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Montserrat


Chapter overview
  • Impressed revenue stamps (catalogue numbers prefixed Z)
  • Labels (catalogue numbers prefixed L)
  • Revenue (catalogue numbers prefixed R)
  • Revenue usage of Postage stamps (catalogue numbers prefixed F)


Acknowledgments

Glenn H Morgan, FRPSL, 'Harrison and Sons 1866 Revenue Stamps of Montserrat', Gibbons Stamp Monthly (June 2017)
W Schmidt and C Kiddle, Images of the Great War Vol III: an illustrated Catalogue of Delandre's Red Cross Vignettes 1914-1917 (Cinderella Stamp Club Handbook 13, 1997)

Further acknowledgments can be found on the main West Indies page.



Currency
  • (Until 1949) 20 shillings = 1 pound sterling (12 pence = 1 shilling)
  • (1949-1965) 100 cents = 1 British West Indies dollar
  • (1965-present) 100 cents = 1 East Caribbean dollar

Impressed revenue stamps
Picture
Z6 and 1925 essay for 2d value (see note 3 below) (black and white images from Freeland)
1896 (earliest recorded usage).  Imperial Crown, inscribed MONTSERRAT STAMP DUTY, with value in words at foot.  Colourless or inked in purple.  Various frames, measuring approx 33 x 39 mm.  No check letters.

  [Z5. 6d colourless]
  Z6. 1s purple

Notes:
1. Z5 is reported in the second of Charles Freeland's two articles on Impressed Die Revenues (for full details see the main West Indies page).   He is unable to illustrate the stamp, which had belonged to Victor Toeg, but states that it is cancelled 11th January 1896.
2. Freeland also reports that the Kay collection in the British Library includes a proof set of Montserrat blind embossed revenues denominated 1d, 3d, 6d, 1s, 5s, 10s, £1 and £5.

3. Barber illustrates drawings for nine different Montserrat embossed revenues from ½d to 5s (with two different types of the top value), for which he gives the date 1924-33.  None of these is known as an issued stamp, though Freeland illustrates a hand-painted essay ex the De La Rue archives for the 2d in vermilion, dated 1925 (see illustration above).
4. In 1973 the Montserrat Postmaster wrote (in private correspondence with revenue philatelist W J Pieterse) "we are not impressing revenues in documents and we never did".  Although the existence of Z5/6 above indicates that this is not absolutely correct, the Postmaster's letter suggests that the use of embossed revenues was discontinued well before the 1970s.

Labels
Picture
L1 and L2
1916-17.  18 x 40 mm.  French Red Cross Society charity label featuring the Device of the Colony.  Printed (litho) by Delandre.  No watermark.  Ungummed.

  L1. 1d + 1d multicoloured (perf 11)
  L2. 1d + 1d multicoloured (imperf)

Note: for further information on these labels see Schmidt and Kiddle.

Revenue
Picture
R1/3
Picture
1866 (see note 1).  25½ x 30 mm.  Slightly crude design featuring portrait of Queen Victoria in garter frame surmounted with crown.  Inscribed MONTSERRAT INLAND REVENUE.  Printed (litho) by Harrison in sheets of 12 (4 rows of 3).

  R1. 1d carmine-lake (vertically laid paper, perf 12½)
  R2. 1d carmine-lake (horizontally laid paper, perf 12½)
  R3. 1d rose-carmine (horizontally laid paper, perf 12)

Notes:
​1. The date of issue is not known but Morgan notes: "it appears that preliminary work was underway at Harrison by February 1866, as one preparatory sheet (numbered 257) bears this date on its reverse in pencil".
​2. A small number of surviving complete sheets of this issue are known - both imperforate (proofs) and perforated, as illustrated at right.  The marginal markings include the printer's imprint, and the instructional mark One Penny each - One Shilling per Sheet.  Michael Hamilton has noted that One Penny Each is written with a capital E on the proof sheets but in lower case on the known perforated sheets, from which he concludes that at least two different plate settings were used.

Picture
R6 single and tĂȘte-bĂȘche pairs (x2 showing down-up and up-down arrangements)
Picture
1887.  Small key type design featuring portrait of Queen Victoria, inscribed MONTSERRAT REVENUE.  Perf 14.  Wmk Crown CA (upright or inverted).  Printed (typo) by De La Rue.

