The 1877-78 Oil-printings

We now approach the Jammu issues of 1877-78, which were printed in true oil-pigments as distinct from the insoluble printers’-ink of the new rectangulars of 1878-94.

These Jammu printings were made from the circular dies and also from the small rectangular plate, and the whole of them were, at this point, under suspicion in consequence of the disclosures of the Simons controversy.

As regards the Jammu oil rectangulars, which will be dealt with in the following chapter, it may be said at once that these are, with scarcely an exception, absolutely legitimate and completely unaffected by the irregularities connected with the circulars, and it is to the latter only what follows must be taken to apply.

As regards these oil-circulars, we are confronted with a mass of facts, some of which tend to suggest that the whole issue was fraudulent, while others point in an entirely different direction. In the face of such conflicting evidence, the only possible way of dealing with this most difficult issue is to determine, by the amount of proved use, the status of each individual stamp. A reasonable amount of proved postal service must be the crucial test; for whereas it might be inadvisable to allow specific rank, on the strength of a single authentic used copy, to an impression whose origin is known to be, or suspected of being irregular, it would be even more misleading to deny such rank to stamps which could be proved to have done a considerable and even large amount of postal duty without of word of official protest, merely because they had been produced, in the first instance, without direct official authority.

Let us, therefore, briefly recapitulate the facts which appear to have been proved. These, so far as they detract from the merits of the oil-ciculars, are :

(1) That they were produced by the printer without specific official authority, to meet applications from collectors and others, for obsolete watercolour circulars which the printer did his best to imitate in oils.

(2) That reprints (together with the missing-die forgeries of much later date) were subsequently offered for sale, as genuine government remainders, by a responsible State Agent.

(3) That there had arisen no special reason why any paper, other than the normal native variety, should have been introduced in 1877-78, whereas, on the other hand, orders from abroad had demanded a “variety of papers.”

(4) That Masson was, for a time, suspicious of the issue on European laid paper; and that Evans, at one period, almost entirely disbelieved in them.

Against this, and telling in favour of the issue, we have proof: The printer was never, at any period, under such strict supervision as prevails with the great postal administrations of the present day, but had a free hand to deal with any shortages by purchasing, in the open market, any colours or papers he considered suitable, and that such shortages commonly occurred at Jammu during 1877-78.

That the State was completely unaware, prior to 1898, of any irregularities having occurred.

That compaints had, in fact, been often made as to the non-adhesive quality of stamps on native paper, so that the introduction of European laid in 1877-78 may well have been perfectly legitimate, a supposition strongly supported by the continuance of this very paper for the earlier new rectangulars to which no suspicion of unofficial origin ever attached, and that the early views held by both Masson and Evans subsequently changed greatly in favour of the issue as a whole, while much of their early condemnation can now be proved groundless.

Masson, for instance, who never removed a stamp from its cover, was, up to the time of his death, quite unaware that his collection and large accumulation of supposed duplicates, contained a number of covers franks with oil-printed originals of 1877-78, both circular and rectangular, on these very European papers which he and Evans (who was very largely influenced by Masson’s views on this question) regarded so favourably.

Evans, indeed, changed his original opinions to such an extent that in 1902 he argued (Philatelic Journal of India, Vol VI, pp 186) that, whatever the cause of these issues, they could not have been made for collectors, but for some more legitimate reason.

In attempting to reconcile such a conflict of opinions, we must first contrast the Darbari’s statement that reprintings commenced in 1874 with Bacon’s classification of the reprints. Bacon listed circular reprints as having been made at two widely different periods, 1877 and 1886 respectively. For the reprints on native paper he assigned no particular date, while the whole of his 1886 impressions are on thin wove paper. Both of these 1886 groups are, admittedly, composed of reprints pure and simple.

But his list of 1877 impressions is made up exclusively of those on laid paper, and these, having been produced while the stamps were in issue, cannot, whatever their demerits, possibly be classified as reprints at all. The whole of Bacon’s group is, in our opinion, composed of such printings alluded to by the Darbari, as had not yet been found in used condition. The reason why they have not been so found is that, with these particular impressions on laid paper, it happened that the printer finished his day’s work on completion of an order from abroad, so that little or no surplus remained for addition to the normal stock. If this is granted, it has also to be admitted that any of them may still be found used and, as it is impossible to classify them as reprints they must be regarded as “stamps not known used.”

The Darbari’s statement that reprinting commenced as early as 1874 must be contested. All reprints are in oilcolour and there was no oil-printing at Jammu until 1877. Neither Bacon nor any other writer has ever suggested a reprint of so early a period. The explanation lies, no doubt, in the fact that the Darbari had satisfied himself, in his capacity of a State official, that the introduction of new colours in 1874 in place of, or in addition to the officially standarised red, had been irregular, and that they must therefore have been reprints. This watercolour series was, however, duly issued and used, so that the term employed by the Darbari merely amounts to a slip in philatelic terminology.

One of the greatest obstacles in determing the status of the oil-printed impressions lies in the fact that it was not until the early 1880s that collectors and writers commenced to make separate classifications for stamps printed in watercolours and in oils respectively. The old philatelic records are therefore misleading and useless.

We therefore give, in tabular form, an analysis of all the oil-circulars examined by us, together with the inferences which should, in our opinion, be drawn from them. The material examined has been that contained in most of the known collections of any importance, and the figures given may, therefore, be accepted as relatively true to fact. The whole of the used specimens referred to have been those on original covers only, and some allowance may be made for the fact, since the true amount of actual use would be very considerably larger than these figures suggest.

