered to the
Yabulu smelter in Australia, operated by BHP Billiton. SMSP was the recipient of the Koniambo
nickel deposit in an asset swap instigated by the New Caledonian Government in 1997, and is now in a
joint venture with Falconbridge Ltd concerning the development of Koniambo.
6
Figure 9. From left to right the stamps
show: extraction of the ore, transformation
of the ore into nickel and the transfer of
nickel for export. The designs in relief on
these three stamps have been gilt
embossed using real nickel by the Atelier
André in Paris.
As nickel is the main contributor to the budget of New-Caledonia, it is not surprising to find it on a
relatively large number of stamps issued by this country (Figures 10, 11).
Figure 10. The kagu is the
emblematic bird of New Caledonia.
On this particular issue of 2003, the
stamp is coated with a thin layer of
nickel.
The Goro Nickel-cobalt project
Figure 11. Souvenir sheet containing five
rows of three stamps. The selvage of the
sheet shows the nickel mineral and
ferronickel pellets at the bottom. The cubic
structure of nickel is just above the top row
of stamps. The First Day of issue was
August 6, 2010.
Figure 12. The Goro nickel-cobalt mining area
7
Gold through the Ages. Part 1
Gold in the Hands of the Goldsmith
Josef Charrach
Gold was the first metal known to mankind and its earliest uses were ornamental, often associated with
the gods, with immortality, and with wealth and power, in many cultures throughout the world. Perhaps
the first reference to gold is in Genesis 2: 10-12, where we learn of the river Pison out of Eden, and “the
land of Chavilah, where there is gold: and the gold of that land is good”.
Gold, (Fig 1) which should not be confused with “Fool’s Gold” – pyrite, an iron sulphide (Fig 2), is a dense,
soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally
considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. The metal occurs in free
elemental (native) form, as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Less commonly, it
occurs in minerals as gold compounds, usually with tellurium. Gold is widely dispersed throughout the
geological world and its discovery, initially as yellow gold nuggets (Fig. 3), in streams, was worldwide. It
was gained by a primitive form of hydraulic mining, which is based on the difference in the specific gravity
of gold (19.3) to that of the waste rock (~2.6) in water.
Fig. 1: Native gold
Fig. 2: Pyrite
Fig. 3: Gold nugget
Our story probably begins with the Sumerian civilisation flourishing between the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers in southern Iraq, around 3000 BCE. The goldsmiths were inspired by the ease that gold could be
worked to shape it into adornments. It was so malleable that it could be hammered cold into a thin,
translucent wafer, so ductile that it could be drawn into thin wires, making delicate chain and
filigree work possible from earliest times. The earliest gold jewellery was widely worn by both men and
women. Some of the finest examples were found in the treasure in the Royal Tombs at Ur (Fig 4).
Unlike ancient Sumer, Egypt was rich in gold, being found in the Eastern Desert and in the lands to the
south. The goldsmith's repertoire of skills advanced rapidly. The Egyptians understood fire assaying to
test the purity of gold, mastered the art of alloying with other metals for hardness or colour variations,
and casting, including the lost-wax technique, which remain at the basis of jewellery manufacturing. Their
achievements were preserved in the tomb of King Tutankhamen, who died in 1352 BC. The treasures of
the tomb contain necklaces, pectorals, earrings and the mask of solid gold, beaten and burnished over the
head of Tutankhamen’s mummy (Fig. 5). The king's body was encased in a coffin of solid gold sheet, two
millimetres thick, weighting over 90 kg. The immense gold-bearing regions of Nubia made Egypt a
wealthy nation, as gold became the recognized standard medium of exchange for international trade.
The Shekel, a coin originally weighing 11.3 grams of gold, became a standard unit of measure in the
Middle East. It contained a naturally occurring alloy called electrum that was approximately 2/3 gold and
1/3 silver (Fig 6). It was first struck between 643-630 BCE by Lydian merchants.
