Kashmir Old Rectangulars
The Stamps of Jammu-Kashmir by Alexander Séfi and C.H. Mortimer, pp 90-108.
The issues exclusive to the Kashmir Province, embracing a period of twelve years (1866-1878), are singularly free from such complications as attached to those of Jammu. Throughout this considerable period, Kashmir retained its original practice of printing in watercolour on native paper without any exception whatever. Unlike Jammu, however, this Province produced a number of proof and allied impressions, for which a varied assortment of papers and pigments were employed. The fact is not surprising when we contrast the single little plate of four subjects which was all that Jammu received, with the much more extensive supply to Kashmir of dies and plates listed here:
• ½a single die of 1866.
• The ½a + 1a composite plate of 1867. A plate of twenty-five separately engraved types in five rows of five, the first four rows containing twenty types of the ½a, and the bottom row five types of the 1a. [Copyist’s note: Covers bearing the plate ½a black have been found that date from October and November of 1866.]
• The ¼a + 2a composite plate of 1867. A plate of ten separately engraved types in two rows of five, the upper row containing five types of the ¼a, and the lower, five types of the 2a.
• The 4a single die of 1867.
• The 8a single die of 1867.
The issued stamps. The description, previously given, of the design of the old rectangular stamps of Jammu applies equally to those of Kashmir, with one main exception, that all the latter show a complete outer frame-line round each stamp. The ovals, also, are narrower than those on the Jammu plate except in the case of the first ½a, printed from a single die. The 4a and 8a, also single dies, give, as in the case of the Jammu 1a, the date in Dogri only, the Persian date being omitted. These three dies, together with two composite plates, produced all the Kashmir stamps for the twelve years 1866-78.
All four denominations from the plates were printed in distinctive colours. These colours, consequently, were applied to a portion of each plate only for any one printing except in the case of early printings from the first composite plate. The first of these was from the entire plate in black and, shortly afterwards, when blue had been selected as a distinctive colour for the ½a, two printings were made in this colour (but, through inadvertance, also from the entire plate, thus creating that rare error of colour, the 1a blue).
Largely owing to the fact that all the Kashmir issues were printed in watercolours and on native paper only, the entire group is singularly free from complications, and but little is needed by way of catalogue revision. The only alterations of any importance that we propose to make, lie in the removal of certain shades of colour; and in the addition of a rare printing of the 4a, together with tête-bêche varieties (one not hitherto recorded) of the two highest denominations. We should also have denied the existence of a 4a in red, but this has already been dropped by recently-published catalogues. It will be sufficient to remark that neither Masson nor Evans knew it, and that it has not been discovered in any of the celebrated collections. [In authors’ footnote: There was a copy of the 4a red (error? used) in the Hind sale (ex Ferrari). It is now in the collection of Mr L.E. Dawson.]
Masson described the native paper as “thickish to thick” but the excessive, almost pelure thinness of some of the native paper is a marked characteristic of these issues; and there is a further scarce variety of which the paper is soft, coarse and “woolly” in texture, and showing few or none of the so-called laid lines. Some care is needed to avoid mistaking it for a paper of European origin. We now proceed to the issues in the order of their denominations.
The First Issue. October 1866 single-die ½a black watercolour on native paper. Masson fixed the commencement of this issue from a cover dated 3rd October, but catalogues have followed Evans, who tentatively suggested September. We have found no authentic record of any used in this month, and Masson’s record should stand. The stamp is rare in any condition, and excessively so unused. We have only once seen an unsevered pair of these stamps, this being in the Beckton collection. This die alone was, for some unexplained reason, the only one among all the Jammu-Kashmir dies and plates that was not produced in 1898 for official defacement, and a reprint might therefore still be a possibility. As, however, it is the only Kashmir impression which was not reprinted, the probabilities are that the die had been destroyed at some previous period.
