Monday, May 5, 2014



                                                               


 The Seahorse issues from Great Britain show some of the greatest skills of engraving on postage stamps. They are a popular issue due to their design and have been voted by many collectors as the best stamps issued by Great Britain.
 The first issues were in 1913 and printed by Waterlow and sons. This was the only printing of the scarce one pound value.
There are a number of shades of the different printings and values.

 
                                                     2/6d Waterlow deep sepia-brown
 Shades of this printing;
Deep sepia-brown
Sepia-brown

                                                            
                                                     5/- pale rose carmine
Shades of this printing;
Rose carmine
Pale rose carmine
Carmine red

                                                             
                                                         10/- indigo blue
Shades of this printing;
Indigo blue
Indigo

                                                            
                                                           one pound deep green
Shades of this printing
Green
Deep green
Dull blue-green

 In 1915 the printing was transferred to DeLaRue. As these were war printings the colours were more pale than the 1913 issues to save on ink.

                                                             
                                                            2/6d yellow brown
Shades of this issue;
Yellow brown
Pale sepia brown
Chrome (very pale)                                                                                                                             Grey brown
Dark brown
Deep yellow brown
Pale yellow brown
Bright yellow brown

                                                             
                                                             5/- pale carmine
Shades of this printing;
Pale carmine
Carmine
Bright carmine
                                                              
                                                             10/- blue
Shades of this printing;
Blue
Deep blue
Bright blue (sometimes called Cambridge blue)
Pale blue
Bright blue
 Later, in 1919, Bradbury Wilkinson were given the contract for the printing
                                                   
                                                                Reddish brown

 Shades of this printing;
Olive brown
Dull sepia brown
Chocolate brown
Reddish brown
Pale brown
                                                                 
                                                                 Rose red


 Shades of this printing
Rose carmine
Pale rose carmine
Rose red

                                                               
                                                                steel blue

Shades of this printing;
Dull blue
Dull grey blue
Steel blue
                                                   


The final printing of the Seahorse issue was in 1934. This printing is easily identified by the background around the King's head. On earlier issues the engraving was horizontal. In the 1934 issue a diagonal engraving was added.
                                                             
 2/6d chocolate brown 

Shades of this issue;
Chocolate brown
Reddish brown
                                                                                                                                                          

                                                              5/- bright rose red
                                                    
                                                      1934 10/- blue





 There are areas to watch out for when buying these issues. The first requirement is full perforations. A short or missing perforation greatly devalues the stamp. Centering can also be a problem on these issues.Mint stamps should be checked for yellowing gum and gum cracking. As these were high value stamps the majority of used,especially the higher two, were used mostly on parcels. Try to find clear cds postmarks rather than heavy parcel cancels if possible.
                                     
                                                    
                               1913 2/6d deep sepia brown cds used but poor centering

                                                             
                                                        1934 5/- with parcel cancel
                                                     
                                                  1934 10/- block of four with cds cancels
  The Seahorse issue were also used overprinted in British Commonweath post offices and field post offices. The latter can be identified by their postmarks.
                                                   
                                                    British Post Office in Constantinople
                                                  
                                                     Bechuanaland
                                                    

                                                     British Levant
                                                   


                                                     Morocco Agencies overprints used on cover
                                                  
                                                     Ireland
                                                    
                                                     Nauru

Help in identifying the earlier printings.
The 1934 as already mentioned is easy to identify. The previous printing,and the shades are harde still,are not so easy.
The first check using a ruler or perforation gauge is the meassure the height of the printing fram. Not the stamp. The Bradbury printings measure 22 3/4mm. The other printings measure 22 mm. Once you have the 22 mm examples the next step are the perforations. The DeLaRue have smaller perforation holes. It would obviously be best if you knew you had an example of one of these to use as a reference. Some of the Bradbury printings have a dot in the middle at the top of the stamp. This would confirm a Bradbury printing but the dot is not present on all Bradbury stamps.
 The shades.
 Identifying the shades is not easy. It is probably best to identify the printing first if possible to narrow the range of shades. Care should be taken when trying to identify used stamp shades. A chocolate brown could be wrongly identified as a pale brown if the stamps has lost its colour when being washed of an envelope.


                                                            
                                                             

                                                           



                                                               
                                          







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