British Guiana Postage Stamps: Part 2 The pre-modern issues 1876-1910
Philately
Lennox Julian Hernandez continues his sketch of Guyana's philatelic history
Stabroek News
March 20, 2007
The year 1876 saw further advancements in the postage stamps of British Guiana. Prior to this juncture the colony's postage stamps were printed on un-watermarked paper by typeset (the locally printed stamps) or by lithography (by Waterlow & Sons in London). The Crown Agents of the United Kingdom took over from the Colony's London agent as agents for British Guiana stamps in 1875 and immediately pressed for the adoption of surface printing (also called typography) for better workmanship and for the use of watermarked paper for greater security. (A watermark is a pattern created during the manufacture of paper by a thinning of the paper in the said pattern.) At the same time the printing was reassigned to the firm De La Rue.
According to the book The Postage Stamps and Postal History of British Guiana (1970) the the change of printer and printing method afforded the Colony the opportunity of having Queen Victoria's image on its stamps. The opportunity, however, was declined.
The first set of stamps printed by De La Rue for local use arrived in the Colony on March 7, 1876, and comprised nine denominations - 1 cent, 2 cents, 4 cents, 6 cents, 8 cents, 12 cents, 24 cents, 48 cents, and 96 cents. Again the "ship and motto" of previous years was used, the overall design being different and the ship itself having some differences from previous years. Each value was of a different colour.
Provisional issues were again necessary at various times between 1878 and 1882. The provisional issues of 1878, 1881 and 1882 were necessitated mainly by a chronic shortage of 1 cent and 2 cents stamps. For 1878 and 1881, the defacing and surcharging of existing stamps, including official stamps and high value postage stamps, was done to produce the further provisional issues. For example, in 1881 the existing 96 cents stamp was defaced and overprinted 1 and 2, those with the numeral 1 being 1 cent stamps, and those with the numeral 2 being 2 cents stamps.
This particular provisional issue saw the beginning of a new trend of speculative buying of provisional postage stamps. According to the book, the stock of this 1881 provisional issue was completely exhausted in a few days, some purchasers buying whole sheets and requesting postal clerks to postmark the stamps (the philatelic term being "Postmarked to Order") as postmarked stamps were more profitable. The provisional stamps of 1882, again necessary because of a shortage of 1 cent and 2 cents stamps, were typeset, printed locally by Baldwin and Co., a Georgetown firm of booksellers, stationers and printers. Again the ship was used as the main feature of the design, this time of two types, two-masted and three-masted.
To circumvent the possibility of speculative purchasing the stamps were perforated with the word SPECIMEN in lots as necessary, rather than initialled by the Postmaster as was done previously.
In 1882 another issue of the 1876 stamps was released, but only in the five lower denominations and with a different watermark. To stamp collectors this difference in watermark is important for though the face of stamps may be similar, a different watermark means a different stamp: the 1876 stamps have a "Crown and CC" watermark, while the 1882 stamps have a "Crown and CA" watermark. The 1882 set being a new issue philatelically, is rather fortuitous.
The book says the colony in 1881 simply requisitioned a further supply of the lower five values of the 1876 issue from the printers. However, because of damage to the "CC" watermark device, and its being replaced by a "CA" watermark device in June 1881, all further printings (until 1904) of surface-printed stamps from De La Rue bore the "Crown CA" watermark.
Another set of stamps with an interesting history, the book says, is the provisional issue of 1888, necessitated for meeting new stamp taxes for the payment of revenue. New revenue stamps were ordered from London, but these could not be ready on time for the introduction of the new tax rates. Hence, revenue provisionals created by slightly adapting the current (1876) postage stamp design, were ordered from De La Rue. These arrived in the colony at the end of September 1888. The set comprised 15 denominations ranging from 1 cent to 5 dollars, but in two colours only: lilac for the cent values and green for the dollar values. The stamps were overprinted "Inland Revenue" and the new value also overprinted in black. Though originally intended for fiscal purposes only, there appears to have been some confusion and some of these stamps were used for postal purposes. Eventually, on April 2, 1890 it was officially agreed that the remaining stock be used for postal purposes; a few, the $1, $2, $3, and $4 being defaced and surcharged as 1 cent (in red) that year. Accord-ingly, though unintended, these revenue stamps are now part of the country's postal history and are included in postage stamp catalogues.
The next important British Guiana postage stamp issue is what is described as the "Key Plate issues of 1889 to 1910." The book notes that the Crown Agents wrote the British Guiana government in July 1888 "making several suggestions for a permanent series of stamps…." Among the suggestions was that there should be a unification of postage and revenue stamps, which was accepted. New definitive British Guiana stamps were thus inscribed "Postage and Revenue" from then until the last issues of 1963-65. (Definitives are the regular everyday issues as distinct from stamps issued to commemorate some event or person.) This method of printing involved two plates, one with the general design (the Key Plate) and another with the duty or value (the Duty Plate): hence, two printing operations were involved. British Guiana once again used its popular "Ship and Motto" design rather than Queen Victoria's image, and some stamps were printed with the Key Design in one colour and the Duty Design in another colour. The values varied between 1 cent and 96 cents with some other values printed later. New key plates of these stamps were made in 1892, 1896 and 1905 - this may be important to collectors - and some of these stamps also had changes in colour with each re-issue.
Between 1889-1903 there were nineteen different stamps issued while eleven different stamps were issued between 1905-1910. The 1905-1910 issues had two differences important to collectors. A different type of paper was used (chalky) and the watermark was changed from "Crown CA" to "Multiple Crown CA" though some stamps were printed on ordinary paper with the new watermark.
An important event late in the 19th century resulted in the appearance of British Guiana's first commemorative stamps. To commemorate the 1897 Jubilee Of Queen Victoria a set of five stamps (1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 15c) were issued in 1898. According to the book the original proposal was made in August 1897 for the purpose of revenue and as a means of advertising the colony. An early suggestion was to illustrate the colony's scenery and industries, including Mount Roraima, Kaieteur Falls, coconut palms, native indians, cane cutting and gold digging. Only Mount Roraima and the Kaieteur Falls were finally used, however.
The first commemorative stamps proved unpopular in the country and the demand for the 10 cents and 15 cents was particularly small. A large quantity of the 5c, 10c, and 15c were later surcharged as 2 cents, and many errors occurred, including GENTS being printed instead of CENTS on the 10 cents issues. Like all stamps with errors, these are very collectible items and are more valuable than the correctly printed copies.
(The third and final part of this series will be published in the April issue of the Guyana Review and will examine postage stamps from 1913 to 1966.)
