On July 31, 1855, a fourpenny stamp was introduced. It was produced neither by the line-engraved process nor by the embossing method. A system of typography, or surface-printing (see p. 21), had long been used on the Continent, and it was this process which was employed for the printing of the new fourpenny value. Messrs. De La Rue and Co. were entrusted with the work.
The fourpenny surface-printed stamp proved very successful, and was followed by other values—the shilling green, the threepenny rose, the sixpenny lilac, and the ninepenny straw colour. Many of these early stamps bore minor distinguishing marks, and consequently command high prices. A very dark shade of the shilling green is worth £65 in an unused condition, the threepenny rose, with a white dot on either side of the word "Postage," has changed hands for £40, whilst the ninepenny straw colour, with a fine white line drawn across the exterior angles of the square spaces for the corner letters, is catalogued as high as £30. Specimens of these values should be carefully examined to see if they happen to be the rare kinds.
The surface-printed stamps issued between 1862 and 1881 bore angular check letters as well as plate numbers, and therefore prove of exceptional interest to those of us who wish to specialize in the stamps of our own Kingdom. Unused copies should be carefully preserved with the original gum on the backs, as their prices advance with every season. The used copies, also, prove a good investment.
In 1881 (July 12) the well-known penny lilac, with a large head of Victoria, was issued, and continued in use until the accession of King Edward. The stamps sold during the first five months had fourteen white dots in each corner, but afterwards the number, for some unaccountable reason, was increased to sixteen. The early variety, needless to say, commands a much greater price than the later one. The two stamps are easily confused, but a careful examination of our copies will soon tell us whether each used specimen is worth a fraction of a farthing or a sixpenny piece. Some time after the accession of King Edward the writer went into a post office and bought two dozen penny stamps. The clerk who served him half apologized for still selling the old specimens bearing the Queen's head. On reaching home, however, the adhesives were carefully examined, and found to be the rare "fourteen dot" variety, worth, unused, about four shillings apiece. It is hardly necessary to add that the block, intact, has found a home in the writer's collection.
The next stamps to attract attention are those of King Edward. At first sight there appears to be one variety of each value, with the exception of the halfpenny and the fourpenny, which are both found in two obvious varieties. On closer examination, however, the Edwardian stamps will be found to possess many minor but interesting differences. In the first case, most of the values were printed in turn by the firm of De La Rue, by Harrison and Son, also by the Government at Somerset House, and each set of impressions shows marked variations in colour. The most interesting Edwardian differences, however, are due to varieties of paper. In 1905 the authorities came to the conclusion that the then current stamps were not sufficiently protective against fraud. It was easy enough, they said, to compound an obliteration ink for use in the post offices which could not be cleaned away; but, as postage stamps were also used in increasing numbers for revenue purposes, it was also necessary to make the stamps of such colours that they could not be cleaned of even ordinary writing-ink. As a consequence, the labels on the usual paper were gradually superseded by specimens printed on a specially prepared "chalk-surface" paper. When this paper is wetted, the chalky glaze breaks up, and the coloured design is ruined. This innovation provides a complete check to the practices of fraudulent "stamp cleaners," but makes it almost impossible for collectors to remove the paper backing which disfigures many of their treasures.
"The easiest way to find out whether a stamp is printed on ordinary unsurfaced or on chalk-surfaced paper," says Mr. F. J. Melville in "King Edward VII. Stamps," "is to draw a small silver coin across one of the perforations or a piece of the marginal paper adhering to the stamp. If a black line appears where the silver has touched the paper, it indicates a chalk surface."
A third minor variety of the Edwardian stamps must be recorded. In certain of the halfpenny and penny values the large crown watermark is found inverted. Such specimens were not, as might be expected, the result of faulty printing, they were made especially for the stamp booklets, which have grown so popular since their introduction in 1903. The plates from which the booklet stamps were printed were divided into four panes, each of sixty labels. Each pane consisted of ten rows of six stamps surrounded by a fringe of blank paper. The panes were cut vertically down the centre and then along every second horizontal row. This gave ten blocks of six stamps, five coming from the left of the vertical cut and five from the right. Now, it was necessary to have a strip of edging paper on the left of each block for the binding-pins of the booklet to pass through; consequently, the stamps placed on the right of the vertical cut were inverted. As the watermark was not similarly turned round, the specimens in 50 per cent. of the booklets were provided with inverted crowns.
The stamps of King George require but little mention. When first issued they caused considerable adverse comment, owing to their poor design and inferior gum. The earliest dies of the halfpenny and penny values were re-engraved at least twice, but not until the small head was replaced by the larger profile bust could they be considered even passable. As a whole, the Georgian first issue may be now considered fairly attractive in pattern and colour; but the Mother Country has yet much to learn in the matter of stamp designing from her young Dependencies, notably Canada.