The outer frames of the spandrels of this die are unmarked by a series of dots and, in this respect, impressions differ essentially from those of any other old rectangulars, whether of Kashmir or of Jammu. No exact date has yet been suggested for the termination of this issue, and the commencement of the next. The latest date which we can trace is 22nd April 1867. The life of the issue may, therefore, be put at about six months. The obliteration on used stamps should either be the brick-red seal of Srinagar or pen-cancellation.
The Second Issue. 1867 April 1. First composite ½a + 1a plate black watercolour on native paper. [Editor’s note: That date has been considerably antedated to 08 October 1866, with other sightings in November 1866 and January 1867.] Printings from this plate in blue are known as early as 22nd June 1867, giving barely 3 months, at most, for the black issue [corrected now to 7 months, ed.] The only dates for the latter, which we have seen, occur in April and May. These black stamps are, therefore, of considerable rarity, but when used, the ½a is less so than its die-produced predecessor. Both values are really rare unused, and out of more than a hundred specimens examined by us, we have found only a single 1a and some seven or eight ½a in unused condition. A suggestion made by Evans that this had been some special issue for local use at Srinagar is not supported by any evidence obtainable from the stamps themselves.
The obliteration should be the brick-red seal. Collectors should note that, at about this period and for some years following, a very brilliant magenta gum was being used by natives for affixing stamps. This gum, when appearing on the face of a stamp, may very easily be mistaken for a blurred impression of the magenta seal of the Jammu Province, and so lead to serious errors in classification.
The Blue Printings. From June 1867 until the new reactangulars of 1878, the ½a portion of this plate was always printed from in shades of blue. During the whole of this period, with the exception about to be noted, the 1a portion was separately printed from in shades of red or orange. But during the course of the earliest blue printings, the entire plate was printed from, to a very small extent, thereby creating a stamp of great rarity, the 1a ultramarine. The ½a stamps of this printing (or printings) would, of course, be relatively rare, but, having subsequently been produced in the same colour, these cannot be distinguished with any degree of certainty.
It has been suggested that the printing in blue from the entire plate was accidental, and that the 1a blue should be classified as an error of colour. Direct evidence on this point is limited to that of two covers. Both of these give the year 1867, and one an exact date, 26 June. The stamps on both of these covers are in a very pale shade of ultramarine. The stamp, however, has been found in a much deeper shade. No date is known for this, but the clearness of the impression is conclusive as to a very early, though different, printing. The “error” must, therefore, have been repeated, a circumstance that would appear distinctly improbable. Yet we consider that the error theory is probably correct, and that it occurred in the first two printings, quite possibly on successive days, before the printer realised that his normal practice with black had now to be altered. We therefore classify the following:
The Third Issue, 1867-78, includes the ½a ultramarines, violet-blue, and bright blue, including the June 1867 possible error of the 1a in pale ultramarine and deep ultramarine. The violet-blue: This catalogue-shade is appreciable though not particularly important; but as it belongs to a well-defined early-intermediate period (1870-71) we retain it here. The bright blue of 1876. This shade is new to our lists and, though not always easy to determine, is of much greater interest than the violet-blue. It appeared in a printing of 1876, and the colour seems to be the same as that supplied to Jammu for the special printings of that year, made from the Jammu plate. Some of these Kashmir stamps seem to have been actually issued to Jammu, and were, not infrequently, used in that Province. Unused stamps can usually be determined by matching the colour with the clue of the Jammu stamps. They are, perhaps, more easily recognised by a somewhat spotted appearance caused by thickly applied colour; in this repect the impressions differ widely from the clearly defined ones of the early printings, and also from those of later date in which the colour seems to have been applied in too liquid a condition. Any of these 1876 stamps actually used in Jammu, can be detected at once, by showing the square black Jammu seal in place of the circular red one of Kashmir. It would be interesting to ascertain whether these bright blue stamps were accidentally issued to Jammu, or whether they were sent as an official attempt to relieve that Province from the necessity of printing from the circular dies.
