Albino

An albino is an impression of a stamp design that carries no ink. The design is physically present — pressed into or raised from the paper — but it is colourless, so at first glance the area looks blank. Albinos are a type of production error and are most frequently found on embossed issues, though they also occur on recess-printed (engraved) stamps.

How Albinos Happen

Most albinos are created in one of three ways:

• Embossing without ink. Many 19th- and early 20th-century postal stationery envelopes carry an embossed stamp (the head of a monarch or president raised in relief). If the embossing die strikes without colour, the result is a perfect but white relief.
• Double-fed sheets. When two sheets pass through a recess press at once, the top sheet takes the ink and the sheet beneath receives only the pressure — a blind, inkless copy of the design.
• Inking failure. A dry or misaligned inking roller can leave part or all of an impression uncoloured.

A partial albino — where some of the design is inked and some is not — is generally less significant than a complete one, but can still be collectable.

Albino Versus Missing Colour

An albino is not the same as a “colour omitted” error. On a multicolour stamp printed by photogravure or lithography, a missing colour simply leaves a gap; there is no impression of the missing element in the paper. A true albino carries physical evidence of the design — the embossing or the pressure of the plate — which is what distinguishes it and what expertisers look for.

Where Collectors Find Them

Albinos are most familiar to collectors of US postal stationery, where inkless embossed impressions on envelopes turn up with some regularity. They also appear on British embossed issues and on the stamped stationery of many other countries. Albino impressions on adhesive stamps are much scarcer and should be accompanied by an expert certificate when sold at a significant price, since clever manipulation (for example, chemically removing colour) can imitate the effect.

Examining an Albino

Because albinos are colourless, they are easy to overlook. Tilt the item under a single low-angle light, or use a magnifier with a side light, to reveal the design. Scanning or photographing albinos also benefits from raking light — flat scanner illumination often makes them disappear entirely.