Fig.7: Mycenaean gold
treasures
Fig. 4: Sumerian gold
drinking horn
Fig. 8: Thracian gold – Venus
Fig. 5: Gold plated
statue of Tutankhamen
The first evidence for jewellery in Greek lands was about 1800 BC with the rise of
the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations (Fig. 7). Technical accomplishment proceeded with the Minoans
on Crete, producing the first known cable chain and the Etruscans in Italy perfecting granulation in which
thousands of tiny grains of gold were used to outline and silhouette animal and human figures, giving a
feeling of texture and light. Major discoveries of gold from the Struma River alluvial deposits, in Bulgaria,
were elaborately crafted into gold treasures that were found in the Thracian tombs and sanctuaries from
the 5th and 4th century BCE (Fig. 8).
Fig. 6: Shekel coins
9
The Romans ushered in a different phase in jewellery design,
the love of gems and coloured stones. Until then, gold had
been the essence of jewellery. Roman goldsmiths applied gold
as a setting and framing for brilliant and valuable gem stones.
Gems set in gold jewellery became incorporated into the
symbolism of the dominion of the Christian church (Figs. 9)
and the growing power of European Kings (Fig. 10).
Fig. 9: Gold symbols of the Christian church
Goldsmiths in South America and around the Mediterranean
developed their craft completely unknown to each other in
very different cultures; both the techniques and the concept of
the richness of gold paralleled each other. Pre-Columbian is
the general term for jewellery and ornaments in gold made in
South America, mainly in what are now Colombia and Peru,
before Columbus discovered the Americas.
Until the
nineteenth century the gold objects that pre-dated the Spanish
conquest were usually attributed to the Incas themselves, but it
is now known that the goldsmith's art reached a high level
much earlier.
Fig. 10: Swedish Crown Jewels – gold inlaid with precious stones
Around 1200 BCE, the first great Peruvian civilization of Chavin was already making gold ornaments by
hammering fine sheets of metal and decorating them with embossing. The technique of casting gold was
developed by the Nazca people in the deserts of southern Peru before 500 CE. The apogee of technical
skills came during the Chimu Empire between 1150 and 1450 CE, when goldsmiths perfected lost wax
casting, alloys, welding and plating. They learned how to do filigree, by rolling gold under tension, into
fine wires. Unlike most of the gold work of Egypt, Greece or Rome, much of the Pre-Colombian gold
jewellery was cast. The gold was mixed with copper to facilitate casting. Copper reduces the melting
temperature and makes it easier to produce intricate castings. The high copper content also gives the
gold a subtle rosy hue (Figs. 11 - 13).
10
Figs. 11-13: Pre-Colombian Period ornaments and jewelery
Plating was done with an alloy of 30% gold, 70% copper; after being poured onto an ornament, the alloy
was treated with acids extracted from plant juices, producing a copper oxide, which could be cleaned off,
leaving the surface covered with a thin film of pure gold. Replicas of animals, birds, plants (golden corn in
a sheaf of silver leaves) were made. When the Incas conquered the Chimu, they still employed their best
goldsmiths, for the craft was highly esteemed, gold was 'the sweat of the sun' (and silver 'the tears of the
moon'). This tradition, however, was shattered by the Spanish invasion of South America and Pizarro's
capture and ransom of the Inca. An estimated eight tons of Pre-Columbian ornaments were melted down
to pay for it, and a tradition of craftsmanship built up over 2,500 years destroyed.
The Renaissance delight in gold jewellery was eclipsed in the seventeenth century by the improvement in
the cutting and polishing of precious stones and a flow of diamonds from India, brought back to
Amsterdam and London by the Dutch and British East India companies. Gold again became the setting.
Silver was added to produce white gold (Fig. 14).
Fig. 14: White gold is used for setting precious stones
11
Greenland Mining History
Af Karsten Secher
Senior geologist at the National Geological studies of Denmark and Greenland
Mining History
Qaarsuarsuk – early coal mining in Greenland 1905-24
Here, too, the mining was initiated in an area where the local population already mined for coal.
