This article has been adapted from two pieces published
in the Revenue Journal during 2006. In the first of these, published
in June, I looked at various anomalies in UK adhesive Revenue stamp
production that could be found accompanying the change of reigns. I
highlighted two kinds of anomaly in particular: the ongoing issue of stamps
of the previous reign into the years of the new reign (“extended
pregnancies”); and the use of stamps with e.g. the inks, heads etc of the
new reign on paper specifically associated with the preceding reign
(“premature births”). I started in 1901, with the death of Queen Victoria
and the accession of King Edward VII, since at the time of the previous
reign-change in 1837 adhesive stamps of any kind had not yet been invented,
and between 1837 and 1901 the sole monarch was Queen Victoria. In the
second, published in December, I was concerned with a set of highly similar
anomalies which occurred on at least one occasion in the course of that long
reign, and which are perhaps less easy to spot precisely because there is no
change of monarch. In this adapted version I propose to begin with Queen
Victoria and then move on to later monarchs.
1. The 1880-81 “Revolution”
as a Foretaste of Reign-Change
In fact, during the QV period there were three “revolutions” in the design
and production of adhesive Revenue stamps. The first was the introduction in
1866 of the “Revenue head” of the Queen taken from a bust by the sculptor
William Theed the Younger. The second was the introduction in 1872-73 of a
three-tier set of unappropriated dies referred to for brevity’s sake as the
“Key Types”. The third, which concerns us here, was far harder to pin down,
but centred round the winning by De La Rue of the Consolidated Contract in
March 1880, and the requirement the following year for a “Unified Series”
-
Postage and Revenue together. These two developments provided an opportunity
to cut costs dramatically by means of simplification and standardisation;
which of course meant changes, and their concomitant anomalies.
There were four main areas of simplification: perforation; paper and
watermarks; inks; and
- perhaps most noticeable to users
-
the replacement of a three-colour Key Type system by a system which used two
colours only.[1]
·
Perforation.
Post-1881, all stamps irrespective of size or format were perforated 14
(actually 13.75). This change involved only the “large square” stamps
-
certain Postage and Telegraphs values were likewise affected
-
used for Companies Registration, Inland Revenue and Ireland Petty
Sessions, which had previously been perforated 15½ x 15 or, for a recent
printing of Companies Registration, 12½.[2]
·
Paper: watermarks.
The simplification here was also impressive. Eleven
pre-1881 watermarks were reduced to three (or five if we treat one and two
Orbs separately and include the Postage-only Imperial Crown): one Orb for
the small Inland Revenue 1d, the Irish Dog License stamps and the Key
Types pence-tier, replacing 14mm Anchor, Shamrock and Garter; two Orbs for
Judicature Fees and the Key Types pounds-tier, replacing Scales;
Script VR for all values of Foreign Bill and for the Key Types
shillings-tier, replacing Small Block VR; and 20mm Anchor for the “large
square” stamps listed above, replacing Ship, 18mm Anchor and “no watermark”.
·
Inks. De
La Rue had long been concerned with, even obsessed by, the development and
use of fugitive inks for their Revenue stamps: inks which would run or blur
at any attempt to remove cancellations by water or chemicals, and in this
way protect against illegal re-use. By the onset of the 1870s they had
determined that the two most suitable ink-colours for this purpose would be
a spectrum of lilac through purple to violet, and some kind of green. These
inks were used for the revised “small” Foreign Bill series from 1872,
and for the first Key Types, printed between 1872 and 1875. The pounds were
reddish violet, the shillings dull (grey) green and the pence were lilac.
This gave rise to a clearly-visible tripartite colour system, with a
different colour for each value-tier. These colours seemed to work well; but
De La Rue weren’t completely satisfied, and when a new overprint system was
introduced for Key Type 2 in 1875, the composition of the inks for the
pounds and shilling tiers was also changed, and highly soluble varieties of
these colours replaced the originals [2a]. The difference between the soluble and
non-soluble versions of these two colours is one of the best ways of
distinguishing between the second and first Key Types: especially with the
£5 and 10s values whose overprint colour stayed the same, where two
printings are not recognised in the catalogues.[3]
This change was also applied to some of the lilacs and purples used in
Chancery Court, Common Law Courts, Companies Registration, Foreign Bill
and the “own type” Judicature Fees from 1876. For the first three of
these appropriations the change is noted by Gilbert & Koehler and the FPSC,
which both list an 1875 issue in which “violet” or “purple” is
replaced by “violet vif” or “violet”: the FPSC also notes the change
in Foreign Bill, but doesn’t date it. It is Booth who uses the term
“soluble ink” in his (D) series of Chancery Court, in his (A) series
of Common Law Courts, and in Companies Registration, in all
cases linking it with “deep” or “bright” reddish violet (though never
offering precise dates): with Foreign Bill he notes that “doubly
fugitive ink”, a term used for a regular variety of both violet pounds and
green shillings in his 1872-81 listing, contains “an exceedingly soluble
blue ingredient”.
