From: jaSPAMc@gbr.online.com   
      
   On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 06:32:53 -0400, "Jack Kerley"    
   found these unused words floating about:   
      
   >I'm doing research for a book in which a comparative is needed to establish   
   >rarity, one perhaps regarding stamps.   
   >   
   >Is there, in the stamp-collecting realm, a stamp that would be the "holy   
   >grail" of collecting? A stamp that may, indeed, not even exit, but is   
   >discussed nonetheless? A stamp that may have a dubious, exaggerated history   
   >. . . say a stamp that might have been printed, a few copies stolen and   
   >spirited away?   
   >   
   >The art world, with which I'm more familiar, has examples of the "lost   
   >notebooks of Da Vinci" and so forth; do such tales exist in stamp   
   >collecting?   
   >   
   >Thanks for any assistance.   
   >   
   Each country would have their version of the 'holy grail'. An   
   unissued, but prepared stamp or proof.   
      
   For GB, you could consider the 'Abnormals' to be one such area. The   
   Colour Trials and obliteration removal tests to be another.   
      
   There are a couple plates where only the imprimatur sheets (usually 5)   
   are known to have been printed and in some case only a couple stamps   
   from them survive.   
      
   In the art world you're dealing with mostly "one of's", in the   
   manufacturing and printing world ... it's generally mass produced.   
   Hundreds per sheet, normally.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)