Mykola Myklukho-Maklai
Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ukrainian-born explorer and scientist Mykola Myklukho-Maklai (1846-1888), this 1996 stamp has two issues. The first issue was limited to 5000 copies, whereas 500,000 were printed in the second issue.
Obviously, a collector would seek out copies of the first issue, particularly if there's a way to tell the two apart. Val Zabijaka was able to provide me with a first issue, but then I put it away and didn't pay much attention to it for nine years. That was a big mistake, because I was no longer sure as to which of my specimens was the original!
I corresponded with Mike Czetyrbok, another collector and electronic penpal, who has an interest in varieties and printing flaws. He checked a couple of his references, and we both ended up confused. At this point, Mike called in the big guns. George Fedyk , one of the co-authors of the Handbook of Modern Ukrainian Philately, set the record straight for us. Mr. Fedyk went through his notes and revisted both written information as well as items from his own collection. The table below shows the second and first issues, side-by-side, along with seven visible differences as described by Mr. Fedyk:
| Second issue | First issue |
|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
|
| The top right hand corner is white rather than the complete orange colour. 1 | Orange colour extends to corner |
| The hair on the head has a wider "white" aura (seems like improper alignment during printing). 2 | Smaller white gap between hair and blue & green border. |
| The native on the left has a broken vertical green pigmentation to the left of his knee. 3 | The green pigmentation has no break. |
| The pencil is not as defined (very faint lines). 4 | More defined pencil lines |
| To the right of the ship, the space to the side border is predominantly white. 5 | The space to the side border is predominantly blue. |
| The Ukrainian letter "ya" in the name "Maklaya" (just above the book he is holding) has the bottom half of the letter missing (hidden under the book). 6 | The complete letter is more visible |
| Generally lighter colours (more washed out?). | Stronger and deeper colours (especially the brown). |