However, regular mining in mineshafts could only be initiated four years later. It was soon discovered
that mining in Greenland - contrary to mines in most other areas - had the advantage of not having the
feared firedamp, because the hollows in the layers of coal were filled with ice. The mine was shaped
with a horizontal
10 metres from the sea. The coal
was dug from an almost horizontal layer of coal with an average thickness of 2.5 metres and an area of
approximately 100 x 160 metres. The Qaarsuarsuk mine was closed in 1924 after about 25 000 metric
tonnes of coal had been excavated. After long consideration concerning a new mine on the southwest
coast of Nuu
mineshaftprockwlby
From the beginning the engineer, M. I. Nyeboe, was involved in the operation and construction of the
mine, first as technical adviser and, from 1907, as director. He started operations with known methods
going from the surface, but from 1910, important modernizations had been introduced. The new
approach in 1910 included subterranean mining, where two central main shafts were the basis for the
excavation of ore on several subterranean levels. At the Josva mine, up to five subterranean levels were
connected with a network of mineshafts down to depths of almost 100 meters below the surface of the
sea. Modern times also brought the introduction of machines for mining, first based on steam power
and, already from 1913, diesel engines. “Modern” exploitation of raw materials had made its
appearance in the Josva mine. Numerous large expansion plans for the mine did not reach fruition,
however, before activities were halted in 1914, when the amount of copper was deemed too small to
support further operations.
The stamp design is dominated by the important shaft tower, which was erected in 1910 and, has a
background with the signature of one of the miners of the first mining activity, SOLJ [18]53, found as
rock graffiti near the copper vein.
The two mining stamps are only issued on self-adhesive paper,
however. The stamp designs have been created by Ina Rosing who,
yet again, has been able to combine the historic and the modern in
her artwork. The stamps were issued on October 17, 2011.
This article was originally published in Greenland Collector, 6,
September 2011, pp.4-5.
Diopside
Wikipedia
Diopside, CaMgSi2O6, a magnesium and calcium inosilicate, is an important mineral found in
metamorphic rocks as well as in ultramafic (kimberlite and peridotite) igneous rocks. It forms complete
solid solution series with hedenbergite (CaFeSi2O6) and augite, (Ca,Na)(Mg,Fe,Al)(Si,Al)2O6.
Diopside is also a constituent of some meteorites.
Diopside forms variably colored, but typically dull
green crystals in the monoclinic prismatic class. It has
a Mohs hardness of six, and a specific gravity of 3.25
to 3.55. It is transparent to translucent with indices of
refraction of nα=1.663–1.699, nβ=1.671–1.705, and
nγ=1.693–1.728. Gemstone quality diopside is found in
two forms: the black star diopside and the chrome
diopside (which includes chromium, giving it a rich
green colour). At 5.5–6.5 on the Mohs scale, chrome
diopside is relatively soft to scratch.
13
Jersey Post's Diamond Jubilee stamp sells out
The stamp sheets were priced at £125 each.
All 600 special edition stamp sheets featuring a real diamond, issued by Jersey Post to mark the
Queen's Diamond Jubilee, have sold out within a week.
Each hand-cut 1.25mm diamond is fixed to a crown worn by the Queen on one of the two stamps in the
souvenir sheet of limited edition stamps.
The other stamp features her late father, King George VI, and both are in a special box.
The stamp were released on 6 February but all 600 were pre-ordered. More than half of the special
stamps were ordered by Jersey residents.
Head of the Jersey Philatelic Bureau Sally Ferbrache, who designed the issue, said: "This is a
tremendous response and what is even more pleasing is the response from the people of Jersey as well
as our dedicated customers."
She added: "People collect stamps for all sorts of reasons. The hobby is often thought of as dying out;
in fact, it has never been a more exciting time to collect stamps. Through these tiny works of art, postal
administrations are providing a platform to showcase innovative designs and printing techniques in
what remains a highly competitive market."
Jersey Post said the same souvenir miniature stamp sheet, without the diamond, was still available.
Below is Jersey Post's official announcement.
To mark the occasion of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee, 2012 is the year in which the world will
celebrate the first real diamond attached to a British stamp.
Our Limited Edition Souvenir Miniature Sheet has a very special 'wow' factor as it features a genuine
1.25mm diamond. Every one of these individually hand cut and polished diamonds is unique and
affixed by hand to the centre of the Diamond Diadem on the stamp featuring HM The Queen.
This special product also features embossing and translucent hot foil on the Imperial State Crown at the
centre of the sheet. The Souvenir Miniature Sheet is securely presented in a deluxe presentation box
accompanied by a numbered certificate. This 'world first' product is only available in a Limited Edition
of 600 and is now sold out.
