Essays

Lettered Essays

Royal Philatelic Collection.
Reproduced by gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen to whom copyright belongs.

Soon after the first issue of telegraph stamps on 1 Feb 1876 there was a demand for more values. On 24 Mar 1876 the Postmaster General approved six new values: 4d, 6d, 3s, 10s, £1, and £5. The initial essays for these values were dated “21 APR 76” and lettered ‘C’ to ‘H’. A further design for the £5 is dated “15 JUN 76” and lettered ‘I’.

C	3s	77	NN	violet, selected for the 4d
D	4d	66	NN	red, selected for the 3s
E	6d	?	?	missing
F	£5	66	NN	blue
G	£1	66	NN	violet
H	10s	66	NN	green
I	£5	66	NN	orange (15 JUN 76)

All are in the Royal Philatelic Collection (except ‘E’, which is missing).

The history of the 4d and 3s essays lettered ‘C’ and ‘D’ is confusing. We know that:
Essay ‘C’ was a design for a 3s value, but was selected for the 4d,
  and is endorsed in pencil “(To be) Superseded by design marked A”.
Essay ‘D’ was a design for a 4d value, but was selected for the 3s,
  and is endorsed in pencil “Superseded by design marked B”.

Sir John Wilson notes about essay ‘D’ “This is an error and should read ‘by the design marked C’ “; however, he makes no such comment on essay ‘C’, which would seem to be a similar error.

It is possible that essays ‘A’ and ‘B’ have been lost, or that they never existed, or that they refer to the approved essays below which probably were once large lettered cards. It is interesting to note that ‘C’ and ‘D’ are in a different hand from the other letters, and ‘D’ appears to have another letter underneath.

It is also possible that the missing 6d essay ‘E’ was approved and is now the cut down approved essay below. Since the essay is cut to stamp size, any identifying letter or date have been lost.

De La Rue Archive Essays

Two further designs were sold in the De La Rue Archive sale in May 1977. A design for the £1 dated “JUL 24 96” (in error for 76) is in private hands, and a design for the £5 dated “15 JUN 76” is in the Langmead Collection.

—	£1	66	NN	dull rose
—	£5	66	NN	reddish purple

Approved Essays

Reproduced by gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen to whom copyright belongs.

Final designs of all six values were submitted and subsequently approved. They probably were once large cards (later cut down and stuck on an album page). This set was part of the Sugden Collection and is now in the Royal Philatelic Collection.

—	4d	77	NN	red
—	6d	44	OO	grey
—	3s	66	NN	reddish purple
—	10s	66	NN	bluish grey
—	£1	66	NN	reddish purple
—	£5	66	NN	reddish purple

H. T. Jackson skips a line in his description of these, giving the 6d the description of the 3s.