  R6. 1d lilac

Notes:
1. The date of issue is derived from a perforated proof from the De La Rue archives dated October 1887.
2. The plate set-up caused stamps to be printed with half the sheet inverted relative to the other.  Inverted watermark is therefore as common as upright, and tête-bêche pairs are occasionally found, as illustrated here.

Revenue usage of Postage stamps
Note: for ease of reference, numbering follows the Stanley Gibbons Part 1 catalogue throughout this section.  Values listed here are those recorded as having been used for revenue purposes.

Picture
F14, F30, F40, F43
1903-14.  Device of the Colony.  Perf 14.  Printed (typo) by De La Rue.

a) Wmk Crown CA (1903)
  F14. ½d grey-green and green

b) Wmk Multiple Crown CA (1904-08)
  F30. 1s green and bright purple (1908)

c) Wmk Multiple Crown CA, colours changed (1908-14)
  F40. 3d purple on yellow (1909)
  F43. 6d dull and deep purple (1909)

Picture
F49/51 (top row) and F64/83 (bottom row)
1916-29.  Design featuring Device of the Colony with portrait of King George V.  Perf 14.  Printed (typo) by De La Rue.

a) Wmk Multiple Crown CA (1916-22)
  F49. ½d green

  F50. 1d scarlet
  F51. 2d grey

b) Wmk Multiple Script CA (1922-29)
  F64. ½d green
(1923)
  F65. 1d bright violet (1923)
​  F66. 1d carmine (1929)

  F69. 1½d red-brown (1929)
  F71a. 2½d pale bright blue (1926)
  F83. 5s green and red on pale yellow (1923)
Picture
F84 and F90
1932.  300th Anniversary of the Settlement of Montserrat.  Perf 14.  Wmk Multiple Script CA.  Printed (recess) by De La Rue.

  F84. ½d green
  F90. 6d violet

PictureF95

1935.  Silver Jubilee of King George V.  Perf 11 x 12.  Wmk Multiple Script CA.  Printed (recess) by Waterlow.

  F95. 1½d ultramarine and grey

Picture
1937.  Coronation.  Perf 14.  Wmk Multiple Script CA.  Printed (recess) by De La Rue.

  F98. 1d scarlet
  F100. 2½d bright blue

Picture
F101a/105a
1938-48.  Designs featuring local scenes with portrait of King George VI.  Perf 13 except where otherwise stated.  Wmk Multiple Script CA.  Printed (recess) by De La Rue.

  F101a. ½d blue green (perf 14) (1942)
  F102a. 1d carmine (perf 14) (1943)
  F103a. 1½d purple (perf 14) (1942)
  F104. 2d orange
  F105. 2½d ultramarine
    a. Perf 14 (1943)

PictureF113

1946.  Victory Commemoration.  Perf 13½ x 14.  Wmk Multiple Script CA.  Printed (recess) by De La Rue.

  F113. 1½d purple


Picture
F124/129
1951.  New pictorial designs.  Perf 11½ x 11.  Wmk Multiple Script CA.  Printed (recess) by Bradbury Wilkinson.

  F124. 2c green
  F126. 4c carmine
  F129. 8c deep blue
Picture
F138/144
1953-58.  Similar to previous issue but with portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.  Perf 11½ x 11.  Wmk Multiple Script CA.  Printed (recess) by Bradbury Wilkinson.

  F138. 2c green
  F139. 3c orange-brown
  F144. 12c blue and red-brown
Picture
F575/576
Picture
F575 with 'RECEIVED' revenue cancel
1983.  30½ x 40½ mm.  Badge of the Colony.  Perf 14½.  Watermark Multiple Crown CA Diagonal (Gibbons w14).  Printed (litho) by Harrison.

  F575. $12 rose and royal blue
  F576. $30 royal blue and rose

Note: these stamps are almost always found mint or with Specimen overprints, though they were evidently valid for revenue purposes as shown in the example illustrated here.
Picture
F901/2
2014.  Pictorial designs inscribed Postage and Revenue.  War Memorial, Plymouth ($50) or 'Lady and the Harp' Coat of Arms ($100).

  F901. $50 multicoloured
  F902. $100 multicoloured
​
Note: the high face values of these stamps make it likely that they were issued primarily for revenue purposes.  I have yet to see one with any kind of cancel.

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