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Egypt Pre 1900 1866 Turkish Suzerainty
Scott includes, as #7 a 1 pi rose lilac, which I assume is SG's #4. I think the differentiation is because this is the only unwatermarked stamp of this series. There were four editions of stamps featuring the Sphinx in front of a pyramid, identifiable as follows:
1867 Definitives
I had avoided the complications of the variations in the 1872-1974 definitives at first, being content with the approach of the Gibbons Simplified catalogue. Now with more stamps in the collection and Gibbons Part 19 to hand (courtesy of Sidcup Library) I will make a start on the finer distinctions. The most important difference is simple to state and essential to include: the 1872 issue was clearly printed and neatly perforated; the 1874 issue was a mess - poorly printed on terrible paper and roughly perforated. Beyond that, two of the 1872 set were issued in both Lithographed and Typographed form and throughout the issues there were two watermark types which are possible but difficult to tell apart. I will ignore the watermarks, but here they are, left, from SG v19. They are clearly different, but not enough to matter. There are also some perforation differences on SG40 and 41. On now to the important differences, here are the three forms of the 1 pi red: The difference between the SG31 of 1872 and the SG38 of 1874 is clear, but that between the two 1872 versions, SG27 (lithographed) and SG31 (typographed) is more subtle. I am too new to the subject to be of much help here, but the lithographed version seems to be more clearly defined than the typographed. SG states,
I will try to clarify this section as my knowledge improves. The prices below show the type I watermarks above and the Type II below from the 1996 SG v19 (for SG39, 40 and 41, the second price is for the 12½x13½ perforation version, not watermark II) 1872 Definitives
1874
Definitives
1879 Definitives
1884 Overprint
1888 Definitives (see the 1897 Sudan overprints)
1. Catalogue numbers are included on this page for Balian's Stamps of Egypt catalogue. My copy of this invaluable book arrived too late to incorporate Balian numbers into the initial table design, but I will make a start on this page and may extend it in due course. The full reference is Stamps of Egypt, Leon Balian, 1998 first edn. 2. Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue, Part 19, Middle East. 5th edition, 1996, page 36
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