ND Home > ND Libraries > Spec. Coll. > Collections > Wolf Irish Stamps > Part II > Set 6T
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ND Home > ND Libraries > Spec. Coll. > Collections > Wolf Irish Stamps > Part II > Set 6T |
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T25 (23) 1/2d Green [MID] [LAR] |
T26 (24) 1d scarlet [MID] [LAR] |
T27 (25) 1 1/2d red-brown [MID] [LAR] |
T28 (26b) 2d orange Die I [MID] [LAR] |
T29 (26) 2d orange Die II [MID] [LAR] |
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T30 (27) 2 1/2d blue (R) [MID] [LAR] |
T31 (28) 3d violet [MID] [LAR] |
T32 (29) 4d grey-green (R) [MID] [LAR] |
T33 (30) 5d brown [MID] [LAR] |
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T34 (31) 6d purple [MID] [LAR] |
T35 (32) 9d agate (R) [MID] [LAR] |
T36 (33) 9d olive-green (R) [MID] [LAR] |
T37 (34) 10d turquoise [MID] [LAR] |
T38 (35) 1s bistre brown [MID] [LAR] |
Design: Great Britain issue of 1912-13 and 1922, Scott 159 (T25), 160 (T26), 161 (T27), 162 (T28), 162a (T29), 163 (T30), 164 (T31), 165 (T32), 166 (T33), 167 ( T34), 170 (T35), 183 (T36), 171 (T37), 172 (T38): King George V, designed by Sir Bertram Mackennal.
Printing (Base Stamps): Typography; Harrison & Sons, London and High Wycombe, printed in sheets of two panes of 120 subjects (12 x 10). The panes are aligned vertically, so a full sheet contains twenty horizontal rows of twelve stamps, with a horizontal gutter separating the panes.
Overprint: "Rialtas Sealadac na héireann 1922" (Provisional
Government of Ireland 1922), in five lines, by Messrs. Alexander Thom & Co. Ltd., Dublin.
Overprints are blue-black or red, and most commonly measure 14.5 x 16 mm.
Standard widths of individual lines are as follows: "Rialtas" - 11.5 mm;
"Sealadac" - 14.5 mm; "na" - 3.5 mm; "héireann"
- 13.5 mm; "1922" - 6.5 mm.
Nine different overprint plates were used for one or another of the stamps
in set T6, including all but one of the four plates used for Thom's previous low-value issue, set T4.
Separation: Perf. 15 x 14.
Watermark: Monogram Royal Cypher (Scott wmk. 33; Crown and GvR).
Date of Issue: No official announcements were made by the Post Office regarding the dates of issue of the various values in set T6. We can only consult the earliest known usage dates (EKUs) compiled in 1920s handbooks like Freeman/Stubbs and Meredith. These are a source of considerable disagreement, but they do provide at least a relative sense of when the stamps appeared. The EKUs in Meredith 1927 are as follows: 1/2d - 23 August; 1d - 20 July; 1 1/2d - 21 August; 2d Die I - 7 July; 2d Die II - 7 July; 2 1/2d - 23 October; 3d - 11 July; 4d - 8 September; 5d - 11 August; 6d - 21 August; 9d agate - 11 August; 10d - 24 August; 1/- - 21 August. Dulin believes the 2 1/2d to have appeared in September, on the basis of reports by F. R. A. McCormick in Philatelic Magazine in the Fall of 1922 (the same source indicates a 6 November appearance for the 9d olive-green).
Numbers issued: Unknown.
Notes: On 12 June 1922 the Irish Post Office failed to renew its contract with Dollard, leaving Alexander
Thom & Co. as the exclusive overprinter of all Irish stamps (excluding coils). It has often been written
that this action was taken due to the destruction of the Dollard plant in the Civil War; the plant was indeed
damaged, but only later in the summer. The Post Office may have been concerned with the number of items finding
their way from Dollard to the philatelic market, or it may simply have believed that one contracter was
sufficient to do the job.
The low value Thom July overprints consist of the four values that had been contracted to Thom earlier in the year
(1 1/2d, 2d, 6d, 1/-) and the eight values previously contracted to Dollard (1/2d, 1d, 2 1/2d, 3d, 4d, 5d, 9d, 10d).
The base stamps for the 2d value include Dies I and II, while the 9d values include the agate of the 1912-13 issue
and the olive-green with which it was replaced in September of 1922. The 2 1/2d, 4d, and 9d values (both 9d
values) were overprinted in red, as Dollard had done. All the other values were overprinted in black -- a
black that may be distinguished from that of previous overprints by its bluish cast and its higher gloss. These
attributes were apparently the consequence of efforts by Thom to improve the quality of the ink.
Those values of the Thom July overprints previously handled by Dollard may be easily distinguished from their
predecessors by the block type of "1922" (with its seriphed "1", "9" lacking a descending tail, and full stop).
It is distinguishing the July Thoms from the February Thoms (the 1 1/2d, 2d, 6d, and 1/- values) that causes
problems, for the only difference is the shade, and gloss, of the black ink used for the overprints. Recognizing
the shinier, bluer overprints of the July issue is best achieved at 50x magnification, whereby "the blue in
the blue-black overprints can be seen as rather light blue particles dispersed among the basic black of the
overprint" (Foley, 1975, 2). Some examples lend themselves to ready identification, while others are less
certain, indicating that a range of inks was used. Moreover, four of the values previously overprinted by
Dollard are known in a dull black, similar to the ink used by Thom in February; these may or may not be proofs.
Provenance: Dr. Charles Wolf (T25-T27, T29-T38); William and Ann Waldron (T28).
Bibliography: Meredith 1927, 9, 20-25; EPA 1964, "Thom 5 Line Overprints," 69-70; Feldman 1968, 24-6; Foley, 1975, 2-3; Harrow 1987, "Setting Irish Overprints," 12-13; Priestly 1988, "Thom 5 Line Narrow Setting," 26-28; Dulin 1992, 32-35.
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