Issue 24.
April 1885.
- ½d., dark green, shades.
- 1d., carmine.
- 4d., red-brown.
The One Penny and Four Pence of this issue were chronicled in the Philatelic Record of May, 1885, and these two at least were issued in April. There is no such certainty with regard to the Halfpenny, dark green, perforated 14, as this is another St. Vincent stamp that altogether escaped being noticed in the periodicals. The earliest record of it we can find is in Mr. Gilbert E. Lockyer’s Colonial Stamps, published in April, 1887. In this work it is grouped with other values as having been issued in “1885-86.” This is a little vague, but we do not suppose that Mr. Lockyer had any more precise information about the date of issue than we ourselves have now. Taking into consideration that the Halfpenny, dark green, perforated 12, of Issue 22, September, 1884, is rather a rare stamp either unused or used, we are inclined to assign to it as short a life as possible, and we believe that the Halfpenny perforated 14 must have been sent out by Messrs. De La Rue & Co. in April, 1885, rather than in June, 1886, with the new printings of the One Penny and Four Pence.
The colour of the Halfpenny is dark green, varying in shade, and it does not differ in this respect from the Halfpenny of Issue 22. The impression is sometimes rather blurred, or woolly, and when this is the case the letters of the inscription appear narrower, and have badly defined edges.
We have called the colour of the One Penny, “carmine,” and that of the Four Pence “red-brown.” In the Philatelic Record of May, 1885, they were called “bright-rose” and “reddish-chocolate,” but in July, 1886, the editor of that periodical, says, “… we think it better to explain that the colour of the One Penny of 1885, when compared with the more recent issue, must be rather termed ‘vermilion-red’ than ‘bright-rose.’”
The Four Pence is rather scarce even used, and unused it is decidedly rare.
All the stamps of this issue are perforated 14 by the guillotine-machine, and the Halfpenny is one of the values that still remain in issue in the Island.