Republic of South Africa Stamps 1961 - 2013 Definitive Issues

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RSA Issues

Comms I 1961 - 1990

Comms II 1991 - 2000

Comms III 2001 - 2010

Comms IV 2011 - To date

RSA Booklets

1961 - 1973 First RSA Definitives

How to sort out the nine groups of the 1961-73 definitive of RSA
Using a blue ultra-violet light

By Roy Ross

Type I

Type II

Baobab Tree

Maize

Castle - Cape Town

1961 Orginal Set with
Watermark
Coat of Arms
SG 198 - 210

2½c Types I & II

Harbour - Cape Town

Sterlitzia

There are 4 basic papers from the front.

1. Non fluorescent and non phosphor (i.e. untreated paper). This shows up a dark pink or dark grey and does not reflect light at all.

2. Fluorescent paper gives a dirty grey or pale whitish reflection, but is dull and not at all bright.

3. Phosphor Frame, this is a bright shiny yellow or cream colour around the border of the stamp and inside this border the stamp is fluorescent as in number 2.

4. All over phosphor: the stamp has a very bright reflection and can vary from whitish blue to bright white to a bright yellowish white.

Use the Diagram at the end of this section for easy reference
When confronted by a mass of stamps, sorting may be done in steps as follows.

STEP 1
Put all the stamps face up under the U.V. lamp and sort into four sections.

Section 1: The stamps are very dull pink colour and are difficult to see until your eyes are used to the lamp. These are non-fluorescent and non-phosphor or untreated paper.

Section 2: The Stamps are a greyish colour, definitely whiter that section 1, but may easily be mixed up with section 4. However, when placed side by side, the white border of the perforation is bright clean white in section 4 as opposed to a dull greyish colour in section 2.

Section 3: All stamps have a bright yellow border around the sides. Thickness differs and centring is often bad

Section 4: A very bright white, but sometimes tending towards blue or yellow and the brightness and colour do vary a lot, however they are a lot brighter than section 2.
The stamps like ½c, 1c, 3c, 4c, 6c and 15c are easy to distinguish - but with the 2c, 5c, 9c, 10c and 20c one must concentrate on the white surround and not the inside of the stamps.

STEP 2
Take section 3, those with the bright yellow border and turn them all up-side-down and put under the U.V. lamp:

a) Those with a grey or fluorescent back are Group VII (Harrison paper)

b) Those with a dull pink non-fluorescent back are Group VI (Swiss paper)

STEP 3
Take Section 2 those with a fluorescent grey front, turn them all up-side-down and sort into two piles.

a) Pink non-fluorescent back are Group V

b) Grey fluorescent back are either Group III or IV - See step 4

STEP 4
Take those from pile b) Above (Step 3, Section b) and face them all upright and sort out into original design and redrawn design.
Most values are automatic i.e. 1½c, 5c, 7½c, 10c and 20c must be original design, while ½c, 2c, 12½c and 15c are all redrawn design

The problem stamps are 1c, 2c, 21/2c, 50c and R1

1c Original - K in Republiek is directly above F in Africa

1c Redrawn - K in Republiek is between F & R in Africa

2c Original - N in van is just to right of K in Africa

2c Redrawn - N in van is directly above A in Africa

2½c Original - R in Republic is above i in Suid

2½c Redrawn - R in Republic is between S & U in Suid

50c Original - Republic of South Afrika is to the left and level with 50c

50c Redrawn - Republic of South Afrika is above the 50c

R1 Original - N in van is to the right of K in Africa

R1 Redrawn - N in van is directly above A in Africa

Also
Original design
The vertical height of the words Republic of are the same as South Africa

	Redrawn The vertical height of South Africa is much greater than Republic of Those of the original design are then Group III. Those of the redrawn design are then Group IV.		Firstly, know what Watermarks you will be looking for
			Group I is a Coat of Arms watermark, which looks like this	Group VIII is the RSA in a triangle and the Tête-bêche watermark looks like this

	STEP 5 Take the 50c and R1 stamps from the redrawn group above i.e. Group IV The 50c is automatically Group VII. Using a Watermark detector sort the R1 into a) RSA in triangle watermark. This Group IV b) RSA in triangle tête-bêche watermark. This actually chronologically Group VII, but it does not have a phosphor border as this and the 50c values were mainly used for parcels and do not go through the automatic franking machines, and therefore did not require a phosphor border for automatic cancelling. We have now sorted out Groups III, IV, V, VI and VII Only I, II, VIII & IX remain and the U.V. lamp can no longer be used. The difference between Groups I & II and between VIII & IX is to be found in the watermarks.
			STEP 6 Take Section 1 and sort into: a) Those with Coat of Arms watermark, these are automatically *Group I* b) Those with no watermark are automatically Group II STEP 7 Take Section 4 and sort into: a) Those with the RSA tête-bêche watermark are automatically Group VIII b) Those with no watermark are Group I

Section No	1		2			3		4
Stamps seen from front under a UV Lamp	Pink - Very Dark		Grey			Yellow Border		Bright White/Yellow
Sub-Section No	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I
Stamps seen from back under a UV Lamp	Pink Dark	Pink Dark	Grey	Grey	Pink Dark	Pink Dark	Grey	Grey White	Grey White
How to Differentiate Section 1, 2, 3 and 4	Coat of Arms Wmk	No Wmk	Original design	Redrawn design	Pink Back	Pink back	Grey Back	RSA T-B wmk	No Wmk
Watermarks	Coat of Arms	None	RSA	RSA	RSA T-B	RSA T-B	RSA T-B	RSA T-B	None
Designs	Original	Original	Original	Redrawn	Redrawn	Redrawn	Redrawn	Redrawn	Redrawn
Paper	Un-Treated	Un-Treated	Harrison	Harrison	Swiss	Swiss	Harrison	Phosphorised	Phosphorised
Group Numbers	I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	VIII	IX