Papermakers’ Embossment
Animal and date embossments are occasionally found in the paper of the New Rectangular stamps.
These were done by the manufacturers of the paper and as such are not really part of the stamp
production process itself. They are reported over the dozen-year
period 1879-91 on thin toned woves, the later thin laid papers, and the late bright white,
but not on the tinted semi-pelure papers, which may have been too thin to bear the
treatment. The embossment ovals invariably occur on the corner stamps of a sheet,
both erect and inverted with respect to the stamp impressions.
As it happens, earlier ¼-anna predominate in our small sampling, but all denominations are
said to occur. Shown left is the “small elephant” control mark in an oval
~ 14 × 19 mm, and the large elephant next:
Above: Englargement of the “large elephant” mark in an oval. The actual size is 16 × 22 mm.
There is a rider, house (‘howdah’), perhaps a small village, on the poor beast. Below is
another glimpse of an elephant in the large-oval format:
A rare unicorn has also been sighted (ref Staal, p 115, reporting on the discovery by Dan Walker). This specimen was offered in the Haverbeck auction (Lot 1478) as existing on the ½a red on thin wove paper, on the top left corner of the plate, and thus exhibiting explicitly the state I condition of the plate. There is also rumor of an elusive prancing horse (assuming it is not a unicorn). It is reported unframed on a ½a red on thin wove paper.
The earliest control date, indeed the earliest possible for new rectangular stamps, is 1877, i.e., on paper manufactured at least a year before their advent. This embossment was upside-down in the lower-right corner of a sheet of ¼a reds on thin wove paper, which is an 1879 Jammu printing. The year 1877 was in fact the date of the stamp-printing establishment at Jammu of the new Ranbir Prakash press. It is interesting that thin wove paper was available at such an early time, a time when paper experiments had just started on Old Jammu stamps with European laids. Thin woves are indeed known (“anomalously”) during the early New Rectangular regime; more surprising is that there were not more of them, since the paper stock was long available and the thin woves were ultimately to triumph.
The embossment ovals containing year dates attested by Séfi & Mortimer are 1877, 1878, 1879, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1888, and 1891. Missing amongst these are thus 1880, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1889, and 1890. We report an 1885 herewith. An 8a official in the thin laid paper been seen with an 1884 date embossment, which seems early indeed for these ‘Prataps’. Again, older paper stock was presumably being used in a later printing of the stamps. Still this encourages one to be on the alert for Prataps in pre-1887 postal usage.
First reporting of 1885? This control mark appears on a ¼a black official sheet on coarse, yellow-toned
thin wove paper.