The problem of rare cds not currently shown in Lancaster's (now somewhat outdated) list has come up regularly on this discussion forum. It would be very useful to at least add two 'provisional' cds to the current list of 3 and 4 R strikes - Claremont and Wynyard type 3.
Both cds were issued very close to the end of the State period - Wynyard on 27/12/12, and Claremont on 19/11/12. For some reason, the Lancaster list does separately record the Claremont types but not the various Wynyard types, although no rarity rating is allocated to either. Clearly for both cds, the very limited use through the remainder of the currency of the State stamps will likely mean few examples can be found. I am going to show both as provisionally RRR and hope that by recording examples in the census we can arrive at a more accurate picture.
Of course, the question of 1913 dates will surely arise. If one were to take a firm line on not considering 1913 dates, then Wynyard would probably be 4R given it was only issued on 27 December 1912. I'll leave that debate to other forums !
In attempting to record examples of both, the problem is that they were not recorded in the original Courier census, and for many collectors, Wynyard and Claremont type III do not register as particularly collectible - hence there may be examples sitting un-noticed in collections, or worse still rejected as of little interest.
So, I would be extremely useful if you could post images here of either. If you come across examples previously un-noticed, you can congratulate yourself on having found a very scarce cds ! Any views about the rarity of these two CDS welcome.
Addendum
Its been pointed out to me that Claremont WAS in fact listed in the Courier Census, back in Courier No 11, where 5 copies are shown - thanks john Hardinge for drawing my attention to this. This must be about the only example where the Green Book Vol II ratings are more accurate than the first volume ( a significant number of CDS were rated scarcer in Vol II implying less examples were known then as compared with vol I, which is a bit hard to understand
)Also, we now have a new ERD for Wynyard type III, 11/12/1912 - see the example posted by Ross Ewington further in this topic. Ross's view is that the type three's including others such as Glenorchy, were all probably issued around November 1912 . Time and further examples will tell