The soluble inks, however, were not an immense success. Both colours were
subject to unacceptable levels of rubbing, and in addition the blue-greens
had a marked tendency to undergo colour-shifts of various kinds, ranging
from turquoise to cobalt blue.
1875-80. Examples of extreme “blue-shifting” in the
shillings tier
So De La Rue’s chemists were sent back to their laboratories, and the third
major change made in 1880-81 was to introduce different kinds of ink: still
doubly fugitive, but with much lighter “non-rubbing” shades of reddish lilac
and dull, sometimes yellowish green replacing the soluble reddish violets
and blue-greens of the preceding period.
·
A revised Key Type colour system.
Finally, with the Key Types and Judicature Fees (and less noticeably
with Foreign Bill), the new reddish lilac of the pounds was changed
so as to become effectively identical to the colour of the pence, which
didn’t change. This brought about a new perception of the Key Type system:
though still tripartite as regards stamp size, in the very visible area of
colour it changed from A (pounds
-
violet) : B (shillings
-
green) : C (pence - lilac) to C (pounds – lilac): B (shillings
-
green) : C (pence – lilac). The resulting two-colour system (with some
subsequent changes in the actual colours used) remained in use from 1881 to
1985.
Such a concatenation of innovations
-
in perforations, watermarks and colours
-
did not occur often. The closest parallel is probably to be found in the
intermingled changeovers of printer and monarch between 1910 and 1920, so it
is hardly surprising to find “anomalies” of the kind we have associated
with twentieth-century reign-changes. But before we look at these anomalies,
let’s make sure that we can recognise the differences between “1872-1875”,
“1875-1880” and “after 1881”. Perforation presents no difficulty at all, of
course, and the watermarks are comparatively easy to recognise (though
distinguishing between the 18mm and the 20mm Anchor can cause a headache or
two); but the colours can indeed be problematic, particularly if you rely
too heavily on the often misleading colour-descriptions in the catalogues.
The heart of the matter is this: for each major colour, one type of
ink was used in the early 1870s, another type (soluble) in 1875-1880,
and a third and very different type after 1881. It doesn’t greatly
concern me what label is used to describe each type of ink, as long as the
differences, and the nature of the differences, are seen and appreciated.
Following Booth, I shall use these general terms:
·
1872-1875 (“before”): (reddish) violet and
dull (grey-) green
·
1875-1880 (“immediately before”): soluble
reddish violet and soluble dull blue-green
·
1881 and after (“after”): reddish lilac and
dull (yellowish) green.
These differences should become apparent from the
following colour check-list.[4]
“Before” and
“After”: A Colour Check-list
(Ireland
Petty Sessions: 1875-1880)
Ireland
Petty Sessions:
After
[blank]
perf 15½ x 15,
no watermark
perf 14, wmk Anchor 20mm
(1875:
violet blue)
1881:
reddish lilac
(Ireland Dog Licence:
1865-1881) Ireland
Dog Licence: After
wmk
Shamrock
wmk Orb sideways
(1865: pale reddish
violet)
1882: reddish lilac
Companies Registration:
Before Companies Registration:
After
perf 15½ x 15
wmk Ship
perf 15½ x 15
(1866: dull reddish lilac)
1875: soluble reddish violet
perf 14, wmk
Anchor
20mm
1881: reddish lilac
Foreign Bill:
Before Foreign Bill:
After
1872: reddish violet 1875: soluble reddish violet 1881:
reddish lilac
1872: dull grey-green 1875:
soluble dull blue-green 1881: dull
yellowish green
wmk
Block VR wmk Script VR
Key Types:
Before Key Types: After
1872: (reddish) violet 1878: soluble reddish violet 1882:
reddish lilac
wmk
Scales
wmk 2 Orbs
1872: dull (grey-)
green 1879: soluble dull blue-green 1881:
dull yellowish green
wmk Block VR wmk Script VR
Judicature Fees: Before
Judicature Fees: After
1876: soluble reddish violet 1881:
reddish lilac
1876: soluble dull bluish
green 1881: dull (yellowish)
green
wmk Scales
wmk 2 Orbs
The 1880 “anomalies”:
perforations and watermarks
First, though not exactly an anomaly, we might note that
it was only in October 1880 that the Inland Revenue “penny purple”
was first registered on the new Orb paper, living out its brief life before
being replaced by the 14-dot “Postage and Inland Revenue” 1d lilac in July
1881. But the major anomalies in this category are the Inland Revenue
“perf 14 watermark 18mm Anchor” and the “perf 14 no watermark” issue of
Ireland Petty Sessions:
Inland Revenue
1867 –
1880 1880
1881 - 1883
Perforation 15½ x
15 Perforation 14
→ Perforation 14
Watermark Anchor 18
mm ← Watermark Anchor 18 mm
Watermark Anchor 20 mm
Ireland Petty Sessions
1861 –
1880 1880
1881 – 1902
[blank]
[blank]
Perforation 15½ x 15 Perforation 14 →
Perforation 14
No
watermark ← No watermark
Watermark Anchor 20 mm
The new perforation arrangement for the “large square”
stamps was the first of the innovations to be introduced, along perhaps with
the new inks. Thus, where there was a constant demand for stamps, we find
small printings on the old paper (= old watermarks: Anchor 18mm, no
watermark) but with the new perforations (perf 14): “premature births”, as I
have called them.
