1985 (20 Commemoratives)

2 Feb. - 9th Annual Meeting of Islamic Development Bank

85-1 Tk.1 Farmer cutting grain
85-2 Tk.5 Four Asian races
2 stamps

CCMs: Yes
Plate #: 1A
Sheet: 50
Quantity Printed: Unknown
Designer: Manzare Shamim
Printer: Harrison & Sons, London
FDC: Yes. Commemorative postmark.
Pmks.: Dhaka, Chittagong, Pabna
Insert: Pink card stock, printed in black

14 March - Child Survival Campaign

85-3 Tk.1 Woman breastfeeding
85-4 Tk.10 Child with charts
2 stamps

CCMs: Yes
Plate #: 1A
Sheet: 50
Quantity Printed: Unknown
Designer: Mahbub Akond
Printer: Harrison & Sons, U.K.
FDC:
Pmks.: Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna
Insert: Pink card stock, printed in black. The original date of 26-1-85 is obliterated and 14-3-85 is printed on the card.
 

16 May - Upa-Zila Election 1985 (Overprint on 29 April, 1978 Flowers of Bangladesh set)

• This is a fake double overprint, which appears to exist on all the stamps in the set. See Fakes and Questionable Items page in the Table of Contents.

85-5 40p Champa - Michelia champaca
     a. overprint angled
85-6 Tk.1 Sonali (Pudding Pipe tree) - Cassia fustula
85-7 Tk.2.25 Krishnachura (Flamboyant tree) - Delonix regia
85-8 Tk.3.50 Shapla (water lily) - Nymphaea nouchali
     a. design at bottom of right corner is not straight due to broken plate - a constant variety in position XX of each sheet
     b. overprint angled
     c. overprint has left character of overprint dropped lower
     d. overprint has two left characters of overprint dropped lower
     e. overprint near top of stamp
85-9 Tk.4 Palash - Butea monosperma
85-10 Tk.5 Kadam - Anthocephalus indicus
     a. overprint angled
     b. ink smear and dropped letters
6 stamps

CCMs: Yes
Plate #: 1A
Sheet: 50
Quantity Overprinted: 30,000 of each design
Designer: Dr. Nawazish Ahmed and S.S. Barua
Printer: Harrison & Sons, U.K.
Printer of overprint: Postal Printing Press, Tongi, Dhaka
FDC: Yes. Commemorative postmark. Both a white and a tan envelope exist for this issue. It is believed that 300 of the white envelopes exist.
Pmks.: Dhaka, Chittagong
Insert: Large pink colored card stock, printed in black.
 

• There is a consistant variety in every sheet of the T5 stamp, consisting of an ink smear and dropped letters.

• Illustrations of the "dropped" letters on the Tk.3.5 waterlily stamp. These are listed above as 85-8c and 85-8d.

• Bottom an illustration of the broken plate and above it the overprint shifted up near the top.

18 July - UN Decade of Women

• The stamp on the left is a used forgery of the Tk.10 stamp. These stamps were not made to fool collectors, but to be sold and used for postage.

85-11 Tk.1 Woman weaving by hand
85-12 Tk.10 Woman at microscope
     a. forgery
2 stamps

CCMs: Yes
Plate #: 1B
Sheet: 50
Quantity Printed: Unknown
Designer: Mahbub Akand
Printer: Harrison & Sons, U.K.
FDC:
Pmks.: Dhaka
Insert:
 

14 Sep. - 40th Anniversary of UNO and 11th Anniversary of Bangladesh in UNO

85-13 Tk.1 UN building
85-14 Tk.10 World map and Bangladesh flag
2 stamps

CCMs: Yes
Plate #: Tk.1 (1A) Tk.10 (1B)
Sheet: 50
Quantity Printed: Unknown
Designer: Mahbub Akand
Printer: Harrison & Sons, U.K.
FDC:
Pmks.: Chittagong, Dhaka
Insert:
 

2 Nov. - International Youth Year

85-15 Tk.1 Stylized head with flowers, pencil and scissors above it
85-16 Tk.5 Stylized head with flowers and tools above it
2 stamps

CCMs: Yes
Plate #: 1B
Sheet: 50
Quantity Printed: Unknown
Designer: Manzare Shamim
Printer: Harrison & Sons, U.K.
FDC: Yes. Commemorative postmark. Both white and tan envelopes were used. Predated FDCs from Dhaka are known with a date of 1 November 1985, on both the white and tan Post Office printed envelopes.
Pmks. - white envelope: Chittagong () - tan envelope, Comilla (black), Dhaka
Pmks. - tan envelope: Dhaka G.P.O.
Insert: White card stock printed in black. Quantity of stamps printed not given.

