Page 29 - Gustaf Douglas: Classic Sweden

THE 3 SKILLING BANCO YELLOW

The 8 Skilling Banco Error of Denomination

The stamp has always been called the ”3 Skilling Banco Error of Colour”. This is a misnomer which has been
passed down through the years. Norman Williams (Fundmanetals of Philately, 1990 Revised edition, p. 161) has
defined the term ”error” in a convincing way. ”In conjunction with printing, the term error is used to designate any
accidental and marked deviation from the intended norm …”. We must therefore ask, did the printer intend to
print a 3 Skilling Banco stamp? ‐ No! He intended to print an 8 Skilling Banco stamp. Therefore, in reality this is
an ”8 Skilling Banco Error of Denomination”.
The 3 Skilling Banco yellow is a result of a 3 Skilling Banco cliché having been included in the form of 100 dies
used in the process of printing 8 Skilling Banco stamps. This happened at a time when both the 4 and 8 Skilling
Banco printing plates had started to wear out and individual clichés needed to be replaced.