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This article is written by David Beech, FRPSL and published
here with his kind consent. |
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| Fiji: 1878-99 perf.12˝ 2d ultramarine error of colour, unused |
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Abel Tasman
was the first European in 1643 to sight Fiji a remote island group in the
Pacific Ocean some 1,100 miles north of New Zealand. Christian
missionaries had arrived in 1835 and a local Chief Cakobau become King in
1852. The King wanted to place Fiji in Western influence and in 1874 it
became a British Crown Colony.
The local newspaper the Fiji Times had established a postal service in
1870 and stamps printed from printers type and rule appeared. By 1871 more
sophisticated printing methods were used and the Government Printing
Office in Sydney Australia produced stamps with the Royal monogram CR
below a Crown as the principal element in the design. When the Kingdom
became a Colony in 1874 these stamps were overprinted “VR” to be replaced
by the 1878-99 set in a similar design to those of the 1871 issue but with
the British Royal monogram VR in the place of CR.
It is one of these stamps from the 1878-99 set printed in the wrong colour
that is the major rarity in Fiji philately. The set has 1d, 2d 4d and 6d
values with the 1d value printed in ultramarine blue and the 2d printed in
green. In 1881 an order was placed with the Government Printing Office in
Sydney for 50,000 2d stamps and 30,000 6d stamps. When these arrived in
Fiji it was found that the 2d stamps had been printed in ultramarine blue,
the colour of the 1d value, instead of the correct colour green. Because
of the possibility of confusion, these errors were not place on sale and a
new printing of 50,000 2d stamps in green ordered.
The market in stamps had grown stronger in the late nineteenth century and
in 1889 the stamp dealing firm of Thompson & Co of Bishop Auckland,
England had purchased large quantities of obsolete Fiji stamps from the
Crown Agents in London. The dealers were keen to buy and the Crown Agents
asked the Fiji Government if they “have any other varieties to dispose
of”. The 2d stamps printed in the wrong colour were still held and four
copies were set to the Crown Agents with a view to the purchase of the
stock. At this point the Colonial Secretary had second thoughts about the
propriety of the deal. The entire stock of 50,000 would have been a large
purchase but in the end Governor Thurston intervened and 49,940 stamps
were destroyed by fire in July 1890.
Today only three copies of the Fiji error of colour exist making it one of
the worlds major rarities. The Royal Philatelic Collection has one
splendid copy probably purchased some time between 1913 and 1926 and
another is in the Crown Agents Philatelic and Security Printing Archive at
the British Library, Philatelic Collections. Copy number three is in a
private collection and thus the only one that could come onto the open
market. Until 1983 a fourth copy existed, the ownership of which can be
traced back through several major collectors and sales through auction
houses to 1892. It was in the 1970s that its last owner John Gartner, a
noted collector from Australia, purchased his copy. Mr Gartner had his
stamp collections including the 2d error at his house in Mount Macedon,
Victoria when on 16th February 1983 the house and the stamp collections
were destroyed in the Ash Wednesday fires. Mr and Mrs Gartner only
survived the intense heat of the fire by staying in their swimming pool
covered by a wet blanket.
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| References: |
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Rodger, J G, The
Postal History of Fiji 1876-1910, Suva, Philatelic Society of Fiji, 1983
Williams, L N, Encyclopaedia of Rare and Famous Stamps, Geneva, David
Feldman SA, 1993 and 1997. |
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