The ½a Jammu Dawks
The ½-anna circular die is one of two brass
handstamps that came into use at Jammu in March 1866. A third followed on their
heels quickly, but possibly not in March itself.
All were used with watercolor pigments
during the 1866-1877 period and in oilcolors for about a year in 1877-78. Essays
or proofs are not attested for any of the three circular dies (nor for the little
Jammu plate, which is to say, for any of the Jammu
implements). It may be that the known die cutter of the Srinagar implements,
a certain Rahat Ju, was not the engraver of the Jammu implements. That claim
was made for the circular dies alone by Capt.
Godfrey, who had come into possession of Rahat Ju’s workbook. The
circular dies remained available for many years beyond 1878 for
the prolific production of reprints for collectors, and were finally defaced in
1898, some years after the closing of the native posts in November 1894.
The currency symbols that appear at the center of the circular
stamps are discussed on the Inscriptions page. Our letter code for this die is A.
Grey-Black 1866 Deep Black 1874
The ½a grey-black watercolor on native paper, spring 1866 to autumn 1867. This stamp (above left) is by far the most prevalent stamp of the first year, especially in used condition cut-round. Unused, the stamp is scarcer than catalogue prices would suggest. Thin applications of the pigment give a watery-grey demeanor as seen above, but a range of thicker and blacker applications are more often encountered. These early printings, however, must be assiduously distinguished from the type shown on the right above, known from almost a decade later. While some of the early blacks can also be quite dark, one’s assignment of an unused item to the early or the late type will only occasionally be a hesitant one. Magenta and brick-red seal obliterations attest to the early issues, while the late black postally used is hardly known. The late production is said to have been produced primarily for the philatelic market, so now the situation is reversed: used copies are scarcer than the catalogue would suggest.
The first known postal usages are from Srinagar, the earliest being a despatch on 23 March 1866 to Amritsar, via Sialkot, in British India (next scan). We do not have an earliest-date claim for a Jammu mailing, but a very early item, a mysterious “two-venue” affair discussed downscreen, is chronicled for the first week of April. Still, the prevailing assumption found in the literature is that all postal circulars were produced at Jammu alone. A good fraction of that supply must have been sent up to Srinagar in the early months, an arrangement that ended when Srinagar gradually became self-sufficient in the production of its own stamps, a process that started in the late summer of ’66 and was not completed until that pretty autumn of ’67. A Srinagar seal engraver, Rahat Ju, is credited with the creation of the Kashmir rectangulars, an early express circular (the “Zaruri”), and some of the Poonch stamps of later date. That Rahat Ju was not the engraver of the three circular dies in spite of their clear affinity with the ► Zaruri was affirmed by Captain Stuart Godfrey, who had come into possession of that engraver’s workbook. Writing in the Philatelic Journal of India, Vol. III, pp 209-10 (1899), Godfrey stated:
“The ¼a die of Poonch is a beautifully cut bloodstone, carved by the Srinagar stone-cutter [Rahat Ju] who made the Dak Zaruri stamp for Maharaja Ranbir Singh, and most of the brass dies for use in the Kashmir and Poonch Post-Offices...It is not, perhaps, generally known that he was responsible for all the early Kashmir issues except the circulars.” [Emphasis added, ed.]
First known J&K cover. Our thanks to Anthony Bard for the scan of this most significant item. Inspection of the space to the right of the stamp reveals that British postage, probably a ½a blue Victoria, had once been affixed to the envelope, but it was lost at an unknown time. This cover was posted at Srinagar on 6 zelqa'de 1282 ~ Friday 23 March 1866 and arrived at Amritsar, via Sialkot on 29 March 1866 according to the British receiving date stamp. The latter is accompanied by javāb notation dated 13 zelqa'de [1282] ~ 30 March 1866.
By the way, the cover pictured in Staal p 88 was the erstwhile record holder for earliest known cover, 24 March 1866. That was also an external cover, Srinagar to the postal depot at Katra Ahluwalia in the woolens district of Amritsar. The absence of British postage, postage-due notation, or javab notation has enabled it to pass as an internal cover by generations of philatelists. The oft misdated cover shown on Staal Plate I bearing a 1a royal blue circular was posted on Saturday 24 March, and so would have shared honors for first cover for a time.
The ½a Blues
General recognition of half-anna blue circulars is only relatively recent, say from the 1980s. It needn’t have been so, for an almost-glaring example was available in principle to collectors from Winthrop Boggs’ 1941 Blue Book article, which displayed a b/w example on cover. Boggs mistakenly took the stamp in question for the 1-anna denomination in his auction and article descriptions, a natural mistake at the time because no early ½a blue circulars were thought to exist. Many commentators, though not Boggs himself, would have been doubly removed from the correct identification, for it was widely thought that the 1a circular carried a 4a valuation.
Above: “Two-venue” cover. The circular on the right is the ½a black cut-round and cancelled at Srinagar in early April 1866. The important matter is the other circular in the upper left corner, which we extract, expand, and rotate for the next image:
The ½a dull blue watercolor. This forwarding stamp, probably
applied at Jammu, is cut square and pen-cancelled with javab doings. Compare
also Lot 17 in the Eames’ sale, where the forwarding stamp has the
explicit Jammu cancellation in magenta.
