Whilst trawling through early philatelic journals looking for interesting and informative articles for The Philatelic Database, I came across this very early paper read at the Plymouth Philatelic Society by Mr. A Levy (Hon. Secretary), January 11, 1893.

st-helena-qv-1856

“If any member is curious as to the reasons which have prompted me to select the postage stamps of St. Helena as the subject of my paper, I would inform that member and the society in general that I have a great partiality to the stamps of this lonesome island, an island which some thirty years go was one of the chief ports of call for the ocean traffic between Europe and South Africa and our great dependencies in the Indian Ocean, but which, since the opening of the Suez Canal, has lost its importance, its frequently recurring appearance in items of shipping intelligence, and, what is mostly to be deplored by the inhabitants, its prosperity.

Perhaps my partiality arises from having been on the island; but I think my philatelic fancy may really be attributed to the fact that from the earliest days of its postage stamp era down to the present time the authorities have, with one recent exception, adhered to the line-engraved type of our early British and Colonial stamps. In June, 1887, the editor of the Philatelic Record, and noting the issue of a new value, writes:

‘This happy people has for more than thirty years been content with the solitary die of a single value, which, by merely altering the colour of the impression, and surcharging in black, has been made to do duty for all the requirements from the ½ d. up to the 5s.’

I find among philatelists a general and deserved admiration of the stamps produced by Messrs. Perkins, Bacon, &Co. and here we have one of the few remaining instances of the retention and use at the present day of one of their early designs. From time to time new plates no doubt have been constructed, and the die may have been touched up, but as far as the engraving shows the original die or matrix is still in use. There are few other spots in the world in reference to which the same can be said – they can be reckoned on the fingers of one hand; I can only recall the 3d. and 5d. New South Wales, the St. Vincent, and some of the Turk’s Island. With the recent introduction of the 2 ½ d. letter rate, I should anticipate that a new design for the New South Wales 5d. stamps will soon be forthcoming, and we cannot overlook the growing years of our most gracious sovereign without coming to the conclusion that, ere many years have elapsed, the whole of the monuments in Philately will be included in the ranks of the vast “obsolete.”

I take it to be of importance, that while these stamps are still in issue we should endeavour to increase our knowledge of them, and if possible, to fix some record of the known varieties.

Having thus stated the reasons in favour of my selection of the subject, I take the earliest opportunity of saying that since my intention of writing this paper I have discovered that which should cause me to repent of my choice; or, to be more correct, I should say, my want of discovery of literature, re St. Helena, has been my stumbling –block. My philatelic library is not an extensive one, but it contained some of the more important works that have been published on the pursuit, and when I search among them for information of this spot in the Atlantic, I might with equal success have sought the proverbial needle in the bundle of hay. Unfortunately, I am not possessed of the first two volumes of the Philatelic Record, and have only today heard from Major Evans that an article from his pen on the subject appeared in Volume I of this work; but in the last seven volumes I find St. Helena only mentioned five times, in a cursory manner, among the records of Novelties, &c., and in the other publications I possess I find the same paucity of information. No doubt the subject has been dealt with at greater length, but I am short of the information. Nor have the reference lists of the London Philatelic Society to assist me. I would suggest to any philatelist who may dwell among the sparse population of the island, that he would be rendering his fellow zealots valuable service by collecting such data as he can procure on the spot, and sending it forthwith to a London publisher.

It is in such cases that students turn to their stamps and catalogues, and with the aid of that mine of Philatelic lore, Major Evans’s Catalogue for Collectors, I have been enabled to arrange my varieties, and present to you this evening something which should be analogous to the order in which these stamps have been issued and should be mounted in our albums.

These “varieties” are of a nature, which requires some amount of patience and discernment to successfully bring into that form in which we delight – the uniform set.

I commenced collecting in 1863, and well do I remember the satisfaction felt by collectors at the time in having the St. Helena stamp. Little did we regard the difference between being perf. or imperf. Although I fancy the former was considered the proper and complete stamp, and it is now the rarer variety; but in those days, in strong contradiction to the present surfeited age, new varieties were not only welcomed, but were eagerly sought after, and the news of the fresh arrivals from the distant shore was hailed with delight, and we found our collection of St. Helena trebled by the advent of stamps of the value of 1d. and 4d., produced by printing the existing stamps in a new colour, erasing the value by a single line or bar, and overprinting the new value.

Yes, we are all delighted with the new additions to our collections. Where now, is the collector with a word of praise for the diabolical inventor of that poisoned thorn in Philately-the surcharge-that fungoid growth which, blots our albums, increases the difficulty of collecting tenfold, and the expense a hundredfold? I regard the surcharge as one of the causes of “specialising,” which, while no doubt of the greatest service to Philately, fails to replace the old charm of the all-the-world collection. I mercifully trust the inventor of that “crime” is long since gathered to his fathers, so that he has been spared on earth the daily imprecations, which have been from every corner been hurled at the consequences and development of this act. I must ask you to excuse this digression, but they are thoughts, which arise in contemplating the” delight” with which, some thirty years ago, I pasted my first surcharge stamp in my album, and that was a St. Helena.

