Fiji: The KGV 1922-1929 Script Watermark Issue

The “British Commonwealth Catalogue” published by Stanley Gibbons Ltd is a marvellous general reference work covering a vast field. My two volumes are always at hand, and show all the signs of perpetual use. However, this tremendous resource does have its shortcomings.

Of these the most glaring, and irritating, is a lack of consistency between the listings for different Colonies. This can appear as the same shade being given different names, or the same name being assigned to two different shades. (Compare Australia’s KGV 1d sage-green with that of the 1860 Imperf 6d of Western Australia: they are chalk and cheese.)

More importantly, there is a marked lack of even-handedness in the treatment of some territories, or of specific definitive issues, when compared with others. At one end of the spectrum you have Bermuda’s Keyplates, with all of their myriad printings and plate varieties listed ad nauseum. At the other extreme is the 1922-29 issue of Fiji.

The purpose of this modest study is to address this imbalance.

Fiji’s Script Watermark issue comprises 13 values, plus one major colour change: the 1d went from red to violet in 1927. There is also one listed shade, SG 235a the 4d on “pale yellow”, as distinct from “yellow”. Thus the entire listing for this issue (excepting the “Missing Value” on the 2d, and two watermark varieties) comprises a total of 15 line entries.

Compare this with the previous Multiple Crown CA issue of 1912-23. Leaving aside the Die II stamps – which I contend should revert to their one-time status as a separate issue with whole catalogue numbers – there are again 14 separate stamps, plus no less than an additional 11 shades listed by Gibbons.

On the face of it, one would say that the MCA issue is far more complex, and interesting, than the Script series. However, this conclusion needs to be closely examined.

I have indeed been fortunate to have had the opportunity to closely examine the extensive collection of Fiji formed by the late Colonel Harrie Evans. Colonel Evans, who died in 1971, was a collector of the old school, who liked to place numerous examples of a stamp on his gold-edged pages.

In examining the Evans studies of everything from the ‘Fiji Times Express’ issues to the modern period it is apparent that many items worthy of catalogue status – perforation varieties, major shade variants, prominent flaws – are unlisted in Gibbons. However, such instances are relatively minor in the overall scheme of things. But not so with the KGV Script issue, which may well be one of the worst recorded definitive sets in the entire catalogue.

As will be seen from the information below, I contend that the Gibbons listing should be expanded to include over 40 separate shades!

At this juncture I would offer a couple of qualifiers regarding this study. Firstly, I do not profess to be an expert with regard to the stamps of Fiji. Secondly, no attempt has been made to go beyond the Evans collection to double-check the identification of shades.

What I present here then is an amateur’s analysis of some hundreds of stamps in a single collection. With only four exceptions, the listed shades are described based on mint examples in fine condition. Stamps that showed the effects of aging, or that were significantly toned or tropicalised were excluded from the study. The four exceptions, one in each of the 4d and 2/- printings, and two fivepennies, are so obviously different from their mates that it was felt they had to be included notwithstanding the fact that they are used examples.

As a professional philatelist, I am mindful that descriptions of shades can be frustratingly imprecise and misleading. I am also wary of using evocative names for shades such as “duck-egg blue” (what breed of duck might that be?), or “Indian red” (is that akin to a red Indian, or to a resident of India?) Rather I have sought to describe depths of hue by the use of qualifiers such as “dark”, “pale” etc, and variations in shade by employing double-barrelled references such as “blue-green” or “grey-black”.

As these hyphenated shades are often misinterpreted, especially by the novice, I would offer this by way of explanation. Let us say that the basic colour of a stamp is taken as orange. There are two shades, one described as “yellow-orange”, the other as “orange-yellow”. The first is more orange than yellow, the prefix “yellow” being the qualifier. The other variant heads towards the other direction, being a shade of yellow with a distinct hint of orange.

By using this simple approach it is possible to describe most shades satisfactorily. Having said that, in order to properly distinguish between two shades it is sometimes necessary to elaborate on the names given to them.

In common with the MCA series that preceded it, Fiji’s Script issue is complicated by three factors.