Technical Details
Se-tenant pair, Souvenir Miniature Sheet, First Day Cover envelopes and Presentation Packs created by
Sally Diamond Ferbrache. Stamp image of HM The Queen © Dorothy Wilding, Camera Press London.
Stamp image of King George VI © Yousouf Karsh, Camera Press London. Imperial Crown photograph
© Camera Press London.
Stamps printed by Cartor Security Printing, France in two colour process offset lithography in sheets of
four (2 across x 2 down). Souvenir Miniature Sheet printed in four colour offset lithography plus one
PMS black matt, spot embossing and translucent hot foiling on the crown.
Stamp die size 51mm deep x 37.5mm wide. Souvenir Miniature Sheet size 100mm deep x 150mm
wide. 1.25mm diamonds affixed to 600 Limited Edition Souvenir Miniature Sheets.
14
Limited Edition - sold out
To mark the occasion of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee, 2012 is the year in which the world will
celebrate the first real diamond attached to a British stamp.
Our Limited Edition Souvenir Miniature Sheet has a very special 'wow' factor as it features a genuine
1.25mm diamond. Every one of these individually hand cut and polished diamonds is unique and
affixed by hand to the centre of the Diamond Diadem on the stamp featuring HM The Queen. This
aptly named crown was originally created for George IV and was worn by Her Majesty during the
procession to her Coronation in 1953.
This 'world first' product is only available in a Limited Edition of 600 and is now sold out. This special
product is also enhanced by embossing and hot foil on the Imperial State Crown at the centre of the
sheet. Securely presented in a deluxe presentation box and accompanied by a numbered certificate, the
Limited Edition Souvenir Miniature Sheet is a very desirable product available on a first come, first
served basis.
£125.00 | Post and packing £9.95
Limited Edition - Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Miniature Sheet
Our Souvenir Miniature Sheet, without the diamond feature, is also available as part of our usual
product range.
When King George V died in 1936, his eldest son acceded the throne as King Edward VIII and the
young Princess' future began to unfold.
At the time, with her uncle as King, Princess Elizabeth was second in line of succession after her
father, The Duke of York, and was not expected to become Queen. However, King Edward VIII
famously announced that he could not continue without the woman he loved at his side, and the
destinies of The Duke of York and Princess Elizabeth were realigned.
Upon the abdication, The Duke of York became King George VI and Princess Elizabeth, heiress to the
throne. The portraits were specifically chosen so that HM The Queen and King George VI would be
facing each other. It is well documented that the family was close and this tender composition suggests
a daughter's love and respect for her father.
15
NEW ISSUES PI-112
COUNTRY
China, People's Rep
China, People's Rep
Croatia
Ecuador
Estonia
Jersey
Jersey
Jersey
Jersey
Jersey
Jersey
Hungary
Mongolia
Mongolia
Russia
Sweden
SCOTT
3887
3888
808
2040g
687
1534
1535
1536
1537
1538
1539
4197
2722b
2722c
7279
2672b
ISSUED
2011 Mar 8
2011 Mar 8
2011 Sept 1
2011 Oct 11
2011 Nov 1
2011 Aug 30
2011 Aug 30
2011 Aug 30
2011 Aug 30
2011 Aug 30
2011 Aug 30
2011 Apr 25
2011 July 25
2011 July 25
2011 July 1
2011 Nov 17
DESCRIPTION
VALUE
Cong (carved block of jade)
Bi (ring of jade)
Eucharistic Miracle of Ludberg, 600th Anniv.
Filagree
10 cent and 2 euro coins
Celtic coins - Billon stater of XN series
Celtic coins - Durotriges base gold quarter stater
Celtic coins - Balocasses gold stater
Celtic coins - Gold chute type stater
Celtic coins - Southern British silver unit
Celtic coins - Billon stater Coriosolite Tribe coin
Crown of St. Stephen
Jewelry depicting horse
Jewery depicting bird
Order of St. Andrew the Apostle
Nobel Prize, radium, and Marie Curie
Booklet of 12 self-adhesive stamps issued in France. What is of interest to us is the cover of the booklet
which bears a publicity for the French and Southern Antarctic Territory. One of the stamps shown is
that of the tourmaline mineral issued in 2010.
16
$1.20
$1.20
5k
50c
2.10 €
37p
49p
59p
64p
79p
86p
2011fo
1000t
1000t
50r
12k