The Jammu Laid Papers
Sometime in the transitional year (1877-78) Jammu took a fancy to a certain kind of laid paper of European manufacture. Examples are known for all four of the Jammu implements. The postal people at Srinagar evidently didn’t share the same enthusiasm, for laid paper Kashmir trials are very rare indeed and none of the kind is recognized in the catalogues as having done postal service. The new paper must have been deemed successful at Jammu, however, for not only did some of this production serve as actual postage, the first New Rectangulars were done on just such paper from May 1878. Some experimentation was also done with certain wove papers of European make, and such items produced with the Jammu plate are attested (oh so rarely) in postal duty.
A traditional rule has it that no collector reprints were produced on the laid paper, in part because that scurilous industry came to be identified solely with the Srinagar operation, perhaps starting in 1881 when the Srinagar office had control of all the Old Period implements. Nevertheless, several candidates for laid-paper reprinthood have been noted in the literature, the presumption being therefore that they were done at Jammu in the 1878-81 period. We bring members of this notable and poorly understood family together, whether they be trials, “issues,” or candidate reprints of whatever provenance/province.
The ½a Laid Paper
The ½a black oilcolor on European laid paper, shown above in the characteristically heavy and light impressions in which they tend to come. Both vertical and horizontal laiding lines are found, the former probably being the rarer configuration. This stamp is the only laid-paper circular that is not exactly rare in postally-used condition. An “earliest” cover offered in the Haverbeck sale is dated February 1877, which we assume is a mistake for Feb 1878, but await enlightenment. A block of six is recorded for which each pair comes “tête-bêche,” so-called.
The ½a slate-blue oilcolor on European laid paper. These are rarer in postal use than catalogue pricing would suggest.
The ½a brown red oilcolor on European laid paper. This is a detail from one of only three known covers (March and 1 April 1878) bearing this stamp. It is not known in unused condition. At one time, on account of calendar difficulties (in which ćait was erroneously deemed the first month of the Hindu calendar instead of the last) it was considered by some to be the first oilcolor, not among the last.
The ½a dull rose-red oilcolor on
wove paper, April 1878 in postally used condition only. The paper,
often referred to as “sugar-wove,” is by all accounts horrible:
thick, coarse, and of yellowish-brown tone. This paper,
does not appear among the New Rectangulars very soon to come. Examples of the item
can be seen, for example, on Staal Plate 4
and in the Eames oil printings article India Post 29 p 89 (1995).
Only twelve copies were accounted for at the time of the Haverbeck auction, with five of them
offered in that venue alone, Lots 1292-96.
The ½ yellow on European laid paper, unpriced used in SG, though assuredly postal through what is possibly a unique undated piece, cut-round, in the Hellrigl collection, ex Masson, ex Mortimer. The shade of this item stands in contrast to the following deeper shade:
The deeper off-yellow on European laid paper, with such suggested names as brownish-yellow, taupe, tawny, ochre-yellow (Eames), bistre yellow (Faucitt), and olive-yellow (Hellrigl). As it is not reported on cover so far as we know, we must consign it provisionally to the non-postal category, either an experimental production of the transition year, a laid-paper Jammu reprint from sometime within the 1878-81 period, or a post-1881 Srinagar reprint. In any case, rather scarce. Compare next:
Non-postal. The ½a bright yellow on very thick European laid paper. It often comes with a non-postal cancellation as shown here. Eames takes these to be reprints in India Post 29 p 89 (1995), thus further challenging the long-eroding dictum that the European laid papers were not used in reprint productions for collectors.
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 may or may not be attested.
Non-postal. The ½a bright yellow-green on European laid paper. Apart from a passing reference to this item by Séfi and Mortimer as being a possible “laid-paper reprint” (along with a 4a bright blue), there is curiously little notice in the literature about this wayward, if rather commonly seen, object.