The 1880 “anomalies”:
ink-colours and watermarks
But the other anomalies involve principally the colours:
the inks; and this is where the check-list should come in useful. The
catalogues don’t list an 1880 issue as such, with new colours on old paper,
anymore than they pay special attention to the “new perfs on old paper”
issue described above. But the new inks were ready before the new
paper. With careful hunting, evidence of this can be found in Booth; but I
suspect there are more issues still to be found than are listed there.
In Foreign Bill we have one of the appropriations
where the existence of an anomaly is recognised, albeit implicitly. In the
Booth 1872 entry under £1 we find, “190(e) pale dull reddish lilac reg.
21.1.81”: the date, at least, is explicit. This stamp has a Block VR
watermark; yet it is virtually identical in all other respects to the 1881
£1 variety with a Script VR watermark (which also uses a new QV head die).
wmk
Block VR wmk Script VR
Booth 190
Booth 190(e)
Booth 207 (shade)
And if this anomaly exists, one might look for
others in the same area. Now a reader might well object, “In 1881 the whole
design of the shillings-tier is new, so a different ink is no cause for
surprise.” But as far as we are concerned here, the difference in design is
irrelevant to the ink question. If you look again at the Booth entry for the
1872-81 series, you see that each shillings-tier entry lists “(b) dull blue
green” and then “(d) dull yellowish green”. This second colour isn’t dated;
but it’s strongly reminiscent of the first listing for each of the 1881
series: “pale yellowish green (shades)”. And in my own collection I’ve
observed that wherever it is possible to identify a date for my “1872 dull
yellowish greens”, this turns out to be 1880 or 1881, and the stamps are
almost identical in shade to the earliest stamps in the 1881 issue.
wmk Block
VR wmk Block
VR wmk Script VR
Booth
189(b)
Booth 185(d) Booth188(d) Booth 189(d)
Booth 206
So I feel we can say that with these much-in-demand
stamps the new inks
-
reddish lilac and dull yellowish green – were put to use before the paper,
and even the designs, which they were to accompany were ready: a “premature
birth” of the post-1881 era.
Next we come to the Key Types. Let us begin with the
pounds-tier. The full list of appropriations given by Booth (and, in part,
by other early catalogues) with 1880- or early 1881-issued “anomalies”
-
stamps in “post-1881” colours (reddish lilac) but with “pre-1880” watermarks
(Scales) -
is as follows: Bankruptcy (£1, £5), County Courts Ireland
(£1), District Audit (£2), Judicature Fees (£2, £5),
Judicature Ireland (£1) and Land Registry (£1).[5] These anomalies are not emphasised, but the difference is clear.
wmk Scales wmk 2 Orbs
(Booth 11) Booth
10(a) Booth 24
But again I believe it’s possible to find similar if less
explicit anomalies in the shillings-tier. Thus while we find both the
reddish lilac pounds shown above listed in Booth, no pale yellowish green
2s6d with wmk Block VR (shown below) is listed; but Booth does list a
2s pale yellowish green (Booth 6(a), no date given) with the Block VR
watermark. Booth 21 is listed as a dull green 2/6, watermark Script VR,
registered as late 1888; it makes sense to imagine, though, that the
again-unlisted pale yellowish green 2s6d with wmk Script VR, also shown
below, was issued earlier.
wmk Block VR
wmk Script VR
(Booth 7)
cf. Booth 6(a)
cf. Booth 21
The other appropriations mentioned above don’t yield any
“(dull) yellowish greens”, but that’s not to say these don’t exist. I doubt
whether Booth’s Judicature Ireland 6(a) and my 2s6d pale yellowish
green are the only Key Types shillings-tier “premature births”.
