1d

This was printed in red, orange andpink and within these colours, as with all state stamps of the time, variations abound with faded dye colours, poor dye mixes and bad printing runs. Watermarks were used to protect these stamps and also varied over time.

2d

Interestingly there was only one issue of the 2d in Blue.

Higher Values

The 3d came in Brown and Grey-green, 4d Lilac and 4d Yellow, 6d Green, 1 Shilling purple, grey, olive and 2 shilling blue. The higher denominations were mainly used as revenue stamps for government and business fees and included 2 shilling 6d red, 5 shilling rose, 5 shilling brown, 10 shilling brown and 20 shilling Rose.

At the time of writing catalogue values for these stamps ranged from $150 – $3,250 for mint examples and $10-$675 for used examples. Again, catalogue values do not truly relfect market values and should only be used as a guide. Anyone who is trying to recreate a full plate for example would pay higher than catalogue to complete a full plate.

Perforations

This was a ‘new technology’ and the earlier stamps have a very rough (from today’s standards) perforation which later became more condensed in the gaps of the perforation to allow better separation of the stamps. The differences in perforations across this series is what can make them more valuable to collectors.

Watermarks

There were several watermarks used across the entire stamp issue and these can help to identify the year of production although there is some overlap of them.

There were two stars used the large 16mm and the smaller 13mm and it is not until you have seen a lot of these stamps that the naked eye can tell the difference. There was a period in 1862 when the stamps were printed locally and there was no watermark on them. 1866 saw the introduction of Queensland Postage Stamps sheet watermark being superseded in 1868 with the Star Queensland watermark. This was then changed to the Q Crown watermark and I have been lucky enough to see both in real life. Below is the table of watermark dates for reference

All of the denominations in this issue are highly collected for the amount of variations and they will make a great addition to any collection.

It was printed in Red 1d, Blue 2d and Green 6d versions, imperforated so they had to be cut in sheets similar to other stamps around this time.

Queensland as a state had begun to form around 1857 with people moving into the territory for farming and agriculture, settlements rising on the Darwin and Brisbane rivers. As such the population held beliefs from their mother country and a strong sense of monarchy remained in the colony. Queensland formally separated from New South Wales in 1859 and its first stamps were locally printed by engraved plates supplied from London.

As with all early and first State stamps, numbers of printing are not known. Prices vary in the catalogues From $4,000-$6,000 for mint specimens with the whole set valued around $19,000. This will vary of course as all values for stamps do, some more rapidly than others.

The Red 1d is more accurately described in the catalogues as Carmine/Brown. This is a distinction of the tone of red and the quality of the ink that was available at the time, producing many specimens with deeper brown tones rather than true red. This is one of the many reasons it is highly collected as a time line can be built around the quality of the inks and colours of the specimens.

The Blue 2d is catalogued as Dark Blue and again the tones and shades vary greatly.

The Green 6d is catalogued as Dark Green but the dyes for both the blue and green were not stable for longevity and over time and exposure to the elemtns can be seen to be both bright and light shades of the true colour trying to be achieved at the time of printing.

Watermarks

Queensland printed their first stamps with a small star watermark that later became larger and known as the SG1 Watermark by philatelists.

Here are some examples of the types of specimens available illustrating the large variety of difference in shades.