• There are several differences in the two covers above. The top one is on a cheaper tan colored paper and I have been told that that is the one sold to the general public. The lower one of a white paper is given to dignitaries at the ceremony, etc.. Note that the bottom lines on each cover are different in size.

8 Dec. - 1st South Asian Regional Council Summit (SARC), Dhaka

85-17 Tk.1 Seven doves and council emblem
85-18 Tk.5 Flags around lotus blossom
2 stamps

CCMs: Yes
Plate #: 1A and 1B (What about 1B for the Tk.5?)
Sheet: 50
Quantity Printed: Unknown
Designer: Mahbub Akand
Printer: Harrison & Sons, U.K.
FDC: Yes. Commemorative postmark.
Pmks.: Barisal (purple), Dhaka
Insert:

• Note that the top cover has plate number singles on the cover and the bottom cover has singles with the CCMs. Both are rarely seen on Bangladesh FDCs as they are not popular in this form.

28 Dec. - Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin

• The stamp is missing the chestnut colored value in the top right and bottom left corners and the name of the country at the bottom. It is also missing the color control mark on the right of the stamp. One sheet of 50 of the color missing was found. Unfortunately, twenty-some of the stamps were used to make "philatelic covers", leaving only about half of the stamps in mint condition. Many valuable stamps, proofs, imperforates, etc., of the country have been lost over the years to habit of creating philatelic covers.a mint stamp Such covers are not worth anywhere near what these items would be worth in mint condition today.

85-19 Tk.3 Portrait of Abedin
     a. chestnut colored value and name of country missing
1 stamp

CCMs: Yes
Plate #: 1A
Sheet: 50
Quantity Printed: Unknown
Designer: Pranesh Kumar Mondal
Printer: Harrison & Sons, U.K.
FDC: Yes. Commemorative postmark. Two similar covers exist, with the difference being the quality and color of the paper used. Both were created by the Post Office. One is a tan paper and the other a white paper.
Pmks.: Chittagong - tan envelope, Dhaka - white envelope, Dhaka - tan envelope, Mymensingh - tan envelope (black)
Insert: Large tri-folded tan colored paper, printed in blue. The insert is too large to fit into the envelope and many were most likely lost or destroyed over the years. Quantity of the stamps printed is not given.

Additional: It is unfortunate that close to half of the one sheet of 50 of the color missing error were used to create philatelic covers, leaving about half of the stamps in mint condition. As a result, the mint errors are quite expensive and difficult to locate.

29 Dec. - 3rd Bangladesh Scout Jamboree (Overprint on the Tk.5 value of the 22 January, 1978 First National Scout Jamboree stamp)

• The stamp on the left on the top pair has the error shown below.

85-20 Tk.5 Black 3 line overprint on First National Scout Jamboree stamp - green and violet
     a. overprint reads down
     b. spelling error in 2nd line
1 stamp

CCMs: Yes (Separate - a vertical stamp)
Plate #: 1B
Sheet: 50
Quantity Overprinted: Unknown
Designer: Art & Beauty, Dacca.
Printer: Harrison & Sons Ltd., England
Printer of overprint: Postal Printing Press, Tongi, Gazipur
FDC: Yes. Commemorative postmark. Both a white and a tan envelope exist and the cover has Special Cover printed on it, rather than First Day Cover.
Pmks.: Chittagong, Dhaka
Insert:

Additional: Note that the FDC envelopes have "Spceial Cover' printed on them. Originally the Post Office intended to issue a Special Cover for the event and designed and printed the envelopes. Becuase they had a stock of the previously issued Scout stamps, they decided to overprint one of the stamps and issue it as a new issue. Unfurtunately the envelopes had been printed and stated "Special Cover", instead of "First Day Cover."

• The stamp on the left is the issued stamp and the stamp on the right is a genuine error, with the text reading down. All other double overprints and the double varieties are created errors and not genuine errors.

• The above cover has the Camp postmark and is more difficult to find.

1986

1984

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