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This article is written by David Beech, FRPSL and published
here with his kind consent. |
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| Gold Coast 1883 1d on Fourpence Magenta |
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THIS STAMP was first reported in The Philatelic Record of June 1883 (Vol 5, page 88), where the following appeared:
Gold Coast.-We have received a specimen of the Fourpence surcharged "1d." in black, about which all we can say at present is, that it was picked up in the "City." As we have had occasion to remark in connection with other provisional, this may be genuine; but we should not be surprised to learn that it was the production of one of those ingenious boys who do so much to destroy the reputation of the innocent quarter in which it was found.
Provisional. 1d. on 4d., magenta; wmk. Crown and C.C.; perf. 14.
It was probably E.D. Bacon who sent the example to The Philatelic Record, for in Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal of 31 January 1899 (Vol 9. page 122), he wrote: I well remember purchasing for a few pence a used specimen of the stamp in 1883, at a well-known shop which used at that time to exist in Seething Lane, London, where numbers of Gold Coast stamps were received for sale from time to time. This well-known shop...in Seething Lane...would have been very well known to Bacon for he was for many years including 1883 in business at number 41, Seething Lane, as 'Bacon & Hastings' Flour Factors. The shop was almost certainly that of E. Fernley, who is shown in Nunn.C.H. The Stamp Dealers of Great Britain, for the years 1880 and 1885 the dates of the First and Second editions.
The reference to...the production of one of those ingenious boys...in The Philatelic Record report refers almost certainly to G K Jeffryes who in 1883, at the age of 16, was producing fake overprints2 on genuine stamps. E.D. Bacon in THE LONDON PHILATELIST, Vol 43, page 101, May 1943 tells us: 'We must also remember that 1883 was prolific year for the production of bogus surcharges in London. It was not surprising, therefore, that The Philatelic Record took the view it did. A further report appeared in that periodical in October 1883 (Vol 5. page 159), when the following appeared:
Gold Coast.-In June last we spoke somewhat disrespectfully of the Fourpence surcharged 1d. in black, the authenticity of which seemed to us very doubtful. Respecting this stamp Mr. W. Clifford writes us as follows: "I have just received a reply to the enquiries I addressed to one of the officials, who says, 'Fourpenny stamps surcharged 1d., in printing, were issued here by authority for a very short time; but now they do not exist; their issue has been abolished.' You may depend on the correctness of this information."
W. Clifford was a dealer of Cranbourne Street, Hull, who describes himself in Nunn's The Stamp Dealers of Great Britain (First edition, 1880) as 'Importer of Foreign Stamps. Dealer in rare varieties only'. This second report is the principal evidence to support the stamp as genuine, and without it the surcharge would most probably have been long dismissed as the work of a forger. What became of the reply from Gold Coast is unknown but it is useful to speculate on who may have sent it, if from the Post Office. According to Gold Coast Blue Book 1883, the Post Office had a staff of eight when the stamp was issued, including three Postmasters: Accra - E. Rowland Cole: Cape Coast - E.J. da Costa: and Quittah - J.F. Thompson. The two newspapers published in the Colony at the time. The Gold Coast Times and The Gold Coast Assize, give us no further information. L.N. Williams carried out research, using local records, into this and other issues, together with local postal arrangements, during his spare time while on active service in Gold Coast in 1943, but found no firm information.3
That a stamp shortage existed in 1883 is quite clear and L.N. & M. Williams gave the background4 in Philatelic Magazine in 1943. We know from L.N. & M. Williams. Fundamentals of Philately, pages 475 and 476, quoting from records that in January 1883 stamps...having been affected by damp and thus gummed together the damage resulting from the process of separating them...and on 5 May 1883, E.Jose da Costa. Postmaster at Cape Coast returned a quantity of stamps to Accra stating that they had been sent to him defaced or otherwise unfit for use. These returned stamps included 32 sheets of 1d ungummed or defaced.
The month of issue is given in several of the standard catalogues as May, but the writer can find no evidence to support this; it is clear from the date of the original report in The Philatelic Record of the June, the stamp probably existed by May. The 4d Crown CC watermark was available in the Colony from 1876 to the time of the first report in The Philatelic Record in June 1883, and the surcharge could have been produced at any time during this period. As 32 sheets of the 1d had been returned to Accra from Cape Coast on 5 May, it is possible that the 1d on 4d was then produced for use at Cape Coast, but only circumstantial evidence supports this theory. The '1d' surcharge appears to be printed and not handstamped, and it is interesting to note that according to Gold Coast Blue Book 1883 the Government Printers was S.S. Cole and the First Assistant G.T.A. Thompson, who could have been related to the Postmaster at Accra. E. Rowland Cole, and to the Postmaster at Quittah.J.F.Thompson.
