1. About this website.

2. Definitive light colours.

About this website

Over the years I have collected all sorts of articles about KG6 stamps and postal history to support my own collection. Then, having used a web publishing program, I decided that this sort of software would be useful to collate the information as the hypertext function, (linking one item or page to another) would prove useful. At that point I had no intention of publishing these web style pages.

Before long I found that not only did I have a lot of information missing, but also that there were a lot of disagreements in the details. I therefore decided it might be worth publishing what I had to see if other collectors could add their knowledge, and hopefully, that what I had might also assist others.

I have had requests for stamps, etc., but I am a collector not a dealer other than when I sell off any surplus I may have.

I most gratefully welcome any assistance and further information that anyone may be able to provide.

My best wishes to fellow collectors - Malcolm Sanders

Definitive light colours.

One of the disagreements in detail within the information I have collected concerns the lighter colour definitive stamps. These are some of the articles I have concerning this :-

C.P. Rang states that the following views are not based on information from the PMG, but on close examination of the stamps : -

"The impression of paleness of the new series as compared with the old will readily be admitted, but is it due to the shade of the ink? I think not. I believe the ink is exactly the same as before.

     What I believe has happened is that the design has been redrawn. Not by altering the shape of any part but in the tone values.

     The answer is that the stamps are printed in photogravure, which is a recess-printing process and differs from typography or lithography in that the ink is applied in thickness as well as in area, the thickness depending on the depth of the recesses on the printing cylinder. This is, of course, well known to advanced collectors and the effect may easily be considered by examining a photogravure stamp under a strong magnifier. If it is very sharply printed it will be noticed that except in the high-lights the whole design is broken up into small coloured squares separated by fine white lines, the tones being produced by the different shades of the squares. The pale squares are printed by the very shallow recesses on the cylinder which hold no more than a film of ink while the dark ones are from the deep recesses which deposit a diminutive blob on the paper. In less sharply printed stamps (which are the general rule) the blobs join up and the pattern of squares is not always discernible.

     It will now become more understandable how the lighter tone of the background, being produced by shallower recesses, would naturally consume less ink than a deep-toned background and thereby achieve some economy.

     This series should therefore be regarded, not as shade varieties, but as a redrawn type, not only because the relative tone values of the head and background have been switched round but also because the initial operation must have been the setting up of a new master drawing."

C.P. Rang was an eminent philatelist, (I think he went on to be editor of Gibbons Stamp Monthly). In this article he is arguing from his own studies that the ink was not diluted, but that the lighter colours arose from shallower etching. He returns to this point a few years later to tell us that he was right all along;

"...The Post Office answering our recent enquiry, [about how the light colours were obtained] have informed us that the lighter background was obtained by making a new drawing of all but the head in a later tone; the old head unaltered was then superimposed on the new background, thus creating a new original from which new printing cylinders were obtained. The ink was unchanged, but the economy lay in the smaller quantity used owing to the shallower ink-holding recesses of the background.

   Stamp collectors will no doubt be glad to have this controversial matter satisfactorily settled by those responsible for the operation."

This seems pretty conclusive when a study of the stamp by an expert indicates one method and this is backed up by the GPO.

Further evidence supporting this comes in an article by Peter Worsfold, author of 'Great Britain King George VI Low Value Definitive Stamps' -

 Peter Worsfold begins by giving the reasons that led to the lighter colours. Then:

"During January 1941 various ways of reducing the depth of colour were investigated by Harrison [the printers]. These were:

Method 1 - the use of weaker ink with existing cylinders.

Method 2 - the extension of the 4d-6d series designs to the lower values.

Method 3 - a lighter background to the existing design produced by redrawing the background and alternatively by masking the background of the original design.

     On the 16 January 1941 Harrison used the current 2d design to produce a series of three essays by Method 1. They were prepared in the six different colours of the 1/2d to 3d values. Essays type A were produced in weaker ink than that used for the current design in the proportion of 14 parts ink to 7 parts medium. Essays type B had 'still weaker' ink - 10 parts ink to 7 parts medium. Essays C, in 'still further weaker ink', had 7 parts ink to 14 parts medium.

      Essays type D in the 4d value (Method 2) were also produced in the six different colours.

     Eight days later Method 3 was employed to prepare a further series of three Essays, X, Y and Z, again each in the colours of the six low values. Essays X produced in the 2d value had a shallower etch in the background areas of the design. Essays Y also in the 2d denomination had a slightly deeper etch although not as deep as the issued stamps. Essays Z were printed in the 2½d value. As mentioned previously, this involved a slightly different process, the masking of the background of the original design.....