It may also be noted that letters franked into Jammu by Kashmir blue stamps of 1867, not uncommonly show the circular magenta seal of Jammu impressed, not on the stamp but on some portion of the cover. The practice appears to have been confined to this particular year. Where such stamps were actually used from Jammu, the magenta seal was, of course, applied to the stamp itself.
Plate 15 [not reproduced here] illustrates a curiosity in native printing methods. This block of five ½a blue stamps is from the upper right corner of the sheet showing positions 4 and 5 of the first row, and positions 8, 9, 10 from the second row. There is no printing beneath these from the third row of the plate. This taking of impressions from the two upper rows only was probably caused by a desire to avoid wasting some small scrap of surplus paper.
The commonest obliteration of all Kashmir stamps is that of the circular seal of the Native post office at Srinagar in brick-red up to 1878, and during that year, in black; while pen-cancellation only was adopted by subordinate Native offices. This should be born in mind when considering all following issues.
The 1a “reds”. From July 1867 onwards, no further printings from the entire plate were made, and the bottom (1a) row was separately printed from in various shades of red. These shades, as given in present catalogues, are inaccurate. A brief list, omitting minor varieties of shade, should read: (a) 1867-70 chestnut, (b) 1867-68 Venetian red, (c) 1871-75 orange, and (d) 1876-78 orange-vermilion. This entails discarding two of the shades in present catalogues, yellow and brown-orange. Of these yellow was reserved exclusively for the 2a, as Masson pointed out (Part I, p 20). Such a shade as brown-orange, though not far removed from chestnut, was probably assigned from a more or less sulphurated specimen of the latter. Both the orange and orange-vermilion were, as so often occurred with Kashmir vermilions, particularly liable to blackening owing to sulphuration. Masson was well aware of this, but had certainly not made the necessary allowance when describing the shade of some of his stamps as dark brown. Several of Masson’s “dark browns” proved, on being submitted to the peroxide test, to be all orange-vermilion stamps. The watercolour vermilion used for Jammu is per contra, very rarely found discoloured and the pigment must have been an essentially different one.
During 1867 and 1868, clearly-defined impressions were obtained from the plate. These are confined to the chestnut and Venetian-red shades; they are not common, even used, and in unused condition, rare. Stamps in the later orange and orange-vermilion always appear more or less blurred, and even unused strips showing the five types are still obtainable. This blurring was mainly caused by printing from an insufficiently cleaned plate, and not by plate-wear, for very clear impressions were obtained during reprinting in 1890.
Provisional. The 1a orange-vermilion was bisected horizontally and each half used as a ½a stamp. The only example known to us was used in March 1877 [now known to be March 1878, ed.] and had originally been in the collection formed by the writer of our Foreword, Sir Charles Stewart-Wilson. Masson recorded this stamp (Part I, p 43) and, with it the ½a “cut vertically and used as a ¼a stamp.” The latter is unknown to us, and Masson gives no clue as to its period. All such bisections are very rare; but the practice seems to have had official sanction, in case of shortages of the lower denominations, until the “Leh Provisional” of 1883, after which it was definitely prohibited.
The Second Composite Plate, 1867. This plate was probably brought into use slightly later than the first. The printings in watercolour on native paper were the ¼a black, 2a buff, and 2a yellow (1873). [Copyist’s note: Actually the two plates are separated by as much as nine months, October 1866 to perhaps July 1867.]
The ¼a. This denomination, new to Kashmir, was required in consequence of a concession to visitors, temporarily resident in the Province, of half the normal rate for all letters posted at the British post offices, provided that they were for delivery beyond Kashmir territory, and that the full Imperial rate for such further transmission had been prepaid by stamps of British India. The shades of these stamps vary from the palest grey, through brownish-black to the most intense black, but these variations were merely caused by differences in the consistency of the pigment. We have not yet seen this denomination used in 1878, but it must have remained in use up to, and even slightly after the introduction of the new rectangulars, for it was not until January 1879 that it was chronicled by Le Timbre-poste as having just been withdrawn. This stamp is known doubly-printed. The great rarity of such occurrences in connection with circular and old rectangular stamps, during a 12-year period, indicates a high degree of carefulness in native-printing routine.