According to most authorities St. Helena first appeared on the postage stamp horizon in 1856, with the well-known blue sixpenny stamp: this ante-dates by one year the date assigned to the issue of the very similar stamp for the island of Ceylon, which appears to have been an adaptation of the same design, with the omission of the circle surrounding the head, and the necessary alteration in the background and lettering.

The stamp in question is in shape an upright rectilinear, about 25 ½ mm. In height and 19 ½ mm. In width; a beautifully designed head of the Queen occupies the centre on a dark engine-turned medallion, formed by a white circular line, which nearly extends to the sides of the stamp. The remainder of the body of the stamp is filled with a dotted engraving, including two parallel columns with a diamond-shaped ornamentation, which have the appearance of extending from top to bottom at the back of the medallion. In a curved solid label above, we have the name of the island in white letters, and at the foot, on a short white tablet, the word “POSTAGE” in small coloured capitals, immediately below which we find we find another solid tablet with the value in white letters, bounded on each side with a square block containing a star in circle ornament, which form the bottom angles of the stamp. The name and value on the Ceylon 6d. stamp are in Roman capitals, but in the St. Helena stamp block or sans serif letters are used throughout. Here we have the design of a stamp in continual use for nearly forty years, the execution of which is so beautiful and well carried out that forgeries of it are little known, and those few I have seen are so extremely faulty that the veriest novice could not fail to have his suspicions fully awakened.

The paper upon which they have been printed has not varied to any great extent, and we do not find those extreme differences of substance noticeable in several of our colonial stamps. The first issue appears on the well-known, star-watermarked, white or greyish-wove description, which was supplied by Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co. to many of our possessions across the sea, and which to me seems very similar to the paper used for the earlier stamps of the mother country. The first stamps are more or less tinged with blue, evidently caused by the ink in printing on paper of somewhat porous nature. The star watermark gave way to the Crown and CC, to be followed later by that of the Crown and CA. The first stamps with the CC watermark are on harder and smoother paper, but later on the earlier description seem to be reverted to.

Major Evans informs us that the 6d. stamp of 1856 was perforated in 1862, and that various gauges were used, viz., 12, 14, and 15, and compound; those I have met with have been invariably perforated with 14 or 12 ½. Of the later issues we have three distinct perforations 12 ½, 14, and 12 ½ x 14, i.e., at the sides and 14 at the top and bottom.

In 1863 we have an issue of two values, 1d. and 4d., and these are recorded in an imperforate state; this may be accounted for by their having been shipped to the colony some year or two previous to their date of issue, which may not have been required until the sixpenny value had been been perforated. I have not seen postmarked copies of these stamps, those I have come across being either used unused or penstroked, and these latter may have been used fiscally, or are barred remainders; upon these points it would be of interest to obtain official information.* I now come to a description of the surcharges, which transforms my hitherto simple task into a somewhat complex and difficult nature.

The non-philatelist, as also the schoolboy collector, would no doubt agree, in accepting my previous version that the stamps were changed in colour, the value erased and a new one overprinted, as all-sufficient, and perhaps it would be well if we could all be content with this description; other collectors are satisfied in dividing the various issues into two classes – the long and short barred stamps. But the inexorable demands for minute particularisation in philately leads to the discovery that other changes were affected at various times in various ways; that not only different types and settings been employed, but that the line used for the purpose of erasing the old value has been of at least three distinct measurements. Trifling as this last difference may appear, and notwithstanding the complex nature of the varieties caused by differences of perforation, watermark, surcharge, and shade of colour, yet the whole of these distinctions enable the collector to classify these stamps and bring them into something like order, and as they are not high-priced at present, he can with no great outlay fairly complete the various sets.

The surcharges have been invariably in black, and first appeared on Crown and CC watermarked paper, being as I previously stated the 1d. and 4d. values; the stamp were printed in a deep red for the 1d., and in a bright tint of carmine for the 4d. For these stamps two distinct shades and varieties of surcharge are found in the value of 1d.; short block capitals were used, and the difference in the surcharge is in the spacing of the type and the length of the erasing line, which in the one is about 16 mm. As against 18 ½ in the other, the lettering occupying 17 and 18 ½ in the other, the lettering occupying 17 and 18 ½ mm. respectively.

I only know of one type of the 4d. (imperf.), the lettering differs from that of the 1d. by being taller and slightly thinner, it is close set and occupies barely 17 mm. In width, and the line is somewhat shorter, measuring only 16 mm.

This stamp is known without surcharge, and has been catalogued as an error; but without authentic information that some few accidentally escaped surcharge, I should be inclined to believe that they are specimens, which have been obtained from proof sheets. A copy of this stamp was on view at the exhibition of the London Philatelic Society, and attracted a deal of attention, as they are undoubtedly scarce.

* Since reading this paper I have seen in a friends collection the four penny imperforate obliterated with a mass of pin point dots enclosed in a circle, and I have obtained from a very old collection of the one penny imperforate obliterated with the postmark of St. Helena, and date (indistinct) in oval single-lined frame. I do not remember seeing either of these obliterations on other St. Helena stamps.”