Australia Philately: 1973 Architecture

Four buildings of historical and architectural significance are depicted on a new series of stamps being issued on 17th October, 1973. The subjects and values are:

7c Sydney Opera House
10 Buchanan’s Hotel, Townsville
40c Como House, Melbourne
50c St. James’ Church, Sydney

All four stamps were printed in mulit-colour photogravure by the Note Printing Branch of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Melbourne on unwatermarked paper incorporating luminescence.

The Opera House and Buchanan’s Hotel stamps were printed on the Rembrandt machine, and the other two stamps upon on the Chambon machine. Sizes, including perfs., are Opera House and Buchanan’s, 37.75 mm x 24.15 mm; Como, 37.5 mm x 25mmm, and St. James’, 25 mm x 37.5 mm. In each case, sheet content is 100. The stamps were designed by Mr. Arthur Leydin of Sydney, who also prepared the two official first day covers: one for the Opera House stamp and one for the series.

The 10c, 40c and 50c stamps of the series are short term definitive stamps and will sold concurrently with similar values in the Pioneer series. The Opera House stamp is a commemorative and will be on sale at post offices for about four weeks, and at philatelic sales centres for six months. A souvenir pack containing the four stamps will be available for $1.07.

Details

Date of Issue: 17 October 1973
Withdrawn Date:
Invalidated:
Designer: Arthur Leydin, Sydney
Printer: Note Printing Branch, Reserve Bank of Australia, Melbourne
Press:
- Rembrandt (7c, 10c)
- Chambon (40c, 50c)
Process: Multicolour photogravure
Cylinders:
- Light Blue – Mid Blue – Dark Blue I [30%] (7c)
- Light Blue – Mid Blue – Dark Blue II [70%] (7c)
- Buff – Brown (10c)
- Pink – Grey – Black (40c)
- Grey – Light Green – Red – Dark Green (50c)
Paper: KP5D unwatermarked coated paper incorporating helecon
Watermark: None
Perf: Comb
- 14.5 x 14 (7c, 10c)
- 13.25 x 13.5 (40c)
- 13.5 x 13.25 (50c)
Sheet:
- Printed in two panes of 50 stamps (R10 x 5) divided by vertical gutter. (7c, 10c, 40c)
- Printed in two panes of 50 stamps (R10 x 5) divided by horizontal gutter. (50c)
Quantity:
- 6,800,000 (10c)
- 4,154,900 (40c)
- 3,842,500 (50c)