The 4a Single Die

The implement came into use in autumn 1867, quite possibly October, taking over the role of the 4a ultramarine circulars at Srinagar. No essays or proofs of this die are attested. After the first sharp printings in rare shades of green, this die had a long employment in arsenic-laced emerald-green that stretched into the early New Rectangulars period. Oilcolor reprinting was done in a variety of colors.

The 4a myrtle-green watercolor on native paper. Writing in 1931, Séfi & Mortimer reported that no unused copies were known, so they had not seen this or other copies, of which there are perhaps a half-dozen or so reported. There are even shade varieties, one known as ‘jade’. Old Myrtle is still not listed in Scott.

Myrtle on cover. This detail provides a much-wanted date for the myrtles, and confirms the notion that they were early. It is dated 2 rajab [1284] ~ 30 October 1867 (a Wednesday) after earlier arrival at Amritsar. Detail from Lot 253 Blue Sale.

The other myrtle on cover. This is the celebrated Dawson Lot #342. It is often erroneously described as a local cover, but both this and the preceding are jawabs to Amritsar that did not carry British postage.

The 4a sage-green watercolor on native paper. Séfi & Mortimer tell us that this rare shade predates the myrtle. The pair of 8a stamps seen with it are indeed in the early and distinctive Venetian-red shade. Still we are unaware of the argument that definitively establishes it before the myrtle printing, and there are some suggestions that it might have been a later printing. Lot 1441, for example, in the Haverbeck sale presents a cover containing the sage-green together with 1a in ‘orange-brown’. The cover is (said to be) dated 13 rajab 1285 ~ 30 October 1868, i.e., a full year later (to the day) than the myrtle shown upscreen. The detail above is from a lovely undated cover in the Jaiswal collection.

The 4a red watercolor on native paper. This scan was taken from the back cover of the 1967 Robson Lowe catalogue of the L.E. Dawson collection. Ex Ferrari, ex Hind. This item is traditionally reported to be a unique item dating from 1868 (but how is the year known?) There are a number of other such anomalous color switchings afoot known in jawab use, all of them listed as “errors of color.” It is a pity that this item was taken from its cover, for among other things we shall never know now if this too fits that pattern.

The 4a emerald watercolor on native paper. This, alas, became the prevalent shade and lasted somewhat into the New Rectangulars period. Though first reported from late 1868, the color is much like that of the Jammu Special Printing issues of 1874. Used copies are scarcer than catalogue prices would suggest.

There are rare tête-bêches of the emerald, as well as other oddities, such as a ‘semi-tête-bêche’ in which one of the stamps of a pair is printed sideways, and there is a spectacular double impression. Hellrigl collection naturally.

4a Non-postal Material

The 4a black watercolor on thin, pale rose-tinted pelure paper 1877 has counterparts in the 8a die and both denominations of the Visitors’ plate. The 4a emerald-green watercolor trials are reported in a range of shades. The Haverbeck catalogue refers to a specimen on the white laid paper as ‘sea green’ (also called vert d'eau in Staal p 145.) A paler version seems to be known on both papers, the other paper being a white pelure wove. Reference: Eames India Post 29 128 (1995).

This way to the 4a oilcolor printings†.

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