The 8a Single Die

The 8a Kashmir single-die was the last of the handprinting implements, having appeared perhaps in late summer or autumn 1867. This denomination is known only in a range of red watercolors. The handstamp was not found in the Pratap Singh Museum in 1981, though the implement was indeed defaced with the others in 1898. Postally used copies of this high denomination are scarcer than catalogue prices would suggest. Oilcolor reprinting was done in a variety of red-type shades, black, and an alleged ochre.

Unique Proof of the 8a die in grey-black watercolor on native paper. Scan taken from Séfi & Mortimer Plate 15. What are the white patches? Well, we now have it on authority (the item is yet another prize in the Hellrigl collection) that the ‘patches’ are indeed holes. The paper “must have appealed to some Kashmiri bugs.” The whole is rather darkened by smoke or dirt.

8a Watercolor Reds

It is by now no surprise that a range of reds are seen. The item on the left below is the distinctive 8a Venetian-red, the traditional name.Tim Eames believes this shade (his brownish orange-red) to be the early printing of 1867, and it is matched in shade by the early printing from the lower row of the first Kashmir plate. The curious item on the right shows something of the nature of its pigment by its very thick application. Séfi & Mortimer speak of an 8a deep rose, but that we are told is something else.

In addition to a subtle shade mysteriously called red, there are also printings in vermilion, bright red, bright orange-red, and carmine-red. Curiously, these have clear counterparts in the Jammu rectangulars and attendant circulars, which raises the interesting question of formal pigment sharing between Srinagar and Jammu, or even the possibility that the ‘Kashmir printings’ might have been carried out still at Jammu for some period of time.

A tête-bêche in what looks like an early shade is catalogued. The image here is a gleaning from the Blue Sale catalogue KB259. This vertical pair was once the left half of a block of four in the Mortimer collection, the right half being a like example. It is pictured (b/w) in Séfi & Mortimer plate 16. The full (if tiny) inventory of known tête-bêches, which includes used copies, can be found in Hellrigl, W., London Philatelist 115, 304 (2006).

Non-postal material

There are three rare non-postal items reported for 1877 in watercolor. The 8a oilcolor on thick laid paper (appended to the table below) can be seen with the oilcolors linked at the top of the page.

The 8a black watercolor printed on thin, pale rose-tinted pelure paper has counterparts in the equally rare 4a single die and the Visitors’ plate.

The 8a brick-red watercolor on laid paper. Garratt-Adams (Staal p 110) reports a postally used copy (struck with the 5/L-6 British Srinagar obliterator) of the laid paper variety having very broad laiding lines. An unused copy was offered in the Haverbeck Sale, and there is is a b/w photo for it, Lot 1402.

The 8a brick-red watercolor on thin (pelure) wove. An 8a bright red watercolor on thin wove was offered in the Haverbeck sale Lot 1410. We do not know if these are different items.

This way to the 8a oilcolor printings†.

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