The 2a. This denomination, also new to Kashmir, seems to have been in very small demand, and is today probably slightly the more common when unused. We have been unable to trace any such shade as the “deep orange” of present catalogues, and therefore omit it. Of the remaining two catalogued shades, buff should precede yellow, instead of following it. The first printings, used in 1868, were in buff and this colour is known used in all subsequent years up to 1871 inclusive. We have never seen any dated cover of 1872, and the first authentic yellow record appears to be 1873. Masson noted (Part I, p 20) that the yellow pigment sometimes shows specks of mica in its composition.
The Die-Printed Stamps, 1867. Watercolours on native paper. 4a in emerald-green, myrtle-green, sage-green; 8a in reds (pale to deep shades). Tête-bêche varieties exist for the 4a emerald-green and the 8a deep red. These stamps were issued at about the same time as those from the second composite plate.
Evans noted Philatelic Journal of India Vol VII, p 56) that Le Timbre-poste of January 1879, while announcing the withdrawal of the 8a (together with the ¼a) had stated that the 4a was still to remain in issue. The lateness of the date, eight months at least after the commencement of the new rectangulars, is remarkable. Such stamps would show the Srinagar circular seal in black, but as this was employed from November 1877 until August 1879, such obliteration would not afford proof of the correctness of the above statement.
What appears, perhaps, still more curious, is that although the old Kashmir 8a was the first of the two high values to become obsolete, no printing is known from the 8a portion of the new rectangular plate (which superseded it) on the first (laid) paper of the latter stamps, yet such a printing was made of the new rectangular 4a in spite of the Kashmir die of this denomination having continued, according to Le Timbre-poste, to do duty after the 8a became obsolete.
The 4a sage-green. This very distinct shade is much under-valued, and stamps of this printing, when genuinely used, are really rare. Masson could only show two used examples and none appeared in the collections of Séfi, Earl, or Beckton; there is also no used copy in the Tapling collection at the British Museum. These impressions are much more distinct than those in other shades, and are probably the earliest from the die. [Or perhaps not; it is in contention for that honor with the myrtle, known in October 1867, ed.] Both of the Masson copies were on dated entires, showing the native years 1284 and 1285, equivalent to AD 1867 and 1868. The month of the former is illegible, and even this year might have to be read as 1868. We have, at any rate, no certain grounds for affirming an issue in 1867. It must have been quickly withdrawn, possibly owing to the preference of the Kashmiri for something more brilliant.
The 4a myrtle-green. This colour is an addition to our lists, and is as distinctive as it is rare. No unused copy is known, and only two used ones. [Copyist’s note: A half-dozen unused copies are indeed known, and used copies probably exceed 15.] The latter, one from the Masson and the other from the Séfi collection, are both on undated entires in each case accompanied by a ½a blue stamp. [Copyist’s note: One of those covers is now dated upon its pick-up at Amritsar, 30 October 1867.] The impressions are clear (in spite of the heavy nature of the pigment) and we insert them here in time, partly for that reason, and partly from the possibility that they may represent an attempt to improve on the sage-green, before the following colour was finally selected.
The 4a emerald-green. This is the normal colour of the 4a, and was used from 1868 to 1878, and even early in 1879, if the previously quoted record of Le Timbre-poste be correct. A slightly olive tint of this colour is known used in 1874 but, otherwise, the shade shows little variation. Evans suggested that late printings might be separated from the early ones, by the thin and liquid consistency of the the applied colour, but this is not the case. Very thinly applied colour can be found as early as 1873, and very thick colour in several years following. The catalogued tête-bêche variety is only known with these emerald-green printings.