The 1a Laid Paper
Non-postal. The 1a grey-black oilcolor on thick white European laid paper. Reprints on European laids may not be as mythical as unicorns after all. In daylight, the shade has a non-black cast to it, of subtle bluish or greenish persuasions. A 1a grey-black oilcolor Brighton forgery on thin white laid paper is mentioned, but this example is not like the Brightons we know and hate.
The 1a slate-blue oilcolors on horizontally laid European paper in two contrasting demeanors, comfortingly blotchy versus worrisomely striated. The striated are associated more with collector reprints, but not usually here on account of the paper.
A class of brighter blues is attested on both the native paper and on European laid paper (example above), the latter from the Faucitt collection.
A 1a violet-blue on European laid paper is chronicled by Tim Eames as being a trial printing on medium laid meshed paper with narrow laiding lines. Ref. India Post 29, 128-30 (1995). The type comes in a range between the steel-blue and lighter grey-blue shades.
Though Gibbons lists red oilcolor circulars on European laid paper for both the ½-anna and 4-anna denominations (rarities used or unused), it does not have such an entry for the 1-anna denomination. There are, however, two unused examples in the Hellrigl collection as yet uncatalogued.
The 1a yellow oilcolor on European laid paper. This extremely rare stamp, if even existent now, is mentioned in Staal p 92, and is unlisted in Gibbons. As mentioned upscreen, counterparts both used, unused, and wayward exist in the ½a, but not so in the 4-anna.
The 4a Laid Paper
The 4a slate-blue oilcolor on European laid paper. Though very rare, it is known in both used and unused condition. A native paper counterpart is not listed in Gibbons.
The 4a slate oilcolor on European laid paper paper. This variety is attested in only three copies. Notice the overlapping of adjacent impressions at the upper and lower edges. Hellrigl collection.
Non-postal. A 4a bright blue on European laid paper. Séfi and Mortimer mention such a curious beast as a possible candidate reprint on the laid paper.
The 4a “red” oilcolor on European laid paper. In used condition, perhaps fewer than a half dozen are now attested. Collection Hellrigl. It would seem to be more of brownish-red persuasion. Cf. Sturton Sale Lot #119, claimed to be unique on cover.
Another 4a brown-red oilcolor on European laid paper. Status? Its shade and striated demeanor (a sometime diagnostic for a reprint) is notably different from that of the 4a brown-red oilcolors on European laid paper that are known on cover.
The 4a olive green circular on European laid paper is extremely rare, with perhaps a dozen known in unused condition. A used example can be seen on a registered cover dated February 1878, Blue Sale Lot 133. The issue may or may not have a counterpart on this paper in the ½a denomination (rumors conflict) but likely not in the 1a, and neither is given an SG number.
The Jammu Plate Laid Paper
The ½a dull red oilcolor on a thick whitish vertically laid paper is taken from an Jammu to Amritsar cover in the Hellrigl collection dated 22 assuj 1934 ~ 6 October 1877. Masson took the paper to be wove, but later inspection revealed it to be a laid variety. See also Staal Plate 6. An unused copy was alluded to in the Haverbeck catalogue and a copy was offered in Sturton Lot 187. We do not know if these are the same item. Postally used, three or four off-cover copies are bouncing around and a couple on cover. Thick paper and an even rarer medium paper has been distinguished, the latter possibly unique. Dawson & Smythies (p 14) report that the 1a counterpart has never been seen although it must have been printed. Shade types in a distinctive brown-red oilcolor (of which the preceding may be an example?) were at one time listed separately in the Scott catalogue, but again a copy of the 1a had never been seen (ref. Boggs 1941).
As to the thin laid bâtonnée paper listed in SG (postally used in the ½a and unused in the 1a). Three copies on the backs of two covers are mentioned in the Haverbeck Lots 1366 and 1367. That at least one copy exists is indicated by the priced entry in SG.
Pictures of the thick white woves in both denominations are shown on Staal Plate 6. The 1a is listed in SG unpriced. There is a ½a wove on a Jammu to Lun Miani cover dated 11 October 1877 at Behra.