Only a few copies of the stamp are reported in the literature. The copy purchased by E.D. Bacon in 1883 was acquired by T.K. Tapling, and upon his death in 1891 his collection was bequeathed to the Trustees of the British Museum.5 Bacon arranged Tapling's Collection for the British Museum and the Gold Coast section was completed between 21 November 1894 and 21 May 1895. (Tapling Collection Accounts, held by the British Library Philatelic Collections.) In 1973 the Tapling Collection, along with all of the Philatelic Collections, was transferred to the British Library. The Tapling Collection copy is used and bears two postmarks. One is unclear the second is an indistinct oval 'killer' with number, both in black; the stamp is soiled and has a diagonal crease at upper-left (see Figure 1).
A second copy was first reported in The Postage Stamps, Envelopes, Wrappers, Postcards, and Telegraph Stamps of The British Colonies, Possessions and Protectorates in Africa (The Philatelic Society, London, 1895, Part 1, page 77), where it is described as being '...in a famous collection in Paris'. Bacon confirms this in his letter5 to Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal, where he stated '...the owner of a well-known Parisian collection once told me that he possesses a specimen...', this has been taken by various later writers to be Philipp la Renotière von Ferrary. It is recorded in THE LONDON PHILATELIST (Vol 35, page 257, October 1926) '...that gentleman (Ferrary) never exhibited his stamps publicly was also very chary about showing them privately...', nor did a 1d on 4d appear in any of the Paris sales of the Ferrary Collection and this was confirmed by the auctioneer, M.G. Gilbert.6 According to Philatelic Magazine (Vol 22, page 336, 24 November 1928), the only British Colony not disposed of in Paris was Montserrat.
L.N. Williams has suggested that the Parisian collector could have been W.A.S. Westoby, who certainly wrote under the pseudonym7 'A Parisian Collector'. Against the theory is a reference by Bacon to the sale of the British Guiana 1856 1c black on magenta to '...the well-known Parisian Collector...' (THE LONDON PHILATELIST, Vol 9, page 36, February 1900) and we know this have been Ferrary (Williams, L.N. & M.. Stamps of Fame, London 1949). This speculation, while useful in tracking down this second copy, is rendered academic, as no copy other than that in the Tapling Collection is known.
The Expert Committee of the Royal Philatelic Society, London, has never had an example submitted to it, and Enzo Diena reports that 'No 1d on 4d magenta has ever been submitted to us'. A 'copy' was submitted in July 1947 to the British Philatelic Association's Expert Committee and received a certificate dated August 1947, stating it to be a forgery (Certificate 9754) (see Figure 2). In the Gold Coast Blue Book 1875, it is recorded that the Inland Postage rates were as follows: Letters 1d per half ounce, newspapers 1d each, thus proving the need for 1d stamps.
The information recorded above is all the evidence found by the writer and any further information will be gratefully received. Having seen and explained the evidence, on this much-doubted stamp, the writer is unable to come to any definite conclusion. On the one hand, we known of only one copy, found in 1883, a year Jeffryes is known to have been active in faking surcharges. On the other, we have the word of E.D. Bacon as to its purchase in Seething Lane and the reply to W. Clifford from the Colony that 1d on 4d stamps were issued by authority. More evidence and other copies may give us the answer.
- See The Post Office London Directory for 1883.
- See Tyler, Varro E.. Philatelic Forgers, Their Lives and Works, page 22.
- See Licut. L.N. Williams, Search and Research, The Stamp Lover, Oct-Nov 1943,Vol 36, pages 61/2.
- See L.N. & M. Williams, Gold Coast Stamp Famine 1883-84 - Light on Use of Bisected Provisional. Philatelic Magazine Dec 1943, Vol 51, page 590.
- See letter by E.D. Bacon in Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal, Vol 9 page 122, 31 Jan 1899.
- See Spowant. H.A.,The Postage Stamps of the Gold Coast (Stanley Gibbons Ltd, London 1929) page 19.
- See THE LONDON PHILATELIST, Vol 8, page 283, November 1899.
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| Acknowledgements: |
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R.A.G.Lee, RDP for checking the records of the Expert Committee of The Royal Philatelic Society London.
Dr Enzo Diena,RDP for checking his records.
Neil Donaldson, former Secretary of B.P.A. Expertising, for checking the British Philatelic Association, Expert Committee records.
L.N. Williams and P.O. Beale for advice and encouragement.
Herbert A. Trenchard for checking his copies of the E. Luder-Edelmann & Co, of Zurich, Ferrary auction catalogues.
This article was first published in The London Philatelist volume 96, September-October, 1987. |
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