Stamps

Lot 1933    SESSION 7 (11.30AM WEDNESDAY 1ST APRIL)    Stamps

Estimate $460
Bid at live.noble.com.au

AUSTRALIA, 2000 Olympics, Australian Gold medallists, offset printed sheets with 18 x joined panes of sheets for the digital technology with platypus corner stamp, with backing sheets were interleaved and sold together that were not intended by the issuing authorities; lot includes the Olympic Games M/S, and single panes as M/S for all medal winners in a separate 20 page display book; together with the Official Spectator Guide to the games. MUH and offset backing sheets rare as such. (lot)

Australia Post used world first technology to issue postage stamps of the Australian gold medal winners at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

By arrangement with SOCOG a digital image taken at the medal presentation ceremony was sent to Fuji Xerox at Mascot, New South Wales where it was combined with a pre-designed frame format under the auspices of an Australia Post official. Once accepted this was then transmitted to Fuji Xerox document printers in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Canberra where a limited quantity of pre-perforated sheets were used to print the 'digital' stamps.

Black backing sheets were interleaved as part of this production process and as they contained an offset image, were NOT supposed to be issued to collectors. Each state's sheet bore an identifying animal logo at bottom right (NSW is a platypus). Stamps were then despatched to 69 selected post offices throughout Australia for sale from noon the day after.

The same image was transmitted to SNP Ausprint in Melbourne where similar sheets (with a different identifying logo) were printed for normal distribution and available on the second day after production.
These sheets were purchased at the Olymphilex stamp & collectibles exhibition post office at Centrepoint in Sydney and the appropriate sport pictogram postmark applied once to each sheet. (Richard Peck 2002)