The Two Pence Halfpenny differs from the previous printing of the same value in the colour of the stamp, which is now in varying shades of bright blue, instead of in milky-blue as before. When in sheets, or blocks, it can also be distinguished from its predecessor by the perforation having been done by the guillotine-machine, whereas the Two Pence Halfpenny of Issue 27 was perforated by the comb-machine. Its issue was chronicled in the Timbre-Poste of January 1891, in the following terms: “Le 2½ pence, surcharge noire sur le 1 penny, est imprimé en blue vif. Ce timbre vient de nous parvenir ainsi en remplacement de celui, même valeur, dont la surcharge avait été appliquée sur le 4 p. lie de vin.” From dated specimens we have seen, we infer that the issue took place in November, 1890, or even before that date.
We are altogether in the dark as to when the first printing of the red-lilac Six Pence took place. Although this stamp in both its shades of pale and deep red-lilac differs materially from the dark lilac stamp of Issue 26, we can find no chronicle of it anywhere; but we do not think we are far out in dating it at the early part of 1891. In describing the Six Pence of Issue 26, we said that the lilac colour of that stamp inclined more towards blue than red. In both shades of the Six Pence we are now considering the red predominates over the blue, so that the colour almost approaches lake. It is necessary to be quite clear on this point, as there seems to have been only one printing of the dark lilac Six Pence, and it is bound, sooner or later, to become a much rarer stamp than the red-lilac one, which has already had a currency of four years.
There is much the same difficulty with regard to the date of issue of the One Shilling, vermilion-red. This stamp differs both in colour and perforation from the orange-vermilion Shilling of Issue 21, which was perforated 12, but it was unnoticed by philatelists until Mr. Gilbert Lockyer called attention to its existence, in a letter in Stanley Gibbons’ Monthly Journal of December, 1891. In this letter Mr. Lockyer states that Mr. E. Hawkins possesses a specimen, but there can be little doubt that the stamp had been at least some months in issue before this mention of it.
All the stamps of this issue are still current.
Issue 30.
November 1892.
- “5 Pence,” in carmine, on 4d., lake-brown.
The earliest chronicle of this provisional is in Stanley Gibbons’ Monthly Journal for November, 1892, which is the actual date of issue. The stamp was made locally, pending the arrival of a supply from the printers, by surcharging the Four Pence, lake-brown, with “5—Pence,” in thin block capitals, in two lines, and obliterating the original values by bars printed across the sheet. The colour of the surcharge is carmine, inclined to lake. The editor of the Philatelic Record evidently looked with great suspicion on the necessity for this provisional, as when chronicling it he made this remark: “It is said that the issue only lasted an hour, after which the price outside rose to shillings in place of pence.” The dimensions of the surcharge are as follows: The figure “5” is 4 mm. in height, and 2¾ mm. in width; the word “Pence” measures 12 mm. × 2¼ mm. The width of the bar is 1 mm., and this bar extends right across the sheet, and terminates exactly at the outer frame of the right and left-hand stamps of each row. The space between the bar and the word “Pence” is 5½ mm., and that between the same word and the figure “5” is 1¾ mm. At a distance of 20 mm. above the bar there is a row of small ornaments, two to each stamp, so grouped in pairs that they fall exactly on the stars in the two top corners of each stamp—that is, when the surcharges are in exact register with the sheet. It is not easy to say what these ornaments are, or why they have been introduced. They measure about 2 mm. each way, and are very faintly printed. As far as we can make out they are printer’s type ornaments of a somewhat uncommon pattern, and the illustration here given is from an enlarged drawing of one of them.
The whole surcharge—values, bars, and ornaments—is evidently done from a cliché, and there are no varieties on the sheet. In the one now before us, the third stamp from the left on the bottom row has the first “E” of “Pence” double printed, with a space of about ½ mm. between the two impressions. We cannot say whether this is a variety existing on every sheet, or whether it is peculiar to this one only.