Indian Princely States - Jammu & Kashmir A Selection from the Dan Walker Collection June 12, 2018

25 SG 91 and 92 (½ anna ultramarine and violet-blue) This stamp was by far the most heavily used of all the stamps of Kashmir of the old rectangular period. It was printed from the top section of the composite plate with the 1 anna, there being twenty types of the ½ anna in four horizontal rows of five stamps. Shades are innumerable, from pale ultramarine through various tones of mid-blue, violet blue and bright blue The earliest shades are clear and the colours often very vivid, so that the stamps are exceptionally attractive. Later prints are normally duller and the plate shows signs of clogging with ink and irregular printing. The violet blue shade is quite distinctive and belongs to the middle period, 1870-1871; it cannot be defined as a specific issue. The bright blue shade (not listed in the Gibbons catalog), which appears to occur in 1876, almost exactly matches the colour of the Jammu special printings of similar date; one is therefore tempted to believe that the same pigment was used. A warning is in order, however many copies of so-called bright blue stamps of Jammu that the writers have seen have proved under examination to be in fact Kashmir issues of the above shade. SG 94 to 96 (1 anna red and orange shades) We list the shades us follows: (a) Chestnut (1867-1870) – probably SG 95 brown-orange (b) Venetian red (1867.1868) – probably SG 96 orange-vermilion (c) Orange (1871-1875) – SG 94 (d) Orange-vermilion (1876.1878) – SG 96 Sefi and Mortimer rejected yellow and brown-orange. With regard to the brown-orange, both the orange and orange-vermilion shades unfortunately suffered from blackening due to sulphuration and there Is therefore no true brown-orange or dark brown. However, the orange shade does approach yellow on occasion, though this is probably no more than poor colour mixing. A single copy of the I anna orange-vermilion bisected horizontally used on a cover was originally in the collection of Sir Charles Stewart Wilson and later that of H.D.S. Haverbeck, who regards it as used in March 1875 at the British post office at Leh for the ½ anna value, and considers it an authorized provisional. Tony Bard and others have thrown doubts on this cover, which was in the Mohrmann auction of April 14, 1982 (lot 176). Relatively speaking, the 1 anna is fairly frequently found used and covers showing this value although scarce are not really rare since for a large portion of the period of its use this was the Kashmiri rate charged not only on letters to foreign countries irrespective of rate but also on registered letters dispatched through the British post office at Srinagar. Covers sent through the state posts bearing pairs are not exceptionally rare but more than two copies on a cover would be very exceptional. SG 97 and 98 (2 annas yellow –SG 97– and buff –SG 98–) These stamps were printed in strips or five from the bottom half of the composite plate of ¼ anna and 2 annas. The earliest shade of the 2 anna stamp was in buff of which no copy earlier than 1868 has been recorded. Later from about 1873 a clear yellow was always used but there are some intermediate shades. Some of the yellow pigment shows gold-like specks which Sefi and Mortimer describe as mica but which has elsewhere been described as auripigment. For a long time this value formed the state registration rate, but not for a long period of its issue. Consequently it is relatively scarcely used, and covers are very rarely seen with this value alone. SG 99, 100 and 100a {4 annas emerald-green (SG 99), sage-green (SG 100) and myrtle-green (SG 100a)} 4 annas myrtle green –SG 101a–. This stamp is extremely rare but is known from two undated entires, in each case with a ½ anna blue stamp, one of which from the Mortimer collection is in the possession of Dr. Staal, who also has two unused copies which have received Royal Certificates. Nevertheless it is a stamp of considerable rarity and in our opinion is the first shade. The impressions are clear in spite of the heavy pigment. 4 annas sage green – SG 100–. This is a very distinct shade much undervalued. Masson had two copies on dated entires dated 1284 and 1285 which could give dates from 1867 to 1869. While one or two other copies are known. it Is a rare stamp though less so than the myrtle green. 4 annas emerald green – SG 99–. This Is the normal colour of the 4 annas from about 1868 to 1878, or possibly 1879, if a record of late use quoted in Le Timbre Poste is to be accepted as correct. The only variations in colour that can really he noted are of depth from the quantity of pigment applied to the single die fromwhich this stamp was printed.