The 8a reds. The shades of red vary considerably from rose, through deep rose and dull vermilion to a brilliant scarlet-vermilion, none of which appears to possess any chronological significance. Used blocks and strips of this high value are, curiously enough, comparatively common, and almost invariably bear the obliterations of the British post office at Srinagar. The tête-bêche variety is now recorded for the first time. A block in the Tapling collection shows the right stamps in the second and third rows tête-bêche, turned to the left. The Séfi collection also contained a block of six with one stamp tête-bêche, this piece being in used condition. Such varieties, when occurring during the process of handstamping, are of no very great philatelic importance.
Of the essays and proofs relating to these, some antedated, or were contemporary with the original issue, and these are, of course, of primary importance. Other impressions, all of which are scarce, and some of great rarity, were, for some reason, taken while the issueds were current; but no suspicion attaches to this group of having been produced for other than legitimate reasons.
Essays and Proofs
Die essay. 1866? An unfinished essay from the engraver’s book. The impression, which is probably unique, is very blurred and unsuitable for illustration. [Copyist’s note: The unsuitable beauty is shown here, Collection Hellrigl.] The piece is almost certainly an essay for the first ½a single-die rectangular. The inner oval shows the engraved date 1923, which appears on all the old rectangulars. The lower part of the outer oval shows traces of the commencement of an inscription which is illegible, and a leaf-shaped ornament, which does not occur in the issued stamps, in each spandrel. This essay is printed in greyish-black watercolour on a coarse, diagonally laid European paper.
Proof Item 1: 1867 plate-proof from the first composite plate in black watercolour on native paper. A further unique and contemporary proof exists from the engraver’s book. These would be inseparable from the issued stamps, which were also printed in black. The sheet is here classified as a proof simply from having been pasted down on a second sheet of native paper, which had been the engraver’s practice with other impressions known to have been contemporary proofs; otherwise it may have been one taken from those of the stamps themselves, and filed for future reference. In the latter event the status of the impression would correspond with that of the imprimatur sheets of the early stamps of Great Britain. This proof has, unfortunately, proved unsuitable for illustration.
Proof Item 2: 1867 plate-proof from the second composite plate in black watercolour on native paper. Also unique and from the engraver’s book. These impressions, unlike the preceding, are not of an imprimatur nature since no 2a stamps were ever produced in black.
Proof Item 3: 1867 die-proof of the 8a in greyish-black watercolour on native paper. This proof, also unique from the engraver’s book, was certainly contemporary with, and antedating the stamp. The condition of the specimen is so poor that some details of the engraving can scarcely be followed. Masson classified it, in his collection, as an “essay.” But he not infrequently used this term when “proof” would have been more correct. We have been unable to detect any difference in design which could take this out of the proof class, and must conclude that it was printed from the die of issue. Masson noted the date of this proof as 1876, but this must surely have been a slip for 1867. The general appearance of this proof so closely resembles that of the 1866 ½a essay that it is quite impossible to imagine the two having been produced with so great a period as ten years intervening. It is practically certain that it was not until 1867 that the 4a and 8a die-struck stamps were first issued, although some of the lower denominations had appeared in 1866.
Proof Group 4, 1867? black watercolour on rose-tinted pelure paper for ¼a, 2a [?], 4a, and 8a. These proofs are of the greatest rarity, and the only examples known to us are single specimens from the dies of the 4a and 8a, now in the Tapling collection at the British Museum. Evans, who does not mention the nature of the pigment (which is certainly watercolour) added that he believed that, though Moëns had not included it in his catalogue, an example of the 2a was then in the collection of Mr Gilbert Harrison.
Although we have no reasons or desire to call in question the accuracy of Moëns’ 1877 record, it may appear a little strange that only those proofs from the single dies should, apparently, be known to exist at the present day, while none from either plate, one of which was doubtful at the time of the original record, are now known. The fact is certainly the reverse of what would have been expected, since plate impressions would have been likely to have produced a larger number of proofs than were taken from the single dies. Assuming Moëns’ record to be correct as to the date of these impressions, they must be treated as contemporary proofs, and the last of those known to have been so.
