½a Oilcolor Circulars

This section treats of the printings on European laid or native paper only, including items not known in postal use. In place of the term “reprint,” we adopt the more non-commital term “non-postal,” and are thus freed to include other items of interest that may or may not be reprints, technically speaking. June 1877 is often mentioned as the advent month for the postal oilcolors in both paper types, but there are serious candidates for earlier sightings and the matter remains murky. Two key references are Tim Eames India Post 29 88-90 and India Post 29 129 (1995). Other oilcolor categories are linked down-screen as follows:

½a Oilcolor Blacks

The ½a grey-black oilcolor on native paper. The scan is of an external cover Jammu to Amritsar dated 19 January 1878, ex Masson, ex Dawson.

An “embossed effect” subvariety is characterized by a deeper than normal impression in the (native) paper. The effect is often best seen from the back where the rays of the sun emblem appear as deeply grooved spokes. Eames also reports an embossed type in grey-black printers’ ink on native paper. These are perhaps related to the ¼a ink strip rectangulars on European laid paper that were produced in the spring of 1878, India Post 29, 112 (1995). For some reason unknown to us, these latter are usually misnamed “proof-strips” in the literature.

The ½a black oilcolor on European laid paper. These items come with both horizontal and vertical laiding lines. This stamp is the only laid-paper circular that is said not to be rare in postally-used condition, though it is still scarce enough in that condition. A block of six is recorded for which each pair comes tête-bêche. An “earliest” cover offered in the Haverbeck sale bearing the black on European laid is dated February 1877. We assume that this a mistake for 1878.

Non-postal item. The ½a black oilcolor on native paper. In the received tradition, one diagnostic for an item to be deemed a reprint is the thin polished character of the paper. For items not on such paper, as here, one is instructed to take a dim view of sharp impressions. Distinguishing smudgy reprints from sharp originals is best left to wiser heads than ours.

½a Oilcolor Blues

The ½a slate-blue oilcolor on native paper. These come in a wide range of shades, some nearly black to the casual glance. Lore has it that they were never reprinted, but the argument behind that dictum is not known to us. This scarce block of eight was printed on the thin polished sort of paper often considered diagnostic for reprints, as is also the fact of its being a large multiple. We should therefore very much like to know of the story that says that this is not a reprint block.

The slate-blue in rare postal use. This is a detail from a Jammu to Amritsar cover dated 21 assûj 1934 ~ 5 October 1877 and delivered after unusual delay on 19 October. Hellrigl collection.

The ½a slate-blue oilcolor on European laid paper. These are rare in known postal use. Admittedly it is sometimes difficult to check the paper type when a stamp is pasted to a cover.

The ½a steel-blue oilcolor on native paper is recorded at least thrice on covers in the very late April-May 1878 period (Eames.) Its counterpart in the 1a is also known in both used (May ‘78) and unused condition. An example of the latter is shown on the 1a oilcolors page.

Non-postals. Séfi & Mortimer chronicle only a ½a bright blue and a ½a dull blue in their list of blue reprints on native paper. While the item on the left is a nice candidate for the bright, the item on the right may or may not be their dull blue; while it has some affinities with the slate-blues of the postal issues, the pigment is something of a cross between Prussian-blue & indigo and in daylight there is a strong greenish cast to it.

½a Oilcolor Reds

The ½a vermilion-red oilcolor on native paper. Eames reports that the first red oilcolors date from June 1877 and these appear in a “somewhat brighter vermilion-red shade.” They are seen postally used in all three denominations of the circulars, and in the Jammu plate as well. Séfi & Mortimer reports a reprint in vermilion and we are not sure whether the example shown above (left) be an example of that or actually passes muster as an original.

The ½a deep red oilcolor on native paper. Starting in autumn 1877 a range of darker shades begin to appear, of which the example shown above (right) would seem to be an example.

The ½a “red” oilcolor on European laid paper. The preceding image is one of only three known covers that contain a half-red oilcolor on European laid paper. The despatch date here reads 21 chait [19]34 ~ 1 April 1877, assuming chait to be the first month of the year. This would make for the earliest known oilcolor stamp (the advent month for oilcolors usually taken to be June.) The annotator of the cover, however, provides the self-assured comment: “This is really 1935: the mistake was made by the writer in the first month of this new year.” If, however, the party who dated the envelope (already 3 weeks into the month) were using the other convention in which chait is deemed the 12th month of the Hindu year, we would have here an April 1878 mailing without resorting to the old scribal-error gambit. Séfi & Mortimer assume the late date; others are doubtful and prefer the early date. April datestamps (without year of course) for Sialkot and Amritsar are reported to be on the reverse, a fact that at least eliminates the other possibility that this is a jeth (May-June) cover instead. (In practice, jeths and chaits are often hard to distinguish in the Persian script.) Cover ex Mix; image kindly provided by W. Hellrigl.

