The 1a Circular Handstamp

The 1a is the middle partner of the triplet of circulars dies. Care is needed with the older literature because there was a widespread misunderstanding that this die served for the 4-anna denomination. The question was controversial for more than a century. The engaging history & resolution of the matter is given Staal’s text, pp 61-85. The Scott listing was corrected in the 1940s on account of the influence of Harrison Haverbeck and Winthrop Boggs on the American scene. The switch to the correct identifications was made in the Stanley Gibbons catalogue in the mid-1980s. Even up to recent years (perhaps even still?) Michel still had the illustrations reversed though the stamp listing itself is correct—hardly the happy compromise for the unwary! This forgery link† takes us to the bottom of this screen.

The Early Blue 1a Watercolors

For this denomination it is the blues that are accessible to the ordinary collector and the blacks that are not, i.e., precisely the reverse of the half-anna case. There is uncertainty as to how the early blues, particularly those known as “royal blue(s),” were understood in the early literature, and there is uncertainty too about how they ought to be treated today. Pertinent India Post references are Tim Eames’ IP 29 02 1995 and Peter Röver’s postscript in IP 39 34 2005. A crucial and telling cover for this story is the following:

The 1a royal blue [bright ultramarine] watercolor on native paper. One of the important covers that Eames enlists as an example of the early usage of the royal blue (correctly we feel) is pictured on Staal Plate 1, a cover in the Hellrigl collection. The hue of that reproduction, however, is distorted enough that it might well be taken for a distinctive and darker hue, such as the so-called “imperial blue†,” which was indeed Eames’ identification. We are fortunate, with thanks to Wolfgang Hellrigl, to be able to reproduce the same cover again, above, on the modern technology. The stamp is revealed to be much brighter, and is really a variety of the standard ultramarine class. Its distinguishing features in fact pertain more to the uncommonly sharp and uniform application of the pigment. The stamp is not positively attested off cover, nor does it appear to exist in the other two denominations of the circulars. The relatively recent addition of a 4a royal blue to the SG listing may refer to something else.

Several erroneous reports, including that formerly appearing on this site, took Masson’s recording of the date (the red ink) to be ‘27 Zaqahdah 1282’. Closer examination of Masson’s annotation, however, reveal that Masson had emended the date by striking out the 1. The isolated 7 is corroborated by the 7 shahr zelqa'de 1282 ~ 24 March 1866 that appears on the reverse in the lower-left line of the Persian. The correction thus makes his conversion not wrong after all, and makes this a very early cover indeed. It would at one time have shared honors as the first known cover, but now has to settle for day two. Despite these clear datings, this item is sometimes mentioned in the literature as being a local cover having a despatch date in mid-April, a week after its already delayed pick-up at Amritsar, as attested by the jawab notation in the center of the upper scan, which reads 21 zelqa'de ~ 7 April. The names Amritsar and the processing depot at Katra Ahlûwâlian can be seen in the top line of Persian on the reverse (lower scan.)

The high printing standard of the royal-blue was not to be maintained for long, for a range of more typical ultramarines began to appear soon afterward, some more watery and duller than others, and evincing less care in execution:

Other early blues. The example on the left is very much like the first example on Eames’ Blue Color Plate, which dates from 24 April, some weeks after the first blues had seen their best days. Different shades proceed under the ‘ultramarine’ idea for at least a year, to perhaps May 1867. Postally used copies of the 1a with the magenta seal of Jammu instead of the usual Srinagar seal eventually show up (next entry) and are extremely rare:

Here is the 1a “royal blue” as our scanner renders the example on the back cover of the Dawson auction catalogue, Lot 222 (see also Blue Sale Lot 22.) Though the image here is at several removes from reality, it does suggest a deeper shade that may have been the one referred to by Séfi & Mortimer.

The 1a indigo watercolor on native paper, 1867. Séfi & Mortimer speak of this stamp in used condition as the rarest of all the watercolor circulars. Some commentators now doubt its existence, so too in the ½a. There was no copy in the Ferrari-Hind collection. The 4a version certainly does exist, which is seen on at least four covers. This rare high-denomination printing is associated with the well-known indigos of the Jammu plate, and it would have provided the accompanying registration stamp for a short period from the end of 1867 and into the new year 1868.

