Australia Stamp Reprints

Another question that comes up quite often is, what are the koalas and kangaroos on Australian stamp margins for?

These are referred to as Australia Stamp Reprints. The marginal emblems (koalas and/or kangaroos) were added to Australian stamps in 1988 and continue to today. These are put on to the stamp sheets by the printers to identify a reprinting of a current stamp. These usually occur in definitive sets which are in use over several years and may have several printing and also may have been printed by more than one printer. The first print has no marking, the second one koala emblem, the third two koalas and so on. The sixth printing is marked by a kangaroo, the seventh by a kangaroo and a koala, the eight a Kangaroo and two koalas. The current largest number of printing is nine with a kangaroo and three koalas found on the 20c 1997-98 Nature of Australia, Kakadu Wetlands series.

The emblems are very collectible. They occur either on the left or right side of the stamp and there are currently about 250 different stamp and emblem combinations avaiable.

Full list of reprints.