The ½a orange-vermilion oilcolor on native paper. It has counterparts in the Jammu rectangulars and shares features seen in the Kashmir rectangulars, such as the mottled darkening.

A ½a orange-red oilcolor circular on native paper. This it is mentioned by Eames as existing in unused condition only. Such printings are similar in appearance to watercolor impressions in this shade, and testing with water is required.

The ½a deep orange-red oilcolor on native paper, March 1878. It has a definite orange cast in daylight. The second item shows a close shade counterpart from the Jammu plate.

The ½a brown-red oilcolor on native paper, above left. These stamps are known only in postally used condition. The earliest we have seen is a March 1878 printing, and they persist into April together with shade varieties such as the example on the right:

The ½a deep brown-red oilcolor on native paper, April 1878, above right.

The ½a (dull) rose-red oilcolor on wove paper, April 1878 in postally used condition only. It is an exceedingly rare item on a horrible paper by all accounts—the paper is reported as thick, coarse, and of yellowish-brown tone, and often referred to as “sugar-wove.” This paper does not appear among the New Rectangulars soon to come. An example of the item can be seen on Plate 4 in Staal and in the Eames oil-printings article India Post 29 p 89 (1995). Twelve copies were accounted for at the time of the Haverbeck auction, with five of them offered in that venue alone, Lots 1292-96.

Non-postals. The ½a rosine? oilcolor on native paper. In daylight this has a pinky hue, but the darker regions are much like those of the vermilion red. For better or worse, we are guided here by the SG Colour Guide. Only a vermilion, pale red, and a rosine are reported by Séfi & Mortimer’s in their chronicle of the ½a red reprints on native paper. The rosine is also known for the 4a circular. Eames treats the rosine as a color trial on account of the telltale rosine staining found on the early sage-green productions, also taken to be trials.

½a Oilcolor Oranges

No transition year oranges are reported for the ½-anna denomination. A postally used yellow-orange is, however, chronicled by Eames for the the 4-anna denomination.

Non-postal. The ½a dull orange oilcolor on native paper. This item has at least four counterparts, in the 1a & 4a circulars and in both values of the 2nd Kashmir plate. A rather similar orange is seen on the 4a & 8a New Rectangulars of 1881 on thin wove paper, mostly seen as 1890s reissues.

½a Oilcolor Yellows

The ½a ochre-yellow oilcolor on European laid paper. Gibbons chronicles a “yellow” with prices for both used and unused condition; we do not know if this represents a shade different from the ochre-yellow pictured in the Eames oilcolors article. The yellow evidently is not attested on the native paper.

Non-postal. The ½a bright yellow on very thick European laid paper, above. It often comes with pseudo-cancellations as shown here. Eames takes these to be reprints in India Post 29 p 89 (1995), thus further challenging the already eroding dictum that the European laid papers were not used in reprint productions. Another example follows in the greens section, and we are able to show still another candidate the 1a, a curious blue-black.

½a Oilcolor Greens

The ½a olive-green oilcolor on native paper, and blotchy to reputation. It is more commonly known as sage-green. Catalogue pricing notwithstanding, perhaps only a half-dozen or so of the true postal variety are known unused, and fewer than a dozen used. Eames distinguishes this darker olive-green from the range of lighter sage-green shades, which may be subsumed under experimental printings or later reprints—in any case non-postals.

The ½a olive-green oilcolor on European laid paper. Not usually listed, but recorded (as a sage-green) in Staal p 92 and p 198 as extremely rare. The 1a is not known, but the 4a is attested with perhaps a dozen copies known.

The ½a bluish-green oilcolor on native paper. Séfi & Mortimer mention a bluish-green only in their native-paper reprints listing.