The Early Black Watercolor

The 1a grey-black watercolor pair from a piece possibly dated 14 April 1866. Collection Hellrigl. Séfi & Mortimer report that none of these was known in Europe until May of 1869 when it was shown at the first General Meeting of the London Philatelic Society. Gibbons currently reports that these printings are known only from Kashmir. The stamps’ extreme rarity prompts the oft-repeated suggestion that this issue might have been an error of color. Other speculations are not out of court, however, for one need only recall the so-called two-venue covers that involved an analogous color switching between the common ½a black and the rare ½a blue on jawab covers, that is, the other way around, and plausibly on purpose.

1a Red & Orange Watercolors

A detail of the only dated cover bearing a 1a red circular is shown in the next scan. Together with ½a counterparts, these red circulars evidently functioned as very occasional supplements to the concurrent Jammu plate reds of the same denominations. While different shades are assigned provisionally over the entire 1869-77 period, SG does not list any of the lower-denomination red circulars outside the Special Printings period 1874-76. Not to be contrary or anything, we do the opposite, and do not formally include any reds among the Special Printings. Somehow they seem a class apart.

The 1a ‘red’ watercolor on native paper. The pair in the scan is the only known postal use (and the only multiple) of the 1a denomination in red, January 1870, a gem in the Hellrigl collection. Pinkish hues, such as a salmon-red, are known in the Jammu rectangular from the same early period.

The 1a scarlet-red watercolor on native paper. This item, unattested in used condition, may be an early color trial for Jammu-plate rectangulars, for the shade is seen on the rectangulars already in 1869. There are shade counterparts also in the ½a and 4a circulars.

The 1a bright red watercolor on native paper. Tim Eames reports this shade for the post-1874 period. It has close counterparts in everything that comes in red, i.e., the other two circulars, the Jammu plate, and the Kashmir 8a. Another distinctive shade in the bright-red class is reported by Phil Lunn, a perfect strawberry smoothie, the stamp at least.

The 1a orange watercolor on native paper. A major rarity. A used copy (currently unpriced in SG) is reported in Séfi & Mortimer for November 1872. The shade has a close counterpart in the Jammu plate rectangulars from the same period. Gibbons lists the 1a orange in the Special Printings period.

The 1a orange-red watercolor on native paper, known used and unused over a several year period antedating, codating, and postdating the Special Printings period of 1874-76. This entry really represents a range of shades more and less orangey. There are close counterparts in the other circulars and in the Jammu plate rectangulars. Gibbons does not list a 1a orange-red for the period before the Special Printings.

The 1a orange-vermilion watercolor on native paper, a rarity in the Hellrigl collection. The shade is said to be much like the orange-vermilions of the late (1876-78) Jammu plate, a counterpart 4a circular, and even like some of the Kashmir 1a rectangulars of the same period, which are all subject to a similar and characteristic darkening.

The Late Watercolors 1874-76

Any red-type circular (including orange-reds and oranges) that may have been part of the Special Printings program of 1874-76 are handled with the other reds.

The 1a deep black watercolor on native paper, 1874. Scarce unused. Postally used, is it attested?

The 1a emerald watercolor on native paper, 1874. Specimens in used condition are known as early as February 1874 (Haverbeck Lot 1265.) The second example might be one, on a bad-square day.

The 1a yellow watercolor on native paper, 1874. Another example of this stamp, the scarcest of the yellows, is shown in the “Kashmir Blue” auction catalogue Lot 89. There are no known examples in postally used condition in this denomination (nor in the 4a.)

The 1a bright blue watercolor on native paper, 1876. This specimen might look superficially like a 4a, and we had so presented it briefly on the 4a page, a tidy example of an amateurish error. We wonder if the missing curved stroke in the center had been artificially covered by puddling the watercolor. Postally used copies may not be known despite modest catalogue pricing. A deeper shade called deep bright blue is known, but it is distinct from that of the following entry:

The 1a imperial blue watercolor on native paper. This shade, shown on the ½-anna† circulars page, is also known as ‘deep blue’, and also exists in the 4a. Quite possibly none of these is known in postal use.

1a Circulars (watercolor on native paper)

Die X Watercolor Forgeries

This general type of period watercolor forgery was introduced on the ½a circulars page as a kind of counterpart to the notorious Die I forgeries of that denomination. Unlike the Die I, however, the X type is not known in the 4-anna denomination, just as the Die I is not known in this 1-anna denomination:

Die X Forgery. The 1a brown-black watercolor on native paper. The obliteration is in imitation of the Srinagar red seal.

Die X Forgery. The 1a ultramarine watercolor on native paper. The seal obliteration is a faked Jammu magenta.

Die X Forgery. The 1a grey-blue watercolor on a distinctive stiff “rice” wove paper.

1a “Die X” Watercolor Forgeries

This way to the 1a oilcolor printings†.

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