Our remaining category is the Judicature Fees “own
type” series. Booth’s treatment of the 1876 £1 is unclear
- a
case, I would assume, of typographical confusion; but a reddish lilac
version with Scales watermark did come out in 1880-81, as attested by
Gilbert & Koehler, the FPSC and Forbin. And a trawl through Booth’s 1876
shillings-tier gives a 1s (Booth 18(b)), a 3s and a 5s, undated, with Scales
watermark but in “yellowish green”, to which I can add a yellowish-green 2s.
All of these stand comparison with the earliest 1881 “yellowish greens”,
e.g. Booth 33(b), with the 2 Orbs watermark.
wmk
Scales
wmk Scales
Booth 19
Booth 18(b)
wmk Scales
wmk (inv) 2 Orbs
cf. Booth 22(a),23(a)
Booth 33(b)
My evidence may not be excessive, but as on later
occasions the “anomalies” are just that: anomalies
-
exceptions, not rules
- and, if properly recognised and catalogued,
should command higher prices than their “normal” counterparts. I hope I have
uncovered enough 1880-81 “premature births” to persuade readers that they
did exist, and that it’s worth looking for more examples as yet
undiscovered.
2. Some
Epiphenomena of Reign-Change
To UK Postage collectors, a philatelic reign begins
almost immediately after the death of the preceding monarch. The first
stamps of the new reign are usually issued soon after the new monarch’s
accession, with some appearing even before his or her coronation; and with
almost no exceptions, none is issued after that monarch’s death. The same
does not hold for Revenue stamps, however. In fact, it is appropriate to
think in terms of “fiscal philatelic reigns”, which are often rather fluid
entities. For example, different values
-
or indeed value-tiers
-
in a given series may be issued on widely separated dates. Now this can
happen with Postage too; but sometimes there are other anomalies in the
transition -
irregularities which we might perhaps liken to “extended pregnancies” from
the previous reign, or “premature births” from the reign to come. These
require from the collector some degree of flexibility of thought in regard
to his understanding of the concept “reign”.
The first new reign of the twentieth century was that of KEVII (acceded
January 1901), and it began well in “fiscal philatelic” terms. New Revenue
Key Types, based on the designs first issued in 1894-95, had been prepared
in advance, and most of them were issued in 1902. Although the design of the
stamps (apart from the £1.10s, £2.10s and £10) was totally different, and
the watermark for the shillings-tier became Script IR (shown below) instead of Script VR, there
were no other changes: the sizes, the perforations, the pounds- and
pence-tier watermarks, the stamp colours, even the appropriation-overprint
colours remained the same. And all non-Key Type appropriations (apart from
the Irish Dog stamps) -
Companies Registration, Foreign Bill, Ireland Petty Sessions and
Judicature Fees
-
were painlessly added to the Key
Type family.
Perf 14; wmks:
2 Orbs Script VR Orb (Anchor 20mm)
Perf: 14; wmks: 2
Orbs Script IR
Orb
1902. Minimal
changes.
The only anomaly here was two restricted-distribution QV values6,
£3 and £10 for House of Lords, which were issued in April 1902 - pregnancies extended, so to speak, into the
Edwardian era. They might, whimsically perhaps, be considered as the “first
KEVII Key Type”. These were not replaced until June 1903 and June 1904
respectively - presumably when the QV supplies were exhausted
and/or the printers had time to “get round” to them.
1902. The Script IR
Watermark 1902. The First KEVII Key Type?
But this was to be the last occasion until the accession of QEII when the
handover went so smoothly, and indeed the transition between KEVII and
KGV (acceded May 1910) was probably the most confusing and complex of
all.
In 1910, not only did a new king (George V) accede to the throne, but also,
De La Rue lost the contract for printing UK stamps - Postage and Revenue -
which had been its virtual monopoly for the previous thirty years. The
postage stamp contract was won by Harrison & Sons, while the Stamp Office at
Somerset House took over the printing of Revenue stamps (as well, initially,
as some of the postage). When they went, De La Rue took their inks with them - and their detailed records. A study of Key Type
printings between 1910 and 1914-15, which must depend on cancellations and
use-dates rather than registration dates, indicates the instability of the
Stamp Office’s inks. We find the original (reddish) lilacs giving way to a
strange array of purples: reddish purple, plum, deep purple, dull purple,
brown-purple, purple-brown. There is a similarly wide range of greens. The
“heavy” printings also seem to date to this period, though it isn’t possible
to be certain. But colour certainly became a problem.
