1880 - 13/6d Beer Duties - Colour Trials or "Fantasies"

[Ross Ewington]

These five 13/6d Beer Duties originally issued in 1880 (below) have just "surfaced" in Hobart. The were found in a small old-time
collection of Australian and worldwide stamps. Although nothing is definite yet they may be offered for auction later in 2009
.... or they may disappear into the back of a wardrobe somewhere. (We can only hope for the former at this stage).

Bil Craig refers to these items in his Handbook of Tasmanian Revenue Stamps (1997) on page 46 - "1902 - Imperforate Black
Proofs stating that "imperforate proofs in other colours have been reported (fantasies from Government Printing Office?)".

What do think the origin of these attractive "proofs" or "colour trials" may be? Your opinions (and knowledge) is sought!

[Revenuer]

1. These are all pulled from the same single die. I am tipping latter day unofficial c1930 pulls maybe as late as 1960 as lots were produced from a bag of single dies on hand and given to collectors prior to the treasury handing them over to archives.

2. Bill Craig has 1960 letters from the Treasury with samples he himself asked for and was given.

3. These are on thick plain paper and not open wove paper as was the case of the 1880 proof issues.

Dave

[Ross Ewington]

The 13/6d Beer Duties are currently stuck down on ancient album page remnants and the paper on which the stamps were printed on cannot be easily determined.
Below is an "in situ" image .... the age of the paper and the handwriting suggest a pre-WWII date at least.

[Revenuer]

Ross you could be right maybe the 1930 unofficials but looking at the 9/- which appears to be on thin open wove paper as with the other 1st issue 1880 proof pulls the others [all 13/6 copies taken from the 2nd 1880 issue] sure look as if they are on thick good quality paper.

[John Shepherd]

The 13/6d values appear to be reprints judging by the good quality card. I would also question why - if they are colour trials - it would be necessary to print one value in so many colours.

[Ross Ewington]

Thanks to Dave for images of plate proofs made of the various 1880 denominations in
the colours as issued, I have been able to prepare this comparison between three of the
proofs and three of the 13/6d "fantasies"/trials/reprints/whatever.
It appears to me that the colours match very well considering natural variation resulting
from the production of the images (e.g. the proofs were scanned in mounts, the 13/6d were
not, difference in original image resolution, etc)
Subject to being able to compare the paper used for the proofs and the 13/6d "whatevers"
I think there is a stronger possibility now that the 13/6d duties were produced at the same
time as colour trials.
Am I barking up the wrong tree ...... please advise

[Revenuer]

........

[Ross Ewington]

BUT ..... if the 13/6d Beer Duties were just reprints of "fantasies", why produce them in at least five
different colours closely matching those "as issued"? The reprints of the Bradbury Wilkinson beer duties
in negative (probably from the 1930s) were produced only in one colour I believe ..... if they were just
making reprints "for the record" or just for fun why use more than one colour? ....how would they get hold
of the same colour inks used during the 1880s through to the early 1900s .......in the 1930s or later??

ALSO ...... matching the colour of the 13/6d stamps in question to a 1903 6/3d reddish-violet and 8/6d red-orange
doesn't mean that the "colour trials / reprints / whatevers" were made after the 1880/1914 period .... it may
indicate that they were produced in this period and not much later as has been suggested.

[Revenuer]

Ross I have one of the Black proofs with the H.M. Customs in blue on Dated Feb 02 maybe your group was done at this time but it is ALL conjecture as we know. Dave

[Ross Ewington]

A lot now rests I feel, with a comparison of the paper used for these 13/6d Beer Duties with the plate proofs
and other issues. I should have the "items in question" in my possession for a closer look in a day or two.

[Ross Ewington]

Well, it took me a lot longer than I originally thought it would but I have just finished removing the
paper from one the proofs (the red-violet printing) ... here is an image of the reverse as promised

beer duty reverse.jpg (41.28 KiB) Viewed 3288 times

The paper is very thick, almost a light card or a similar weight to cartridge. It is obviously
of good quality.

I started to remove the paper adhering to the back of the black print but decided against
it almost immediately. This proof was printed on quite light surfaced paper, deep orange
on the front and white on the reverse.

The other three proofs are printed on the same thick paper / thin card as the one
illustrated above.

It's over to you ..... any comments or thoughts? A summary or conclusion?

This link will give you quick access to a previously posted image of all five proofs.

http://tps.org.au/bb/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=51#p131

[Revenuer]

Ross i think we have lots of lookers here but nobody wants to commit to this thread, a shame, still i am standing by my 1930 date.

[Ross Ewington]

I'm still convinced that they were pulled from the plate much earlier and for a reason other than
"per favour"

to recap:

1) the colour of the ink matches fairly well that used for various Beer Duties issued well before WWI

2) a lot of effort would be required to produce "pulls" of the plate in five different colours .. why
go to all that bother when one colour would have done ... why match the colour of at least three
of the issued values??

3) the light card used is not similar in any way to the stock used for the "per favour" material from the 1930's.
I am not an expert in the manufacture of paper/card but as a stamp dealer I've seen a lot in my time and in my
opinion the light card used dates from a much earlier period than than that suggested by Dave.

