The 4a Jammu Dawks
We do not have a date for the earliest attestation of the 4a circular die,
but it may have come onto the scene even weeks after the introduction
of the two lower-denomination circulars in March 1866. It was intended to serve
for the regular registration rate. Again, care is needed with the earlier literature because
most early commentators took this die to be the 1-anna denomination.
Our letter code for this die is C.
Some 4a blue has been recognized unpriced under the ‘royal-blue’ tag by Stanley Gibbons from the 2004 edition onward. The Haverbeck 1973 auction catalogue surmised the existence of fewer than 25 copies of the 4a royal blue, but this implausibly high number simply has to include ultramarines of later stripe, perhaps all of them. The vexed story of the royal blues is taken up here on the 1-anna circulars page.
The 4a ultramarine watercolor on native paper, 1866. This example is cancelled with an early strike of the Srinagar brick-red seal. These stamps are known in a range of shades and demeanors, watery to relatively sharp, and lasted into the spring of 1867.
The 4a deep blue watercolor on native paper, late 1867. This rare shade, which has a rare counterpart in the Jammu plate, is shown in the Eames article on the blue watercolors: India Post 29, 2-5 (1995).
The 4a indigo watercolor on native paper, Hellrigl collection. It is listed in SG as “for use in Jammu only.” Perhaps only three or four examples in unused condition are now known, and some half dozen or so Jammu covers. But there appears to be a Srinagar indigo afoot that stands in parallel to the Jammu usage:
A 4a “indigo” watercolour circular and ½a ultramarine Kashmir rectangular cancelled with the Srinagar seal in red. The picture is from Winthrop Boggs’ 1941 review article and was Lot 1246 in the Haverbeck auction, which gives the shade of the circular as “blue-black.” That is an older designation found in the earlier literature for the indigo shade in the circulars. We do not know how the “Jammu indigo” and the “Srinagar indigo” actually compare. A much later 1876 anomalous printing at Jammu that currently goes under the blue-black heading is shown at the bottom of the screen.
Where were we? Yes, the cover, the Boggs cover: It is dated in Masson’s hand ‘4th Shawal’ 1284 ~ 29 January 1868, which is ten days earlier than the javab dating seen here on the cover upside-down, namely 14 shavvāl ~ 9 February 1868, the javab closing date at Amritsar. This cover was described erroneously in the article as an internal cover destined to Jammu, possibly on account of the absent British postage. We say ‘absent’ in place of ‘missing’ because a good fraction of early javab covers do not bear British postage, perhaps for a reason.
The preceding is a rather famous stamp alteration, ex Dawson, ex Sturton (“Blue Sale” Lot #30), currently in the Mac Gillycuddy Collection. The horizontal pair consists of authentic 4-anna stamps doctored with “chinese white” (Dawson’s term) to pass as identical to the other pair, which the faker likely misconstrued as consisting of 4-anna stamps. That would make 16 annas for the altered lot, a sum that makes no postal sense. One solution is simply to suspect a variously uninformed collector. If there had been some unusual scenario at the originating post office, as would be suggested if traces of magenta could be found on the added pigment, then our conceptual difficulties really would begin. Still, some puzzle remains. The collaged Persian at the upper left reads “3 tola” ~ 1.2 ounces. To go by the postal rates of the period, one would expect a total need of only 3 annas, or as much as 7 annas if the registration charge is included. We are grateful to Tony Mac Gillycuddy for the scan of this curious rarity.
What follows is an excerpt from Dawson & Smythies book, wherein the piece shown above is the vehicle for expressing the authors’ cogent puzzlement about the denominations. They continue, however, to accept the traditional (mistaken) value assignments. Let us register our own puzzlement about their assertion that the faking was necessarily done “before use.” We should very much like to understand why.
The 4a [really the 1a] is not nearly as rare as the 1a [really the 4a]. It [really the 1a] is found in singles and pairs on very light-weight letters that scarcely needed even a 1a stamp, nor is there any evidence of such letters having been registered. We have seen part of an original letter with two pairs of these ultramarine circulars with magneta postmarks. One pair consists of 4a [really 1a] stamps, while the other pair is the 1a [really 4a] value, but faked before use to appear as two 4a [so the faker thought] by the addition of a curved line in chinese-white below the stroke of the value, thus converting the 1 into 4 [so the faker thought] and, incidentally, making an extremely rare cut-square pair of 1 annas [really 4 annas] appear as a (philatelically) far commoner pair of 4 annas [really 1 annas]. The original dispatcher defrauded the post offices of six annas [really not] by his handiwork and created a unique piece for the subsequent philatelist. But why a small entire, weighing much less than 1 tola [3 tola to go by the Persian notation] should require 16 annas worth of postage stamps is altogether inexplicable.
