Kennedy Error Stamps

Updated and republished 16th May 2024 after adding new sheet of error stamps.

The “John Fitzgerald Kennedy” series of stamps was released in Manila on 29th May 1965 in honor of John F. Kennedy. Born in Brookline, Boston, Massachusetts – he would become the 35th President of the United States. Elected in 1960, his term would be cut short when assassinated in Dallas, Texas on 22nd November 1963.

This series of stamps was printed by Harrison & Sons of London. The stamps bear no watermark and were perforated at 14.5 x 14. Face values were 6, 10 and 30 sentimos and each value was printed in sheets of 50 stamps. The 6s stamp was overprinted and surcharged to 10s in 1972 and 5s in 1973. Scott catalog numbers as they are laid out in the image below are PH 925, PH 926, PH 927, PH 1148, PH 1210.

Each stamp was printed using 5 different colors – blue, yellow, red, gray and black. A number of interesting printing errors are known, most of which relate to shifted or omitted colors during the printing process. You will see that this stands true for the error stamps shown below – all but the inverted surcharge are the results of an emission of or misalignment of a color.

I believe that only 1 sheet is known to have been printed of the 10s with the necktie shifted upwards into Kennedy’s throat. The same has been said of the 30s where the necktie is shifted downwards. A single printed sheet with these errors would yield 50 stamps each in total – making these stamps scarce and valuable to the right collector (I have seen these offered for several hundred dollars each on eBay though never seen them sell for that much). It has been said for a number of the other errors that 1 to 2 sheets are known but this information may not be exact.

Update (May 2024): I recently purchased the following full sheet of 30c errors where the necktie is shifted to the left.

While I do not specifically focus on collecting error stamps, this is a pretty striking set of stamps when laid out together and a difficult set of errors to amass.

Thanks for reading, happy hunting and have fun with your collection!