The proofs that follow were all taken, at various periods, while the stamps were in issue. They are numerous and, although descriptions of them may seem somewhat monotonous, they furnish (as will appear later) points of considerable philatelic importance arising from the fact that they were experiments connected with the new printing methods contemplated, at this period, for the issue from the new rectangular plates.
Proof Group 5. The earliest of these were first chronicled in Le Timbre-poste of April 1877 by Moëns. 1876 watercolours on white European paper with broad laid lines are: ½a in milky blue, 1a in yellowish brick-red, 4a in sea-green, and 8a in brick-red.
Moëns, in a catalogue of 1883, made three further additions to this list, but these being in oilcolour belong to quite a different category and will be noticed later. Fifteen years after Moëns chronicled the series of 1876, his 1892 catalogue made the further watercolour addition of an 1877 2a yellow on thinner laid paper. Moëns not only gave the date of the 2a as 1874, but altered that of the first group from 1876 back to 1869. Notwithstanding Evans’ belief that 1869 might possibly be correct (except for the 2a) it appears to us to be unthinkable, and all available evidence tends to prove that 1876, as originally given by Moëns, is correct. No European papers were ever traceable to Jammu or to Kashmir in 1869, nor until 1876, the very year in question. It was in 1876-77 that, as we have attempted to show, the Jammu plate was tested with various European papers (subsequently issued as stamps); and we believe that the proofs under consideration represent similar trials made in watercolours at Srinagar for a suitable new rectangular paper. These impressions were never issued as stamps, nor, indeed had Kashmir any need to issue them. The 2a is on a much thinner paper than that of the other denominations, and the laid lines are known either horizontal or vertical.
The 2a yellow watercolour on pelure wove paper, possibly form 1877. The only example known to us is in the Tapling collection. The paper is, apparently, a true wove, and very much thinner than the thin laid paper of this denomination described above. These proofs of 1876-77, though rare, are much less so than those of 1866. Evans considered (Philatelic Journal of India, Vol VII, p 14-15) that only a very small number had been obtained through some official source, from which they had passed, first into the possession of Pemberton and, from him, to that celebrated philatelist, Judge Philbrick who, in turn, had sent them to Moëns.
Evans also mentioned having seen specimens of the 4a and 8a on a strip of paper (from which two other impressions had been removed) inscribed 6p[ies], 1a, 4a, 8a, and beneath, “These were had from Cashmere by Sir Daniel Cooper in 1869.” The piece, which passed to the Dorning Beckton collection, may have been the cause of Moëns’ alteration of date, for it shows that Evans slightly misquoted and that the word “in” does not appear before 1869, which is added separately. The date given might, therefore, have been intended to refer merely to the period of the stamps and not as an assertion that Sir Daniel Cooper had received the impressions in that particular year.
The colours given by Moëns accurately describe those employed. The term “sea-green” (vert d'eau) is rarely found in colour-charts and may be paraphrased as an exceedingly pale tint of emerald green. The term chestnut would correctly desribe the “yellowish brick-red” of the 1a.
In the same issue of the Philatelic Journal of India (Vol VII, p 18), Evans chronicled two further groups of proofs, again on the authority of Moëns’ catalogue of 1877. The first of these should read:
Proof Group 6, 1877? watercolours on thin wove paper
The Beckton collection contained an 8a in the brick-red shade, which is very possibly a specimen originally discovered in 1902 among a quantity of the oil reprints by Mr C.J. Phillips, and passed by him into the Hancock collection from which Mr Beckton acquired it.
When recording this group, Evans approaced what we have always believed the truth of the matter, by stating: “Either we are wrong in supposing that there was no reprinting in watercolour, or else this paper must have been used, perhaps experimentally, before the watercolour period came to an end.”
