6d Pictorial pane with 28MAR1900 stamped on selvedge

[Ross Ewington]

Stanley Gibbons lists 31 MAR 1900 as being the first day of issue for the 6d Pictorial (recess print).

I am just in the process of describing a complete pane of the stamp for my next auction and note
that 28MAR1900 has been stamped on the selvedge in the bottom RH corner.

[attachment=1]6d pictorial block.jpg[/attachment]

Could this be the day they were received, the day they were prepared for distribution or
the actual day of issue?

ditto on this complete pane of 60 units also reported as being issued on 31 MAR 1900

[attachment=0]5d pictorial.jpg[/attachment]

[bill]

Ross, this is an amazing discovery!

Gibbons also lists a ½d as being issued at the same time as the 5d and 6d.
It may also be possible to locate a pane of ½d stamped with 28 MAR 1900
since you have not mentioned this value.

Bill

[Ross Ewington]

Hi Bill,

I have two complete panes of the ½d London print in the same consignment but neither have been
similarly "dated".

regards, Ross

P.S. I also have complete panes of the 1d (x2), 2d & 2½d and none of these have been "dated" either.

[John Hardinge]

Ross, this is a really interesting one. 28 Mar 1900 was a Wednesday. 31 Mar 1900 was therefore a Saturday. It does seem very unlikely that they were officially released on a Saturday, surely..

John

[Ross Ewington]

Good point John ... I had planned to check which day 28MAR1900 was but hadn't got around to it.

Besides the statements re the first day of issue in Stanley Gibbons "Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps 1840-1970"
and that in "The Pictorial Stamps of Tasmania 1899-1912" by K.E. Lancaster i.e. "The information emanates from the late P. Malone,
a keen philatelist who resided in Hobart and is also responsible for stating that the ½d, 5d and 6d values were released for sale
on 31.3.00." is there any other evidence, hopefully of the empirical type like a contemporary newspaper report?

Also, was Malone's statement re the day of issues for the three values just verbal (to Lancaster) or did he publish some information at some time?

Mind you, as Saturday was a normal trading day at the Hobart GPO, it doesn't mean that a stamp wouldn't be issued on that day ...
it just seems a bit unusual doesn't it?

[Jerry Weirich]

While looking at the latest Leski auction catalog for 16 November 2010, I saw the following Zanzibar item (I've cropped it to only show the bottom row of stamps and selvedge markings). I recalled Ross' original post regarding the dated selvedge on the 5d and 6d recess-printed pictorials and thought this would be important for the discussion here on the BB. The item's catalog description is as follows: "1904 1R blue and red optd "REVENUE", corner Plate No.1 block, handstamped in margin "25OCT1906" (date of printing) and "29OCT1906" (date of REVENUE overprint). Ex De La Rue Archives." This suggests that the dates on the Tasmanian pictorial sheets are probably dates of printing. Since not all pictorial sheets are dated, De La Rue probably instituted the practice of marking the printing dates on stamps some time later after the original printings were done. Does anyone have De La Rue shipment invoices that could be married with production dates?? Based on this information, it could be just coincidental that the dates on the 5d and 6d pictorials were close to the issue date.

Zanizibar with dated margins cropped.jpg (328.95 KiB) Viewed 1532 times

[Jeffharris]

Good point John ... I had planned to check which day 28MAR1900 was but hadn't got around to it.

Besides the statements re the first day of issue in Stanley Gibbons "Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps 1840-1970"
and that in "The Pictorial Stamps of Tasmania 1899-1912" by K.E. Lancaster i.e. "The information emanates from the late P. Malone,
a keen philatelist who resided in Hobart and is also responsible for stating that the ½d, 5d and 6d values were released for sale
on 31.3.00." is there any other evidence, hopefully of the empirical type like a contemporary newspaper report?

Also, was Malone's statement re the day of issues for the three values just verbal (to Lancaster) or did he publish some information at some time?

Mind you, as Saturday was a normal trading day at the Hobart GPO, it doesn't mean that a stamp wouldn't be issued on that day ...
it just seems a bit unusual doesn't it?

[Jeffharris]

I would like to add some comments regarding stamps being issued on a Saturday. I have recently checked my post office records from South Australia and can confirm that in 1900 the Adelaide G.P.O also opened until 5p.m. on Saturdays. Other post offices were open until 12noon. The minutes of the P.S.S.A meeting on 25th Jan. 1903, noted that the 4d., 10d., 1/- and 5/- Thin Postage Long Stamps were issued on the 29th. Nov. 1902. A check of the 1902 calendar reveals that the 29th of Nov. that year was a Saturday!