Early 4a Black Watercolor
The 4a grey-black watercolor on native paper. A rare item indeed, with at most a half-dozen attested unused and maybe even none at all in used condition. The stamp did not appear with the two lower denomination blacks in 1866. Séfi & Mortimer speculatively classified this issue as one “prepared for issue” only. This black is perhaps best regarded as the high denomination companion to the Jammu plate printed in the same shade, either as a color trial for the plate or issued to serve the registration function. If so, its dating would be late summer 1867, given that the Jammu plate blacks are known only for about three weeks in August and September of that year.
Red and Orange 4a Watercolors
The key modern reference on the red and orange watercolors is Tim Eames’ article: India Post 29, 42-44 (1995), which we have followed closely herein.
The 4a ‘red’ watercolor on native paper, collection Hellrigl. This cover, destined to the Amritsar depot at Kaţra Ahlūwālian, is the earliest of only three known 4a circular reds on cover: 6 māgh 1925 ~ 17 January 1869. As to such early reds, Dawson & Smythies (p 13) speak of a “sort of brown-red, unusually clearly printed, and somewhat resembling an oil-colour.” They bear the Jammu circular seal in black, and so must date between June 1868 and into the spring of 1870 when the iron-mine seal came into use. Is the preceding an example? Absent British postage, this cover should bear some sign of financial reckoning; the red-orange triangle struck at Sialkot is said to pertain to that. This item is pictured also on Staal Plate I.
Eames reports a 4a vermilion for the early period, and to our disadvantaged eye trying to judge color done on a different scanner there is indeed something of the vermilion to the preceding as well, say you? In any case, the Jammu rectangular was undoubtedly produced from the same batch of paint, and vermilions in the rectangular are known from this period cancelled with the black seal.
The 4a scarlet-red watercolor on native paper, 1869. There are close counterparts in the ½a and 1a circulars. A printing of the Jammu plate was done in the same shade range, for which the circulars may conceivably have been trials. In any case, the shade is not reported in postal use so far as we know.
The 4a orange-red watercolor on native paper, 1872. There was something of a spectrum of shades more or less connecting the two extremes red to orange, the latter being the most scarce:
The 4a orange watercolor on native paper. The image is a detail from a cover in the Hellrigl collection dated 9 November 1872. Fewer than a dozen true oranges are likely in collectors’ hands now. An identical pigment was used with the Jammu plate, which is an equally rare issue in the 1a.
The 4a orange-vermilion watercolor on native paper. Eames reports this shade (also in the 1a circular) from 1875 onward as occuring in a wide range of darkening of the pigment through sulphuration. A similar shade with similar discoloration is seen on 1a Kashmir rectangular watercolors. This scan and the preceding were done on different scanners, so the hue cannot be compared directly.
The 4a lake watercolor on native paper. Eames distinguishes this printing from the later carmines, which are of the same emotional class. The link takes us to the ► Jammu plate counterpart of the lake, ca. September 1875.
The 4a carmine-red watercolor on native paper, 1876. This is the famous “cherry-red” of the classical literature, and this example is the only attested example in postally used condition, Hellrigl collection, ex Earl.
The late 4a ‘reds’ watercolors on native paper. Eames records other reds in the 1875-76 period, including a particular bright red. Whether these belonged formally to the Special Printings project, we do not know. For us, reds are always a separate story from that, if only for the convenience of not having to worry about them when we are dealing with the other Specials, which come in a more natural grouping.
Late Watercolors 1874-76
The 4a deep black watercolor on native paper, 1874, is a rare enough item, and not known in used condition. Some have the appearance of oilcolor and have to be tested carefully with water.
The 4a yellow watercolor on native paper of 1874 is very rare, though perhaps not so rare as the 1a. Neither is known in used condition. Collection Hellrigl.
The 4a bright blue watercolor circulars on native paper. Unused, they are not uncommon in both brighter and deeper shades. Are they known in postally used condition?
The 4a blue-black watercolor circular 1876. This stamp is a rarity both used and unused; a dozen or so? It is listed as indigo in the Scott catalogue [Sc35a]. The early-period indigo was often called blue-black in the early literature. The example seen here cannot be an early type by virtue of the obliteration. Collection Hellrigl.