All 'Stampex Spring' errors
explained finally
When the new software for the Stampex
kiosks was programmed, kiosk no. A005 was set up first.
The default
was Union Flag on reel A and Machin on reel B. The default text
imprint for the Machins was „Stampex Spring / 19 – 22 February“. And the receipts would have the imprint
„Union Flag“ and „Machin“ accordingly.
Another default was that the receipts
for the 1st Class strip of 6 have the value of 0.60 instead of £3.60. This default software was then adapted
and copied to kiosks A003 and A004.
On the afternoon of the 1st day of
Stampex [19 February] kiosk A005 fell back to the default settings after a
malfunction and subsequent software upload. The kiosk was loaded with Union Flag on
reel A and Machin (MA13) on reel B. The default settings resulted in
Machins with wrong text „Stampex Spring“ and receipts (for both) for 1st Class
strips with a value of 0.60 GBP.
Much more interesting is the same error
on kiosk A003. Also on the first day of Stampex this kiosk was reset
after malfunction. This kiosk was loaded with flowers on reel A and
Machins (NO YEAR CODE) on reel B. When the kiosk fell back to default
settings, it printed id-number A0005 on all stamps and receipts! This
is how Spring Flower stamps occured with number A0005. The Machins on
reel B had the same wrong text „Stampex Spring“ (4 collector-sets
Machins „Stampex Spring“ without year code are known).
The receipts for the Spring Flowers
indicate Union Flag, of course, and the strips of 1st Class do have
the wrong value 0.60 GBP, again.
The error on kiosk A003 was fixed very
quickly and so far transaction no. 262-263 are known, only.
My thanks to Thomas von Loeper for a very clear explanation of what caused this amazing error! You can find Thomas's website here http://www.vonloeper.com/
do you know if the Worldwide upto 10g will still be valid after the 31st March 2014?
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