These stamps were issued imperforate by the Government but several licensed vendors provided their own perforations unofficially for the convenience of the public. Thus Walch and Sons in Hobart perforated their own supplies, initially with a machine gauging 10. From 1868, they used a machine gauging 11.8. Meanwhile, Robert Harris in Launceston perforated his supplies 12.75. These varieties are less common than the Hobart perforations.
On 1 November 1870, the 3d, 2/6 and 10/- St George and Dragon stamps, together with the 1d, 2d and 4d Chalon heads were withdrawn from use. The 5/- was retained until 25 March 1871, when the 5/- Sideface was issued. All old stocks were burnt. The St George and Dragon issues were not valid for postage at this time.
Subsequently reprints of these stamps were produced in 1879 on thin hard paper (480 printed). These were for presentation purposes. In 1886, the remainder was overprinted REPRINT (no full stop). The number was probably 240. Half of the 3d stamps have the overprint inverted. In 1889, a new set of reprints was printed on card paper. They are also found overprinted REPRINT (with full stop) with perforation 11.8. They were also used on display sheets and in presentation sets to members of the Federal Parliament in 1901.
From 1871 to 1880, only one series of stamps was issued but they were available for both postal and revenue purposes. On 1 May 1880, an amendment to the Stamp Duties Act came into force. Among other things, it provided that postage and revenue stamps should be strictly separate. The existing stamps were retained for postal use, while new stamps had to be provided for fiscal use.
To this end, Louisa Meredith had already designed a new issue of revenue stamps in the well-known Platypus design. These were of denominations 1d, 3d, 6d and 1/- in horizontal format. The plates were of 120 impressions in two panes of 60. The first printing was made by De La Rue in England in 1877 but political considerations prevented their issue until 19 April 1880. They were not valid for use until 1 May 1880. They are watermarked close spaced TAS and perforated 14. De La Rue made a second printing in 1880. In 1894, the plates were sent to Hobart. Stamps from the first printing of 1877 can be found with wing margins. Stamps from the 1880 printing do not have wing margins. A simple explanation is available in Juhl's book "Postage Stamps and Postal History of Western Australia", Volume 1, pp. 29-30, where the De La Rue perforations are discussed.
The lack of high value stamps was solved by making new printings of the 2/6, 5/- and 10/- St George and Dragon issues. The 2/6 was in lake, similar to its predecessor of 1863, but the 5/- appeared in shades of sage green and the 10/- appeared in salmon. These stamps were printed on paper watermarked double lined 1 as before. They appeared in May 1880. All of them are found perforated 11.4 and 11.8. The 3d St George and Dragon was dropped as the 3d Platypus was now available.
On 1 November 1882, a further amendment to the Stamp Duties Act came into force. This time all postage and revenue stamps were made interchangeable. Collectors of the day took the opportunity to create postally used examples of the Platypus and St George and Dragon issues, including the 1863 printings. The 1d Sideface was withdrawn for about 18 months so that the 1d Platypus could be used up first. When supplies of the 3d Sideface, 6d and 1/- Chalon Heads ran out, the Platypus issues of these denominations remained in use for a number of years. The 6d Platypus ran out in 1891. The 2/6 and 10/- were the only stamps of these denominations available for postage until 1892. The 5/- was apparently withdrawn about 1885 when a new printing of the 5/- Sideface appeared. However, the 5/- Sideface ran out about 1894 or so and the 5/- St George and Dragon was reissued. The 5/- St George and Dragon is often found used in the early 1880s up to 1885 and between 1894 and 1898.
A new printing of the 2/6 on paper watermarked TAS was made in August 1888. A printing of the 10/- on paper watermarked double lined 1 appeared in January 1889. The 2/6 was much better printed after the plate had been divided in two. The 10/- is in a red-salmon shade. I have only seen them perforated 11.8. Bassett Hull and the Craig and Ingles catalogue list a 10/- from this printing perforated 11.4 but I have not seen this variety. This may be an error in the listings that has not been corrected over the years. It is advisable to use an Instanta gauge in measuring these perforations.
All of these stamps were at various times the only stamps of these denominations that were available to the public for postage. As such, there is a case for regarding them on the same basis as normal postage stamps. The Stanley Gibbons catalogue has already given this recognition to the Stamp Duty and Stamp Statute types of Victoria issued prior to 1901. Most of the current Tasmanian postage stamps between 1882 and 1900 inclusive can be found in fiscally used condition, especially the 1d, 3d, 6d, 1/- and higher values. Other lower denominations are less common fiscally used, since they did not represent any rates of duty.