It is now well established that reprints were made, exclusively in oilcolour, both of circulars and of Kashmir old rectangulars, and it is equally certain that such reprints were produced in enormous quantities. The fact of the excessive rarity of these watercolours in thin laids and woves, coupled with what we have advanced in favour of the great probabilities of legitimate experimental printings will, we thing, be sufficient to decide a proof status for all that are not known to have been put into actual issue, as had been done by Jammu. The second group included by Evans with the preceding consists of a single variety only:
Proof Item 7. A 1a chestnut watercolour on thin European wove bâtonné paper. This 1867? was also dated [tentatively] with the inadmissible 1874 and for which Evans described the paper as white and the colour as orange, probably translating Moëns, since he himself apparently never saw an example. We have only seen a single specimen of this rare proof. The paper is thin, slightly greyish and meshed, and shows three very distinct horizontal bâtonné lines at intervals of 7 mm. The colour chestnut can be exactly duplicated by that of issued stamps known to have been used in 1867! Moreover, the impressions of both are fine and clear, such as are never found in stamps used after 1868. We should hesitate before expressing a decided opinion based on the examination of a single specimen only, but the general characteristics of the proof and the stamps of 1867 are strikingly similar, and we think that the former should be referred to a very different period from that of 1877. Its extreme rarity would easily account for the length of time between its production and its identification in Europe; and, moreover, no such paper as a wove bâtonné has ever been discovered among those treated experimentally for the issue of 1878. This concludes the list of Kashmir proofs in watercolour, and there still remains a small and very debatable group printed in oils.
Proof Group 8, 1878? oilcolours on ordinary white laid paper in ¼a black, 4a yellow-green, and 8a vermilion-red. Bacon dated these impressions as “about 1876,” probably owing to the similarity of paper with that of the 1877 oil impressions of Jammu. He also classified them as reprints, a term which, in view of the date, is, as previously noted, inadmissible. Evans gave the date tentatively as 1878?, a far more probable one in our opinion. He added that these impressions were first seen in Europe in January 1879. The ¼a exists on both thick and thin white laid, and also on toned laid.
Now Kashmir reprints, strictly so-called from having been produced after the stamps became obsolete in 1878, are also in oilcolours (or printers’ ink), but only on native or on thin wove paper, and the earliest of these appeared in 1881.
We have already suggested, in the case of the watercolour impressions of 1877 on thin wove, that these represented trials for a suitable new rectangular paper, a paper shortly afterwards adopted and issued. If this had, in fact, occurred, it would appear reasonable to infer that the impressions under consideration may well have been taken at Srinagar, in order to find a more suitable and stable pigment for the new rectangulars than the watercolour which had been in use for Kashmir stamps ever since 1866. All the impressions are scarce, and we are quite unable to credit that they could have been produced, as were the common reprints, for sale to collectors. If this is conceded, they can only have been produced for some legitimate reason, such as the one we suggest. The 4a and 8a appear to be printed in thin oilcolour, but the ¼a impressions are, in our opinion, not printed in this, but in ordinary printers’ ink, as subsequently adopted for the new rectangular stamps.
An 1878? ¼a black oilcolour on coarse toned wove paper is an addition to our lists, and we have seen two examples. It is, therefore, rare and, nok doubt, formed part of the trials represented by the preceding. The colour appears, again, to be black ink, and not a true oilcolour.
Conclusions. In concluding our notes on these old rectangular impressions, we may, perhaps, emphasise the points which we have advanced when raising the status of all such impressions, hitherto listed as reprints.
(1) These, whether prepared at Jammu or Srinagar, are not reprints, since they were produced before the stamps became obsolete.
(2) The comparative rarity of all of them is strongly presumptive of a legitimate origin, whereas all the true reprints are common, as would be expected in the case of impressions made for sale to collectors.
(3) They were all produced very shortly before the issue of the new rectangulars, when trials might be expected to have been made, with a view to obtaining more suitable paper than the admittedly unsatisfactory thick native variety, and a more suitable type of pigment than either watercolour or the very unsatisfactory term “oil.”
(4) Much of this trial paper and ordinary ink is found to have been permanently adopted for the first of the new rectangulars, immediately after the trials had been completed, and both were subsequently retained.
(5) The Jammu trials having been actually issued became, ipso facto postage stamps. The Srinagar trials were never issued and, therefore, retain a proof status.