Friday, December 2, 2011

Australia-George the 5th Definitives-The 1 Penny Halfpenny-Illustrated

Shown below are four examples of the 1 Penny Halfpenny definitive of George the 5th issued for Australia between 1914 and 1936. The Penny Halfpenny was issued in many varieties of colour, paper, watermark and perforation. (See the Halfpenny and 1 Penny issues this blog).

The blackish-purple variety (left) shown below was issued in this colour twice. First in 1918-20 and in 1918 to 1923. To distinguish between the two issues the watermark must be analysed. The original issue was watermarked with "A" under a two pointed crown in multiples the second issue a single "A" under the two pointed crown. The example shown here is the second issue. Concurrent with the black-brown variety the Penny Halfpenny was also printed in a re-brown colour and and again the only way to distinguish between the printings is by watermark since the perforations are the same. The watermark in this example is the "A" under the two pointed crown in multiples dating it to the 1919 printing of the issue.

In 1923 the Penny Halfpenny was issued in green with the single "A" under the two pointed crown (illustrated below).

The Penny Halfpenny was also issued in scarlet twice. Originally in 1924 and again in 1926 and 1928. The later issues were both watermarked with multiples of "A" under a sloping crown. The example shown below is the 1924 issue with a single watermark "A" under the two pointed crown.

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