| Common Name: | The Rare 2d Coil Twopence coil stamp |
| Country Of Production: | Ireland |
| Location Of Production: | Dublin |
| Date Of Production: | 1935 |
| Nature Of Rarity: | Few printed |
| Number In Existence: | 20 mint, several used, a few on cover |
| Face Value: | 2d |
| Estimated Value: | GB £9,000 (mint)[1] GB £1,500 (used) |
The Rare 2d Coil was an experimental vertical coil stamp, denominated 2d, issued by the Irish Post Office in 1935[2] [3] and is one of the scarcest, and most valuable, Irish stamps. It is often referred to by stamp collectors simply as "Scott 68b" or "SG 74b",[1] being the Scott and Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogue numbers respectively.
Philatelists refer to the configuration as '"perf 15 x imperf",[4] or in the US as "perf 15 horizontal", because the stamp is perforated 15 gauge (holes per 2 cm) on the horizontal and imperforate on the vertical edges. Because of the shared design it appears identical to the first 2d value definitive stamp issued on 6 December 1922 with the Map of Ireland except for the imperforate vertical edges.[1] It uses the first Irish watermark that was a stylised design of the two overlapping letters 's' and 'e' making an 'se' watermark representing the name of the country Saorstát Éireann (Irish Free State).[1] [5]
It was first recognised in 1937[4] but not acknowledged by the philatelic catalogues until the Scott stamp catalogue listed it in 1952. Over the years 20 copies have been identified in mint condition,[6] but the quantity of used stamps is not known. Even though several have been recorded, they are nevertheless scarce.[7] A few copies of the stamp are known to exist on cover, but Dulin points out that all Irish coil stamps are scarce on cover.[8] Some debate as to the genuineness of this stamp took place in the Irish philatelic literature during the mid-1990s with a suggestion the stamp had been fabricated from a normal fully perforated stamp with a press. This hypothesis was debunked by Foley and Ian Whyte, a Dublin stamp dealer, who both claimed such a process would damage the stamp and be scientifically impossible. Archived documents were also found that confirm the stamp was ordered and issued by the Irish postal administration.[9] [10]
A detailed survey of the then twenty known unused examples was carried out by Gerard Brady and published in the Irish Stamp News in 1981.[11]
In 2004 a forgery of this stamp was reported in The Revealer, the journal of the Éire Philatelic Association, that had been found in the "Maryland forgeries" and offered for sale by a noted collector Roger West of Phoenix International. The forgery is paler than the genuine stamp and the print is coarser, on a white ungummed paper and perforated 10.75 x imperf. The printed stamp area is 18.0mm x 22.5mm compared to 18.5mm x 22.0mm on the original.[12]
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