Non-postal. The ½a yellow-green on European laid paper. Though this item is quite common, there has been little discussion, perhaps even avoidance of discussion, of its status as a “laid-paper reprint.” For us it is simply a non-postal, where that term is clearly broad enough to encompass not only reprints per se but also trials of various sorts. Séfi & Mortimer mention native paper reprints also in a green and a bluish-green.

½a Oilcolor Circulars (1877-78)

½a Non-postal Circulars

Séfi & Mortimer’s reckoning of the ½a oilcolor circular reprints on the native and wove papers are given below. Only the black, vermilion, and green on native paper are likely to be in contention with originals. Non-postals on wove papers are of little theoretical interest as a group. Rather commonly encounted items do not fit satisfyingly into the Séfi & Mortimer chronicle. A couple of such examples are shown below the table. Starred (*) items are added.

Native-Paper

Wove-Paper

Above: Are these really the yellow-green and bluish-green of the Séfi listing? In any case, we prefer to call them green and grey-green, respectively. To our eye, the latter really has no hint of blue to it; it is in fact much like one of the shades of the late 1a green New Colors, also called grey-green.

Shown above is a bit of an oddity: the ½a vermilion in ink on smooth, very thin, toned wove paper. The design is good, but if actually produced from the original die, the type must represent one of the sharpest of extant impressions. The cancellation is spurious.

Missing-Die Forgeries

The “missing-die” forgeries (ca. 1890) were imitations of six stamp designs, namely the triplet of circulars and a triplet of Kashmir rectangulars (2a, 4a, 8a.) Not done were either from the First Kashmir plate or the ¼a denomination of the Visitors’ plate.

As the traditional story has it, larcenous insiders in the post office who had access to the authentic printing implements had long been printing stamps, mostly in odd colors on odd papers, to replace authentic, though obsolete, stock being sold off surreptitiously to collectors. When the authentic dies had for some reason become unavailable to them, they created a second set for continuing the ruse. The day eventually came when both sets were wanted by officialdom for defacement. (It is sometimes contended that the officials thought there actually were two legitimate sets of dies.) But the bogus implements were nowhere to be had, as in “missing.” Col. Godfrey is reported to have destroyed thousands of these forgeries, yet some varieties are still very plentiful.

Above: Compare the orange forgery with the green non-postal, for which the design is authentic. The most blatant of many differences concerns the first Dogri letter at the top, where in the forgery the tail of curlicue element da- extends far enough left to touch the first letter of the Persian, and where in the original the tail is tucked well back to give a very different slant to the element.

Above: Examples of missing-dies in the blacks on the three main types of paper, namely native, toned wove, and the smooth white wove. In the Séfi & Mortimer checklist below, “woves” in plural means the latter two varieties:

Above: The ½a vermilion on toned wove paper with a Manawar postal marking dated poh 20. The implement that produced this spurious cancellation found its way to the museum at Srinagar where it still sports the same date, as one of Staal-Sharma restrikes attests.

½a Missing-Dies (all oilcolor)

Brighton Forgeries

Commentators speak of this class of forgery as having been produced through a photo-process from originals. Examples are thus correct in basic design but usually appear in odd colors (many are watercolor) and on papers not seen among the originals. There is a very thin variety of paper that looks to be a vague attempt to imitate the familiar native paper; for want of a name we call it tissue paper.

Above: The ½a carmine-red oilcolor Brighton forgery on laid paper. The forgeries have been known since the early 1900s, and so have become rather antique themselves. The listing below is from Séfi & Mortimer; several types are understood to be rare or non-existent now.

½a Brightons

Defacement Reprint ½a Circular

The Sri Pratap Singh Museum in Srinagar holds an extensive collection of the printing implements that were used by the State postal system of Jammu & Kashmir. In August 1981, Dr B. Sharma and Dr F. Staal had the opportunity to make ink impressions from all the available dies. The story of this wonderful adventure is told in Appendix E (“Five Fruitful Days in Srinagar”) of Staal’s reference text, pp 229-66. The account features 29 pages of figures showing their reprints of the telegraph & revenue stamps, the defaced plates of the postage stamps, plus restrikes of a wide variety of postal seals, obliterators, and datestamps.

The printing implements of the postage stamp dies and plates had been officially defaced in February 1898 (though not the ½a Kashmir single die handstamp, which had disappeared in 1867.) We are fortunate to be able to display a number of these late impressions of the defaced implements within these pages. Of the ½a circular, 40 reprint impressions were done in purple ink and 9 in black ink.

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