The details addressed on this page are:
- the design of the 1d (1/-) stamp;
- details of printing and issue;
- watermark variety;
- multiples of 6 and 5 stamps;
- blocks of 4 stamps;
- examples of cancellations on 1d (1/-) stamps off cover and a summary listing.
- a note on the faults found in many of the Charity stamps.
The 1d (1/-) blue stamp featured a representation of a coin which included a side profile portrait of Queen Victoria bordered by a shield with the heading Charity.
The postal denomination of 1d covered the basic letter rate. |
Date of issue: |
22 October 1897. |
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Watermark: |
V over Crown (V3) sideways. |
Perforation: |
12½ single line perf. |
Number printed: |
44,520 (1,060 sheets). |
Supplied to Bern Bureau (UPU): |
Unknown. |
Destroyed under Treasury Authority: |
4,494 |
Number issued: |
40,026 (953 sheets) |
The stamp was printed from electrotype printing plates in sheets of 42 arranged in six rows of seven stamps.
An example is recorded of the 1d. with a cancellation of 'CROWLANDS/OC19/97' which was three days before the issue - see below.
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A Melbourne CTO of 22 October is known.
The largest recorded multiple of the 1d (1/-) blue is a block of 21 - the top three rows of 7 stamps and it had selvedge on three sides. This large block was from the Purves collection. It was sold at auction
and again in 1991 . It has not been seen since - at auction or in an exhibition.There are no other large multiples with the next largest being:
- a block of six;
- a strip of five;
- many blocks of four and several strips of four.
Examples of the blocks of four:
The Purves collection had blocks of 4 of both denominations. |
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As for the NSW issue, there are a moderate number of used 1897 Victorian Charity stamps off cover. All are singles which generally come in matched dates for the two denominations - possibly used on a cover and later removed. Some of these date stamps are CTO date stamps but not identified as such in descriptions. Other cancellations are very faint and indecipherable. There are certainly more than 5 good used examples with distinguishable dates for the 1d (1/-) and about the same number for the 2½d (2/6). That would make good used examples less common than unused or mint examples. Some cancellations are barred numerals and so date cannot be determined.
As listed below, used 1d (1/-) stamps in good condition are scarce. There are at least 6 but probably less than 20 known.
Some examples are: |
Listing of the known date stamps on 1d (1/-) stamps.
The list below records the clear date stamps on the 1d (1/-) 1897 Victorian Charity stamp.
Faint, smudged and incomplete date stamps are not included because of the difficulty in ascertaining their degree of genuineness.
Date on stamp | From | Notes | Seller/Reference & Date (lot) |
19 October 1897 | Crowlands | Three days before official issue. There are at least three examples recorded. |
Status Feb 2003 Lot 1587; Blue Owl November 2013. |
25 October 1897 | Abbotsford A1 | Three days after issue. | Richard Juzwin September 2013. |
28 October 1897 | Ballarat | On piece. | Ebay September 2013. |
8 November 1897 | Melbourne | Single - Melbourne 5F date stamp. | Ebay August 2019. |
20 July 1898 | Yarraville | Ebay September 2013. | |
20 September 1898 | Melbourne | A horizontal pair. | Ebay August 2015. |
4 October 1907 | Melbourne | Single - double ring date stamp - 18 (?) at base. | Ebay November 2018. |
10 January 1908 | San Remo | Cancellation is rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. A long time out of validity for postage. | Ebay August 2015. |
Used multiples.
There are very few used multiples of the 1d (1/-) blue off cover. It is estimated that there may be three pairs - one is shown to the right. |
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Also like the NSW issue, the mint/unused or used examples which are available, there are unfortunately only a limited number of good examples. Many mint examples have no gum. Many of either category have severe creases or thins through being in albums for years and handled improperly. Such items really serve no purpose unless they have a clear and special cancellation. |