Since for the 1-anna denomination it is the blues that are prevalent and the blacks that are essentially absent, some commentators speak of color error for the half dozen or so of both kinds that are thus color-switched. It is not obvious to us that the two-venue covers involved errors of color; the distinction might well have been purposeful. More unused candidates in ‘half-blues’ are claimed yearly now that the very existence of the category has become more widely appreciated. In the past all such passed perforce as shades of the bright blues of a decade later, but other early half-blues mislabelled in older collections might be expected to emerge over time.
The ½a Reds
Fewer than a dozen dated examples in the half-anna are now likely extant. This scarcity of reds on dated covers spread over a near-decade (1868-77) is accounted for by the fact that these printings were only supplementary to the relative deluge of half-anna red productions from the Jammu plate. Some precarious help in dating comes from finding exact shade and paper counterparts among these Jammu plate rectangulars. Whatever unused reds that might properly belong to the Special Printings are included here with the earlier reds because we do not know how to separate them. Do check out Séfi & Mortimer’s note on the ► Jammu Reds. The modern key reference is T. Eames, India Post 29, 42 (1995).
The ½a scarlet-red watercolor circular on native paper. This pigment finds a close match in a counterpart rectangular, which is attested postally for a rather long period (1869-74?) before the Special Printings. In daylight, there is a slight bluish undertone to both. The circular is not reported in used condition and according to Eames might have been a pigment trial for the rectangulars.
The ½a orange-red watercolor on native paper. Other denominations in this shade show up as early as autumn 1872. The example shown here from October 1875, a rarity in the Hellrigl collection, is reminiscent of the orange-vermilions seen in other issues that are subject to chemical darkening, including a common Kashmir 1a of the same period.
Eames distinguishes a bright orange-red in the post-1874 period. Purer oranges, such as found in the two higher-denomination circulars and in the Jammu plate, seem not to be known for the ½a circular.
The ½a bright red watercolor on native paper. It is known both unused and used, if rarely, with the black Jammu square seal in 1874 (Eames). The shade is also seen in the two higher circular denominations and also among the Jammu rectangulars. The 8a Kashmir rectangular comes in a very similar or identical shade.
The unique unused ½a carmine-red or “cherry-red” watercolor on native paper, 1876? Hellrigl collection. This printing accompanies ultra-scarce brethren in the 4a circular (no 1a known) and the Jammu plate.
Above: A ½a rose-red watercolor on native paper. Inspection reveals some odd geometry in the stamp, not to mention the straight edge on the left. The status of this piece is not clear, but it does seem to have been successfully through the mails from Jammu.
Something Else
The ½a brownish-orange watercolor (definitely watercolor) on very thick (0.26 mm) native paper, status undetermined. It is shown here with a Kashmir rectangular of 1870 for comparison. Eames Lot #30 also chronicles a ½a brownish-orange watercolor circular on native paper, possibly unique, cancelled with the black Jammu square seal, that also finds a Kashmir shade partner. That example, however, would seem to be different from the example shown here in both shade, demeanor, and paper. The shade is also different from the range seen in the dull-orange oilcolor reprints, but close enough that the latter might have provided camouflage for these watercolors over the decades.
Late Watercolors (post-1874)
The literature usually refers to the issues of this period as ‘Special Printings’. Masson referred to the original early issues as ‘permanents’ and these later productions as ‘superfluous’. It is true that most are scarce to unknown in postally used condition. Whatever red circulars may properly belong to this group are entertained separately with the other reds. The reason is that we don’t know which red(s), if any, formally belong with the Specials; somehow they do seem to be a class apart.
The ½a deep black or jet black watercolor on native paper, 1874. These are darker and usually shinier than the early grey-blacks of the original issue. Used copies, far scarcer than the catalogues would suggest, were obliterated in black with the squarish iron-mine seal at Jammu, such as seen on all the used items below. A variety on very thick native paper is known.
The ½a emerald watercolor on native paper, 1876. Emeralds are understood to contain arsenic (lick them only if you must) and are said to make good fungicides in case you do not like them cluttering up your stamp albums. Authentically used copies are rare. The pigment was also used for contemporaneous Jammu-plate rectangulars and the 4a Kashmir single-die printings known already from late 1868.
The ½a yellow watercolor on native paper. This is a detail from one of only two known copies on cover, this a postage-due railway cover from Jammu to Calcutta, 17 July 1876. Ex Masson. A rarity in the Hellrigl collection. The other, dated a couple of months earlier on 9 jeţh 1933 ~ 20 May 1876 in both Persian and Dogri, is seen in Eames Lot #58.
The ½a bright blue watercolors on native paper, 1876. Kindred shades are also known in the Jammu rectangulars of the same period. A deeper shade is distinguished but, as seen in the pair above, light parts of dark items and deep parts of light ones can look much the same to the eye. In used condition Séfi and Mortimer speak of “great rarity,” and so we are mighty pleased with our own copy on the left. It was also pictured in Eames India Post 29 02 (1995). There was another in the Hancock collection that those authors believed was genuinely cancelled with the Jammu square. The 1a and 4a counterparts may not be definitely known in used condition, the low pricing in catalogues notwithstanding.
The ½a imperial blue watercolor on native paper, uncataloged. Could this stamp be what Séfi and Mortimer referred to as a blue-indigo? In any case, we assign this stamp to this Special Printings period, which is to say, it seems to us unlikely to be early. A discussion of this shade proceeds better in the context of the notorious “royal blue” business, taken up on the 1a circulars page.