4) the "per favour" material from the 1930s refered to in previous posts has been available to collectors
for years as it was produced for collectors. Hands up all the collectors who have one or more examples
of the these 13/6d "whatevers" in their collection (and if they do will they please post some images here ) !!

As Dave mentioned in his previous post, it would be great if any Tassie revenue collectors who are following
this particular topic could join in the discussion and "voice" an opinion / shed some light / post an image or three, etc.
We're not "there" yet on these interesting items and we could use some fresh input.

[Revenuer]

Dingle Smith has just put out a paper on Tas beers maybe if he could comment as i presume he would have done a lot of archival research.

[Ross Ewington]

I have recently shown these items to Dr. Owen Ingles who once had an extensive collection
of Tas Beer Duties and was a joint author of the first catalog of Tas revenue and railway parcel
stamps (in the 1970s)

He agrees with my opinion that they were most likely produced earlier than WWI and may even date
from the period of use for the issue.

Another possible origin may be that they came from a printer's "day book" where a record of printing,
formula of inks used, etc were kept. These die prints may indeed be "one offs" and could explain
why they were found in various colours and in a rather lacklustre "Junior Collection".

[Revenuer]

Below are two letters of interest to the 'Revenuer' one mentions Beer Duty and it is this letter [name removed by me] which lead/leads me to believe they may be of later reprint origin.

t1.jpg (70.21 KiB) Viewed 3262 times

t2.jpg (71.89 KiB) Viewed 3262 times

[Ross Ewington]

I can't see how this correspondence proves that the aforementioned 13/6d Beer Duties are of
recent origin.

There is too much evidence to suggest anything other than that these items date from much earlier
in the twentieth century or even from the period of production (e.g. are from the printer's "day book")

To repeat (and add to) some of my previously stated observations:

1 - why print then in different colours closely matching other issued denominations? Note the word "print" ...
...they are NOT contact prints made from an inked plate or die (as the per the Platypus revenue illustrated
in the letter above) ....... they have been printed using some type of press

2 - if they were done "per favour" in the 1930s/60s period surely other examples should have "surfaced" by now
...... so where are they? Bill Craig never saw any (he just said some were reported ...hardly empirical evidence!!) and
neither has Dr. Ingles (with whom I discussed the items again on the phone today). Both these eminent philatelists who wrote the first
catalogs on Tasmanian revenue stamps were very active collectors of this material from the 1950s through to the 1980s.
It is very hard to believe than neither collector ever found an example !!

3 - the so-called "Binns Reprints" of the Bradbury-Wilkinson issues are nothing like these items whatsoever and supplies
thereof appear to be sufficient to provide examples for most collector's collections. If someone wanted examples of one
of these reprints I could probably "rustle up" a few in a fairly short period of time.

4 - the light card on which all but one of the 13/6d Beer Duties are printed is of an older manufactured type

5 - the stamps show some aging suggesting a much earlier "vintage" than the 1960s or even the 1930s

6 - the paper on which they were mounted (four are still on this paper) shows some deterioration. It is unlikely
that the items have ever left the Hobart city limits since they were produced ..... Hobart is a great climate for the
long term storage of paper. A few years ago I received a consignment of Tas 1d Pictorials wrapped up in pieces of newspaper
with 1920s dates ..... the paper was still off-white and crisp .... not yellowed and decaying like you would normally expect
from eastern Australian locations. Therefore, some paper deterioration indicates considerable age for paper stored in Hobart

7 - the handwriting on the backing paper appears to be, that of a young collector ..... the copperplate writing appears to be an
earlier type with the writer most likely attending school prior to WWI. I have compared the handwriting with that of my mother
(who attended Tasmanian primary schools in the 1920s) and even my own (I was taught copperplate handwriting in the 1950s)
and it is of a distinctly different style ...but still copperplate.

To conclude I believe these printings of the 13/6d Tas Beer Duty are not "fantasies" and were not produced in the modern era
(i.e. post WWI). I believe them to be "printer's proofs / colour trials" (possibly from a printer's day book kept by the printer during the period of
production) or posthumous prints produced for unknown purposes around the time of the first "Commonwealth of Australia" issues.

When viewed recently by Dr. Owen Ingles he declared them to be a "new and significant discovery". Today he indicated to me that he believes
without a doubt that the items are at least 100 years old. That's good enough for me!! I rest my case.

[Revenuer]

I have spoke to Owen at length on these and after buying one and finding some time to check out the horizontally laid paper and compare it with my other beer duties [and all my other Tasmanian revenues inc ALL the reprints] i can still find no paper to match these or match anything produced by the Tasmanian Gov.t Printer, I think we should settle at the Feb 02 date until more evidence comes to light. Dave

[Ross Ewington]

I agree Dave .... 1902 it is for the time being !

The absence to date of other items printed on the same paper gives some credence, I feel, to my theory that they could be "printer's trials" as those found from other countries, apparently printed on the closest scrap paper that was to hand and would suit the job ......The Mercury office would have lots of different types of paper laying about in the 1880s. Therefore, I don't think an earlier date of printing can be ruled out just yet.

Ross