New Zealand: Chalons - 1855-1873

I was looking thru' the RPSNZ vol.3 handbook earlier today, looking for information on the damage that occurred to Wellington's 070 duplex.

Here is what it says :





Next, I went looking thru' my books to see if I had examples of the above soas to follow the damage and to see the change made to indicate a time of day, via a letter index next to the 2 digit year number.

Firstly, here are some examples of the '070' side of the duplex prior to the RHS being damaged :



And an example of it after damage :




Next is the CDS side of the duplex prior to the time index letter being added :




and following the time of day posting indica being added next to the year :




I find it exciting to see what is written in books, being able to be found and seen within our own collections.



Dave

While going thru' my Chalon covers this morning I see I have this '070' Wellington duplex cover.
Noted: It is cancelled JU 10 71




Which means that the duplex itself was still in undamaged condition at this point in time.

My theory is :

That sometime between mid 1871 and late 1873 it was damaged by somebody making the change to the CDS portion of the duplex, when adding the time indica.
Possibly whilst placing the duplex into a vice to hold it in place to perform the operation, the vice was over-tightened causing the sides of the duplex to be compressed inwards a little!



Dave

Initial thoughts, it looks like a 'ROSS' m/s I have.

Let me go and get it and scan it in to compare.

Any m/s is good to have, especially if you know what town/place it was used at.



Dave

I have these 6 manuscripts which I am still looking to identify, if anyone can assist 

The last one, the imperf 2d blue, appears to have a PB '10' obliterator and a 3 word m/s!





Dave

This one is dated JU 10 71




Which means that the duplex itself was still in undamaged condition at this point in time.

And your one shows the damage:





So you have updated my theory and improved my dates of the damage occuring to between 10th June 1871 and 3rd (or is it the 8th) Sept 1872.

UPDATED THEORY is:

That sometime between June 1871 and Sept 1872 it was damaged by somebody making the change to the CDS portion of the duplex, when adding the time indica.
Possibly whilst placing the duplex into a vice to hold it in place to perform the operation, the vice was over-tightened causing the sides of the duplex to be compressed inwards a little!



Well done - oh and very nice covers too gc



Dave

And a block of 6 of SG125 with damage to the 070 duplex and with the date index number now there.






So a further tightening of the dates the damage occurred - to between August 8th 1871 & August 11 1872



Dave

That Wellington date stamp looks like it was put in a vice too!

Thanks Grant.

Not really, I saw it had a Wellington '070' duplex cancel when I was bidding but haven't had a good look until now.

Here it is close up:



It shows the Wellington 070 duplex, 3 strikes, but no really clear strike of the obliterator portion so cannot rule on damage to that.

The CDS side is a bit clearer. A date of NO 12 71 - and the F time index letter.

The CDS does look a little 'squeezed' in but not so that it touches the W of Wellington as it does more so later on.

So, what is clear is that the time indica is there by 12 November 1871 !

Which means that the time indica was put there sometime between August 8th 1871 and November 12th 1871.

Therefore, the damage to the duplex was probably started at this time, although not proven conclusively yet, and became progressively worse over time.



Dave

Hi Dave
Here is another one close to your dated cover
18-11-71
Cheers Grant

Hi Everyone,

I was researching the engravings of Queen Victoria used as the precursors for the Chalons and happened upon the Samuel Cousins engraving of the Chalon painting. The engraving was used by Francis Moon to publish same size prints of the original Chalon painting (75 x 50 cm). The printings were produced in 1838. The prints were so popular that Cousins was commissioned to make a second smaller engraving, 60cm x 40cm, examples were produced in October 1838 and May 1839 witha total of 1,100 copies printed. Moon then commissioned Charles Wagstaff another well known engraver to produce a three quarter length engraving 40cm x 30cm which was published in April 1839.

In any case I thought what are the chances of finding one of these original prints - and voila!  Got one on eBay from a dealer in the UK (£500).  This copy was previously a part of the Hon Christopher Lennox-Boyd (1941-2012) collection as proven by a bill of sale.  

I don't have it yet but the below information and images are from the the auction.  

Next I'm on the hunt for a Bank of Victoria and Union Bank of Australia (NZ) banknotes which were also based on the Chalon and were also printed by Perkins, Bacon.  