The first is the use in four of the values of different colours for the upper and lower tablets (the duty plate) and the frames (the key plate). Two stamps may appear identical by reference to the dominant feature, the frame, but may be separated by reference to the colour of ‘FIJI’ and the value. In the introductory notes to the catalogue Gibbons states that “Stamps in two or three colours have these named in order of appearance, from the centre moving outwards.” While one may take issue with the accuracy or correctness of this statement, it is consistent with the Fiji listings. So, for the bi-colour stamps, the frame or key plate colour is given first, followed by the colour of the duty plate.

The second complication is the use of coloured papers for some values. Thus the same ink shade may appear on two different shades of paper. In keeping with the Gibbons convention, descriptions are given thus: “5/- green & red/yellow”, the forward slash representing the word “on”.

The third factor is that the coloured papers were sometimes different on the front and the back. So two stamps that to all intents and purposes appear identical can be separated by attention to their flip-side.

While some of the shade variations in this listing are dramatic, others are comparatively subtle. However, I have striven to include only those variants that I am confident will be detected with relative ease by the average collector when confronted by an array of these stamps. The ardent shade junky may identify a series of gradations in any given shade. However, the hope behind this study is to persuade the Gibbons catalogue editor to expand the existing listing. To delineate shades to any greater extent would take this study beyond the realm of a general catalogue and would subvert the author’s purpose.

For the same reason, I have not subjected the stamps in this study to analysis under ultra-violet light. While such examination would doubtless produce even more varieties, detailed scientific assessment belongs in a specialist journal, and not in a general stamp catalogue. Thus, the shades are as seen by the naked eye under good lighting conditions.

Here then is my proposed listing for the KGV Script Watermark issue of Fiji. Note that this is a completely new listing and so the existing Gibbons colour references have been completely ignored. Also, no attempt has been made to place the shades in the chronological order of their appearance. Rather, they are listed by reference to gradations of colour:

1922-29 Die II Wmk Mult Script CA

¼d brown
¼d deep brown

½d deep green
½d green
½d blue-green

1d red
1d deep rose-red
1d carmine

1d bright mauve
1d dull mauve
1d dull violet
1d violet
1d bright violet

1½d red
1½d deep rose-red

2d silver-grey
2d pale grey
2d grey
2d deep grey
2d grey-black

3d dull ultramarine
3d ultramarine
3d bright ultramarine
3d bright blue

4d black & red/yellow (lemon back)
4d black & red/yellow
4d black & red/pale buff
4d intense black & red/buff
4d intense black & red/pale yellow (*)

5d dull purple & yellow-green
5d bright purple & olive-green
5d bright purple & bright yellow-green (*)
5d deep purple & yellow-green (*)

6d dull purple & dull violet
6d pale purple & bright violet
6d bright purple & bright violet

1/- grey-black/green
1/- grey-black/green (emerald back)
1/- black/green
1/- black/blue-green (green back)
1/- black/pale green (olive back)
1/- intense black/yellow-green (olive back)

2/- purple-black & bright blue/blue
2/- deep purple & bright blue/blue
2/- dull purple & bright blue/grey-blue
2/- dirty purple & bright blue/greenish blue
2/- bright purple & ultramarine/greenish blue (*)

2/6d black & red/blue
2/6d black & red/grey-blue
2/6d grey-black & red/bluish (grey-blue back)

5/- light green & red/yellow
5/- light green & red/yellow-buff

The four shades followed by an asterix are the used stamps referred to above. In each case, the richness of the colours is such that I am confident they have not been affected by soaking and are quite different from any of the other shades.

The 2/- “dirty” purple will appear a strange moniker, except to those who have observed this shade, in which all the ornamental parts of the design and the side tablets have a pronounced yellowish tinge.

There is sure to be debate about which of these suggested entries should be included in the Gibbons catalogue, and which are merely shades of a shade. But what should be beyond debate is that the catalogue listing needs to be dramatically expanded.

At the same time, one might hope that the opportunity would be taken to re-vamp the entire Fiji listing, most importantly to do away with the gap of 90 (yes, ninety!) numbers between the ‘WAR TAX’ Overprints and the Script series.

Another major improvement would be to abandon “Perf nearly 12” (used nowhere else in the catalogue) in favour of Perf 11¾.