United Nations Scott 102 'WHO Emblem Touching Orange' Discovery

(Published: May, 2008, Volume 8, Number 2, Issue #25) (Table Of Contents)
(Author: Larry Fillion)


Below are two different examples of Scott 102 (first printing) with the "Maroon touching the Orange on the Right". These are noted in the following catalogs and there may be more catalogs that it is listed in:
  • Gaines
    "102.1 b) shift of maroon color, 2 mm or more, so the WHO emblem goes into the orange color".

  • Terins -
    "102 d) Color shift: emblem shifted to the right so that it touches the orange"
    "102 e) Color shift: emblem shifted to the left so that it touches the orange"

  • Lindner
    No maroon shifts mentioned for the first printing.
There is a difference between the two stamps in that the Maroon/Green are shifted is lower of the right stamp enough to have the "MALARIA" be in the yellow on the bottom of the stamp. Although this is a noticeable difference, this is not what is of importance in this article. Both of these stamps are position #41 (1st stamp, 5th row) from two different complete intact panes of 50.

Image of the 102 Stamp 41 Normal Image of the 102 Stamp 41 Angle

The stamps by themselves are very similar but these two different "varieties of the complete panes" are drastically noticeable when shown in context. Below are two strips of 5 scanned from two different full panes. The strip of 5 on the left, with positions #1, #11, #21, #31, and #41, all are all the "Maroon touching the Orange on the Right" variety. In this case, the maroon is barely touching the orange (there are other examples when the maroon is further to the right) but it is in fact touching with no yellow in between. As the stamps go down the pane starting from position #1, the maroon is shifted slightly towards the right and position #41 is clearly touching the orange. The shift of the maroon from position #1 to position #41 is .2 mm.

As you look at the strip of 5 on the right with positions #1, #11, #21, #31, and #41, there is a drastic shift of the maroon. This is the a strip of 5 from the "Maroon touching the Orange on the Left AND Maroon touching the Orange on the Right" Pane. These two varieties "Maroon touching the Orange on the Right" and "Maroon touching the Orange on the Left" have been known and documented for decades but collectors have assumed that complete panes had one or the other and this is the discovery pane with both of one pane.
  • Position #1 - "Maroon touching the Orange on the Left"
  • Position #11 - "Maroon touching the Orange on the Left"
  • Position #21 - "Centered Maroon" - slight angle but not clear to the eye
  • Position #31 - "Maroon touching the Orange on the Right"
  • Position #41 - "Maroon touching the Orange on the Right"
The shift of the maroon from position #1 to position #41 is .7 mm. As you scroll down the strip, watch as the emblem on the right strip of 5 shifts from the left to the right as you look down the strip.

Image of the Stamp 41 Right Image of the Stamp 41 Angle


I also have another full pane with the shifted maroon diagonally but is only shifted .6 mm and the top stamp does not have the "Maroon touching the Orange on the Left" variety in position #1. I wonder how many different shifts of the emblem there are.

If you have enough bandwidth, you can see the full panes with the varieties. They are all around 1.4 MB. If you look at each column of stamps, the emblem starts and ends in different positions:
If readers have more examples of these or other shifts or full panes of the WHO emblem touching the orange of the left, please email me at malariastamps@yahoo.com.