Victoria R
Queen Victoria in Coronation Robes, after Alfred Chalon
The 'Coronation Portrait"
Engraving by Samuel Cousins, 1838

Subject description:
Portrait of Queen Victoria in coronation robes, standing in front of a balcony leaning with her left arm on the plinth of a pillar, which is decorated with a bas-relief of a lion, looking away to left, holding a ruffled cloth in her right hand, her cloak falling over the steps descending in front of her which are scattered with roses.

This engraving by Samuel Cousins was used to create Queen Victoria's head on several postage stamps of the time, and became known as the 'Chalon Head'.

Original painting by: Alfred Edward Chalon R.A (1780-1860)
Print made by: Samuel Cousins A.R.A. (1801-1887)
Published: May 1st, 1839, by FS Moon (1796-1871)
Method: Etching, mezzotint, mixed method
Material: Paper
Condition: Good. Some evidence of slight foxing consistent with age (please examine photos)
Frame: Wood
Height: 105 cm
Width: 75 cm

Print made by:
Samuel Cousins - one of the leading mezzotint engravers of his generation. Born in Exeter; apprentice (1814-18) and thereafter assistant to Samuel William Reynolds, contributed to S W Reynolds's series of prints after Joshua Reynolds (see Whitman's catalogue). His younger brother Henry Cousins also a printmaker. In 1872, planning retirement, he deposited at the British Museum an almost complete set of his work, but in the event continued to publish for at least another 12 years.

Published by:
Sir Francis Graham Moon, 1st Baronet - print publisher and dealer. Apprenticed to Tugwell in Threadneedle Street, he later took over the business. In 1825, in partnership with Graves and Boys took over the failed business of Hurst, Robinson as Moon, Boys & Graves (qv), while continuing his own business in Threadneedle Street. On his own from 1836. Lord Mayor in 1854.

Provenance: Demonstrated by previous bill of sale/receipt included with this item (attached to the rear - see photo), the engraving was previously a part of the Hon Christopher Lennox-Boyd (1941-2012) collection.

I just had these delivered to me in a small lot of 6x 1d Chalons.

These 3 are SG110 Carmine-vermillion, SG111 Pale orange-vermillion and SG112 Orange




I bought them mainly for SG112 Orange. The orange color is the least common of the 3 and cat at twice the other 2.
It was printed in 1871 and only lasted for a few months as in October of that year they changed the color of the 1d to brown.

The 2d went from blue to Orange / Vermillion and the 6d brown changed to blue at the same time.



Dave

The 1837 Queen Victoria portrait - in color :






Dave

Oh darn.  Hold all bets - wow. I was just trawling through the old Hackmey auctions at Spink Shrives and saw my newly acquired but yet to be delivered SG2 '3' Hokianga, only it was described as '9' New Plymouth!!!

On closer inspection - same stamp, definitely a '9', and feeling a little gutted. Oh well that's the game isn't it. Be sending that back for a refund.

Spink image on left.  Spink description.

2d. dull blue on blued paper, good regular margins and lightly cancelled "9" at New Plymouth. Sc. 2; S.G. 2.  est. US$200-300

Mowbrays on right.  Mowbrays description 

NZ Definitives, Full Face Queens, 1855 2d dull blue on blued paper, London print, imperf 4 even margins. Fine barred "3" cancel Hokianga. RPSNZ cert (2011). SG 2. Cat £700. VFU.  Eat. $NZ525-750

Oh I've just this second read the description again.  It comes with a certificate!!! wtf.  Oh, forgive my French.  You've got to be kidding.  What do you all think??  Obvious isn't it?  A certificate?  I'll be copying and pasting that here if it arrives before I send it back!  Although maybe as an after thought the certificate wasn't issued for the oblit., just the stamp.  We'll see.

It turns out I have 9 SG2's - although one is decidedly lacking in margins (I use that one to show the 'bluing' effect on the paper!)

2x have a PB 1 - Auckland - one lacking in margins but used to demonstrate the 'bluing' effect on the back
3x have a PB 9 - New Plymouth
1x has a   PB 11 - Ahuriri - but it is rather faint, so I will not show that one.
2x in a pair have a PB 12 - Wanganui
1x has a   PB 16 - Lyttelton - looks brighter than the other 8, perhaps it has been washed by a previous owner to clean it up a bit!




So, I am missing quite a few of the PB's then! Another project 


Dave