The 1880 printings of these stamps are known overprinted SPECIMEN. Two types of overprint were applied to the Platypus issues. The horizontal type of SPECIMEN overprint appears to have been applied by hand to the Platypus and St George and Dragon stamps. (Fig. 4) The vertical format was applied to the Platypus issues using a forme at the Government Printer's office. (Fig. 5 and 6) This version is also found (in horizontal format) on the Tablet series and many of the Sideface issues. The 1d and 6d Platypus stamps were also reprinted on card paper since stocks of these values ran out. They are usually found overprinted REPRINT (with full stop).
Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6
With the onset of Federation, postage and revenue stamps had to be separated. To this end, the Post Office published a notice to say that the £1 Tablet, the 2/6, 5/- and 10/- St George and Dragon and all the Platypus issues had been withdrawn from use. They would henceforth only be used as revenue stamps. Old stocks and new printings of these stamps were therefore overprinted REVENUE from November 1900. From the surviving records, it appears that stamps without the overprint would not be valid for revenue purposes after 30 November 1900 but no public notice to this effect has been located. The Stamp Duties Act was amended to ensure that postage and revenue stamps were no longer interchangeable but that amendment only came into force on 1 December 1900. In the meantime, the Revenue overprints were created in November 1900. Old stocks of the 3d, 2/6, 10/- and £1 overprinted REVENUE were issued in November 1900 and a few were used postally, mainly by philatelists. Such usage was quite legal. Only the 3d is normally available to collectors in postally used condition (as distinct from CTO examples) but the three high values are known used together on a cover (of philatelic origin).
Until 1904, new printings of these stamps, together with some 1d surcharges on the 3d, were made and issued for fiscal use only. (Fig. 7) The forme for the 1d surcharge of 1904 was recycled to produce the 1½d surcharge on 5d Tablet. Printing records are very incomplete. A number of errors have leaked out over the years. A 2d Platypus was added in 1903 to meet the need for adhesive stamps to pay duty on receipts for amounts exceeding £5 but not exceeding £50. A 4d surcharge on the 3d was introduced in 1905 to meet the revised and increased scale of duties on receipts. Most of these stamps were printed on paper watermarked close spaced TAS but the 1d was printed in 1903 on the old paper watermarked wide spaced TAS with lines. This was an emergency printing to conserve stocks of paper. When cancelled in pen and ink, the penstroke was liable to go through the stamp. Most examples that I have seen are unused. There was also an emergency printing of the 2/6 on paper watermarked double lined 4 after the Tasmanian Government Printer had tried unsuccessfully to borrow paper from his Sydney counterpart in 1903. The REVENUE is from a new font with larger letters. It was mistakenly listed as printed on double lined 1 paper but no such variety has come to light.
Fig. 7
From 1904 onwards, a new series of duty stamps were issued in the Numerals design. It resembles the Numerals design for the low value Victorian revenue stamps but differs in many details. Initially these covered the nine denominations originally provided as stamps overprinted REVENUE but a 4d was added in 1905. The plates were made in Melbourne and initial printings were made on paper watermarked V over Crown (Purves type V4). The stamps were perforated 12×12½ comb but the 1d is also found perforated 11. All values are found with watermark upright and inverted. The perforations and watermarks for this issue are fully discussed in Geoff Kellow's book on Victoria. Richard Peck has published some printing records from the Reserve Bank Archives for these issues.
From September 1906 onwards, the printing of these stamps was transferred to Sydney. Not surprisingly, the Sydney printings were on Crown A paper as used for the current postage stamps printed in Sydney. The 4d, 10/- and £1 were not printed on this paper. The £1 Tablet overprinted REVENUE was reissued some time after the £1 Numeral design ran out but it is uncertain when this happened. It remained in use up to about 1950. A range of perforations was used for the Sydney printings but the most common gauge is 12×11½. The use of an Instanta gauge is advisable. A few printing records survive in the New South Wales and Tasmanian archives.
In June 1907 twenty sheets of the 3d on Crown A paper were surcharged 1/- as they were urgently required to meet a shortage of this denomination. The font is similar to that of the 1d surcharge of 1904 on the 3d Platypus and the 1d + 1d surcharge on the 1½d + 1½d reply paid postcard. The printing information comes from files GP2/10 and TRE6/8/907 in the Archives Office of Tasmania.
In 1918, a provisional issue of the 5d surcharged on old stocks of 10/- St George and Dragon appeared. (Figure 8) This was replaced by a 5d on £1 Tablet in 1919, together with a 1/- on £1 about the same time. No printing records have been seen for these surcharges.