As regards the two papers employed, we give, in the table of impressions on the native variety, a list of such reprints as occur in the colours of originals, for reasons which will appear. The greater part, at least, of these were printed long after the originals had become obsolete.

The table dealing with the European laid paper includes no reprints, since, as we have suggested, these were all printed during the course of issue. Tabulate the oil circulars by relative quantity:

Taking originals first, it is obvious that three of the ½a stamps may be admitted. A very considerable amount of postal duty was done by those in red and in black, while those in sage-green are less rare in used condition. The ½a slate-blue also cannot be denied full status in view of three known authentic used specimens. At the time this table was drawn up, only a single unused copy was known to exist, but in July 1931 we discovered no fewer than 151 in the celebrated Lincoln stock.

The 1a black should, apparently, be rejected as having never existed, and those in the remaining colours retained as originals issued and used.

The 4a in all four colours should, apparently, be rejected, since no authentic used copy is known of any of them. Their rarity unused, however, makes it exceedingly unlikely that they were ever “made for collectors” and should any of them be discovered genuinely used, they could be accorded full status. For the present we shall classify these and all other impressions of similar nature as “stamps not known used.”

The reprints will be fully discussed in Chapter 15. As a rule no difficulty will be found in separating these owing to their much clearer impressions and thinner, more surfaced paper. The sage-green reprints, alone, are difficult, often exceedingly so; but the great majority of originals show very heavy blurred impressions on unusually rough paper. The slate-blue stamps were, apparently, never reprinted. Tabulate the oil circulars on laid paper by relative quantity:

In this table, stamps marked “-” have not, as yet, been found, although there are some slight grounds for believing that they may have been printed. The ½a should certainly be admitted in the first three colours, but rejected in sage-green. This denomination in yellow may, we think be admitted on the strength of a single and unquestionably genuinely used copy on part of the original cover in the Masson collection. Considerable numbers of unused impressions are known on two or more distinct varieties of laid paper, with none of which have we been able to identify that of the used specimen with certainty. All of them were, no doubt, primarily made for collectors, but further used examples should be discovered.

Of the 1a, the stamps in black and red should be rejected for the present. This value is so comparatively common, when unused, in slate-blue, as to leave little doubt that most of them were primarily printed for collectors; but as two authentic used copies are known, it should, perhaps, be admitted.

The 4a should be admitted in red and in slate-blue, but rejected in black. Of the sage-green only seven copies are known to us, all unused; it should be treated as “not known used” until an authentic used copy can be found, in which case it should be recognized, since it could not have been made for collectors.

Masson, in his Part II (p 2) analysed the final period more closely than is possible to show clearly in tabular form, and we give the results of his analysis as follows:

(1) The ½a, 1a, and 4a black oil circulars, on both native and European papers, were used rarely from July 1877, side by side with the red rectangulars; from October they were more generally used, and in January 1878, they entirely superseded the oil rectangulars. (Note: the latter month should read February. Masson, in his last paragraph, admits black oil rectangulars about the middle of January, and those in deep slate-blue occurred still later that month. We believe that Masson based this paragraph entirely on the ½a black oil circulars on covers in his collection, and his inclusion of the two higher values in black does not alter our opinion, that both, on whatever paper, should, for the present, be excluded from our lists).

(2) The ½a and 4a red oil rectangulars superseded those in watercolour early in July 1877, and were used until late in January 1878. The variety on European paper was used throughout the same period, but by far most frequently in October 1877.

(3) The ½a, 1a, and 4a red oil circulars also appeared occasionally from July 1877 side by side with the main issue of red oil rectangulars. In March 1878, they superseded the black oil circulars, and became the only stamps used in Jammu until the introduction, in May 1878, of the new rectangulars. The three values on European paper appear to have been used only in April 1878. Masson, with the proviso that he had been able to examine few entires, adopted the two following conclusions:

(4) The bulk of the blue (= slate-blue) oil circulars were used in February, March, and April 1878, but some were used earlier, from August 1877. (Note: Masson originally wrote “Green and Blue,” but subsequently noted that green had been written in error).

(5) “The ½a and 4a black oil rectangulars I have found used only for a few days, about the middle of January 1878, when the black circular stamps were generally used.” (Note: Masson does not here mention the blue, i.e., the steel-blue-black oil rectangular. His oil-black entires, however, included two unrecognised copies of this rarity. The difference between this shade and black is quite distinct and constant, though not very pronounced).

Although we have proposed to delete a number of circulars from our lists, until, at least, information as to adequate use can be obtained, we have already suggested one addition, a watercolour circular in orange. To this must now be added another: An oilcolour on thick brownish wove or “sugar” paper, a ½a dull red, April 1878. This stamp, which was first catalogued by us in 1930 forms an important addition to our lists, being the only record of a wove paper having been used for a circular stamp. The wove paper here employed differs greatly from the wove which had been used, for the first time, some six months previously, for the red oil rectangular, being much coarser in texture and browner in tone.

No unused copy of this rare stamp is known. The few known used copies are nearly all on entires, and the two earliest (both from the Séfi collection) were dated April 16th and 17th, respectively. Masson classified a single entire in his collection, but four more were discovered among his “duplicates.” These bore dates from April 18th to 26th, representing, with the Séfi covers, a period of no more than 10 days. Of these seven covers, four had been despatched to Lun Miani, one to Chamal, and one to Amritsar, the square black-seal being, of course, the obliteration on all the stamps.

► The Dak Zaruri.

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