Early Irish Stamps: 1922-60

[captphil211]

Ireland sc 61, 1 1/2d red brown Harrison & Sons coil stamp, 1923. These stamps were issued as paste-up coils. Strips of stamps were cut horizontally or vertically from sheets and the ends were joined. I believe my stamp was a horizontal coil as the side perfs look torn while top and bottom seem cut.

The work was contracted to Harrison & Sons in England, who had produced coil stamps for the Privisional Government in 1922. The Harrison overprints for this issue are distinguished by the high "e" of "Eireann," giving the word a wobbly look.

The 4 stamps of this issue were withdrawn as the first Irish printed definitive became avaliable during 1923, so they are all valued higher used than mint.

[captphil211]

Ireland sc 2, 1d scarlet Dollard ovpt., February 1922, blk4 mint hinged. Two firms were tasked with overprinting British stamps for the new Irish Provisional Government in 1922; Dollard, Ltd. and Alex. Thom & Co. Both sets came out on 17 February 1922. Telling the two apart is really easy. Dollard overprints have no period at the end of "1922" and Alex. Thom ovetprints do.

In July. 1922, when more stamps were needed, the work went to Alex.Thom. Traditional philatelic scuttlebutt is that too much printers' waste was going out the back door at Dollard's. Indeed many of the errors I have seen offered were Dollard overprints.

[captphil211]

Ireland 84, 1d rose, coil perf 15 horizontally, 1934, mnh.

There is a variety listed, 87a carmine rose 1933, valued 5x this stamp. When I place this next to a normal 1d carmine rose from the 1923 set, I think I can tell the difference, but it's really too close for me to call.

[captphil211]

Ireland sc 93, 2/6d brown Seahorse, 1935. Although all British overprinted stamps up to one shilling were replaced by Irish designs in 1923, the British Seahorse designs were used until 1935. Here is the 2/6d brown value from the last batch. This is the Waterlow printing with the cross hatching on the medallion. These were finally replaced by the Irish St. Patrick design in 1937.

In the Anonymous Appocrypha of Philately we find the parable of the old gentleman that specialized in Ireland, yet had none of the overprinted British stamps. Why? "I'll have none of those damned British things in my album!" So be it, but there are 6 (maybe 7) listed sets of Irish Seahorses. All of them were only seldom used for postage, and used stamps are all valued at as much or higher than mint.

[captphil211]

And more fun with Seahorses. Ireland sc 13, 5/ carmine rose ( or so says Scott), Dollard ovpt., February, 1922. The stamps used for this issue were from the 1919 printing, and this stamp has the micro dot above the middle frame cited by Scott for that batch. There are said to be 4 color varieties, among them carmine rose and rose carmine. I just ain't going there.

Later in 1922 Thom overprinted more Seahorses. The Dollard overprint has 1 mm between the h and e of "hereann," making for a noticeable gap. Thom's overprint has only 1/2mm.

[captphil211]

Ireland sc 117, 1/ blue, 1940, unused hinged.



For me, this is a real keeper. This is the one shilling high value from the second printing of Ireland's first definitive designs in 1940. The designs in 1940 were slightly smaller to fit better on the paper and were watermarked prominently with the large plain "e." But the paper in both sets has a tendancy to turn brownish and ghastly. I was lucky to find one so clean.

[captphil211]

Ireland sc 111a, 3p dull blue, 1941, booklet pane, mnh.



I've had this piece since the 1980s, and the Scott cv has not changed at all in all that time. The watermark is upside down, I don't know why.