More
Information :
In the
meantime there has been a major development in terms of SWA
/ Namibia Philately :
When Namibia
became independent in 1990, there was of cause
no Namibia Definitive stamps, only the SWA ones that was
still in
use from Independence 'till the 1st Namibia Definitive was
issued on 2 Jan. 1991.
The inland postage rate up to October 1990 was 18c. This is
reflected on
the face value of the first 3 sets of Namibia
Commemoratives. By September
1990 the Namibia Postal Authorities has already received the
proof sheets for a
Definitive to replace the SWA Definitive still in use. These
proofs was approved
and authorization given to the Govt. printer in Pretoria to
commence with
the printing.
What has not been known up to now, and I have always
wondered why they
never used the 7c ex the South West Africa Definitive (the nice red crystals),
is that this stamp
would have actually been the new 18c stamp !!
3 proof sheets was printed and delivered for approval
together with
the rest of the Definitive values. All these was
subsequently approved, but the 18c was never
printed again as it was not needed due to the postal rates
going up
to 20c and a 20c stamp of cause already existed.
Proof sheets
was in the format of 8 panes of 25 stamps each = 200 stamps.
This means that only 600 of these stamps was ever printed.
