HALF PENNY
in two lines of block capitals, and below this are two bars formed by ordinary printers" rules about 8mm. long cancelling the figures denoting the original value of the stamp.
The type and rules were set up to overprint the stamps thirty at a time (5 horizontal rows of 6 stamps); thus the complete sheet of 120 stamps had to pa.s.s four times through the press. There is a slight variation in the distance between the bottom of the letters comprising the word PENNY and the uppermost bar, in the third and fourth rows of the setting. In rows 1, 2 and 5 the bar is 5mm. away from the bottom of the type; in rows 3 and 4 it is only 4mm. distant.
The first stamp in the second row of the setting is a variety in which the E of PENNY is broken and the word reads PFNNY. The only other variety occurring in the setting is a slightly depressed Y of PENNY.
This occurs in the first stamp in the 5th row.
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The 3s. stamp was overprinted with the words "ONE PENNY" in one line of small capitals. The overprint was applied to a complete pane of 60 stamps at a time, so that the entire sheet of 120 was surcharged at two impressions instead of four, as in the d. on 2s. 6d. stamp. The only varieties which have been recorded of this ONE PENNY overprint are of slight defects, possibly occurring only in particular impressions. It, however, exists with the overprint double.
The issue of these two Provisional overprints, following upon the appearance in 1905 of the 5d., 7d. and 10d. stamps, brought a good deal of censure from philatelists, who considered that the Colony was descending to undignified means of increasing the revenue by the sale of stamps to collectors. At the instance of Lord Crewe an inquiry has lately been held into the reasons for the emission of various Colonial postage stamps, and the report of the Governor of the Gambia is quoted in the printed report of the Commission:--
"The Governor of the Colony states that as the supply of the d. and 1d. stamps had been exhausted before the arrival of a new supply which had been ordered, no [regular] stamps of these denominations were available from the 2nd to the 10th April, letters requiring such postage being stamped "Postage Paid." The surcharged stamps were on sale from the 10th to the 24th of April, the date on which the new supply became available. A surplus was left over, which was destroyed with proper precautions."
The unsold balance of the Provisional d. stamps on hand was destroyed "under direction from the Secretary of State and by a special Board appointed by His Excellency the Acting Governor" on October 16, 1906.
How small the "unsold balance" was is not stated.
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CHAPTER IX.
Bibliography.
INDEX TO THE CHIEF PRINTED ARTICLES AND PAPERS IN PHILATELIC PERIODICALS.
ABBREVIATIONS.
2 A.J.P.--American Journal of Philately, 2nd series.
E.W.S.N.--Ewen"s Weekly Stamp News.
G.S.W.--Gibbons Stamp Weekly.
M.W.S.N.--Mekeel"s Weekly Stamp News.
P.J.G.B.--Philatelic Journal of Great Britain.
P.R.--Philatelic Record.
P.S.--The Postage Stamp.
S.--Stamps.
S.C.F.--Stamp Collectors" Fortnightly.
S.C.M.--Stamp Collectors" Magazine.
S.G.M.J.--Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal.
NOTE.--Roman figures thus--V.--denote the volume, and Arabic figures--135--indicate the page. In a few cases the date takes the place of the volume number. In E.W.S.N. the number of the issue alone is given.
COLONIAL POST OFFICES COMMISSION [Ward], G.S.W., IX., 88.
Contains the report of the Governor of the Gambia on the Provisional stamps of 1906.
CORRECTED PLATE, 6d., S.C.F., III., 207.
FORGERIES, 6d. [Hilckes], S.C.F., II., 217.
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GENERAL. The Postage Stamps, etc. ... of the British Colonies, Possessions and Protectorates in Africa. Part II., London, 1900.
The Philatelic Society"s work on Africa, pp. 65-72, covers the issues of Gambia adhesives from 1869-1898; also the postcards and reply paid cards.
---- S.G.M.J., VI., 26, 144; [Pemberton], P.J.G.B., XVII., 78; [Barnsdall], G.S.W., VIII., 65, 81; [Nankivell], P.S., II., 3; 2 A.J.P., IV., 498; [Lehner], S., I., 90; [Clark], S., I., 102, reprinted in M.W.S.N., X., 255.
ISSUE OF 1869, S.C.M., VII., 57.
---- Date of [Lehner], S., I., 90; [Nankivell], S., I., 106.
MINOR VARIETIES. Sloping label. [Hilckes], S.C.F., II., 253.
PERFORATIONS [Bacon], P.R., XXV., 3. *** Plates. [Napier & Bacon], S.G.M.J., XIV., 97. *** Plates.
PROVISIONALS, E.W.S.N., 347, 348, 350, 352, 353, 360, 373.
SHEETS [Thiele], _The Adhesive_, July, 1904.
SPECULATION, S.C.F., VI., 142.
VALUES, S.C.F., VI., 119, 126.
WATERMARKS [Evans], P.R., IV., 224.
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CHAPTER X.
Check List.
1869.--No watermark. Imperforate. White gum.
4d. deep chocolate-brown.
4d. brown.
4d. pale brown.
Yellow gum.
Double embossing.