..... Essays A, B and C were said to have advantages over all the others in being prepared from existing negatives, positives and cylinders. However, their adoption was ruled out because none of the three alternative shades was considered fast to light.

     Method 3 (Essays X, Y and Z) was considered next. The effect of the masking for Z caused the lower part of the back of the head to merge with the background which had a ribbed appearance. Also the whole head looked somewhat larger. This essay was dismissed as unsuccessful.

     In X and Y the lightening of the background by shallower etching lessened the previous striking contrast between the ground and the white parts of the design. The head itself appeared darker whilst the deep patch of colour at the nape of the neck was unduly dark.... It was held however that some sacrifice in the quality of the stamps to achieve the desired saving in ink could be justified in the circumstances of the time.....

   This design was preferred to Essay Y because it offered the greater saving in ink and a lighter background for postmarks. The main objection to Essay X was that it was thought that the stamps could be held to be 'cheap' in appearance.

     Method 2 (the adoption of the 4d - 6d designs for all the low values) was considered to be a good one for practical purposes.....

.... On balance, therefore, the report recommended that the ½d, 1d and 2½d stamps should take the design of the 4d to 6d stamps.

     However, both the Postmaster General and the Director General had strong preference for the Method 3 Essay Y. It was therefore, not surprising that it was this series of essays that was submitted to His Majesty King George VI for his approval. His Majesty took the opportunity of discussing the changes personally with the Postmaster General on the 1 April. Whilst the King accepted the proposed alterations to the 1d, 1½d, 2½d and 3d denominations he asked that the ½d and 2d essays should be redrawn. He expressed the view that in these values the head did not show up with sufficient prominence.

     New essays Y(A) (½d stamp) and Y(B) (2d) were submitted to His Majesty on the 9 June and accepted by him...."

To put the cap on the argument, Peter Worsfold ends the article by pointing out a letter from Edmund Dulac to the Post Office about the re-engraving, and the Post Office reply which stated that it had acted immediately and without consultation due to the circumstances of the times.

So we have CP Rang and Peter Worsfold with the GPO and Harrisons stating that the lighter colour was due to shallower etching and NOT diluted inks.

But then other articles appear, such as:

"As a wartime economy measure the composition of the inks used to print the six lowest denominations was altered in 1941, this resulted in stamps having the appearance of much paler colours."

And now:

"At the beginning of 1941 trials were undertaken by Harrisons to find ways of reducing the amount of ink used..... [Peter West points out that the change of design method - Method 2 mentioned above - was not accepted].

.... Further essays involved a new drawing for the stamp design, either shallow or deep etched, or with a mask over the background to reduce its strength. However, such ideas again would have required new cylinders to be produced properly.

     Trials also took place using diluted inks (different degrees of dilution were tried): concerns were expressed that the colours might not now be fast, but tests overcame such fears. The decision was thus made to use inks diluted by 50%."

In June, 2005 I put my confusion over this matter onto the rec.collecting.stamps.discuss group and a reply was posted very fast by John Ray:

"I happened to bump into Richard West this afternoon and mentioned this to him. He said that his article was based on correspondence in the official archives, which he had himself researched, so he is confident that it represents the facts as recorded."

And, on June 7th a response from 'Bob' stated:

"....I would also be interested in knowing what the Stanley-Gibbons catalogue has to say about both the 1937 and the 1941 issues. Scott doesn't mention either the printer or the printing method. It does say that the background of the 1941 issue was lightened, but it's clear that the vignette was lightened, too. I scanned copies of the 3p [d] stamps from both issues, enlarged the vignettes and boosted the contrast. The 1941 issue clearly has less detail than the 1937 issue, proving to me that the entire stamp was lightened. You can see the images at

 http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/kgvtest33web.jpg."

I am not sure if this actually supports or denies the etching / weaker inks arguments.

My problem is this - I really would not even dream of arguing with excellent research philatelists of the standing of James Mackay and Richard West, but then I would not argue against philatelists of the standing of C.P. Rang and Peter Worsfold either. What I don't understand is that evidence is being quoted by both sides that seems to contradict each other.

A further response has come from Allan Oliver, (received 12 June).

"As a collector of KG6 GB material, (at present in 30 plus volumes), any information on these issues is always useful. Regarding the two views about the production of this issue, I have always been led to believe that both sides are true.

The cylinders made for the original 1937 issue were deeply etched producing a rich deep colour when printed. These cylinders showed early signs of wear which resulted in the jubilee lines being added at the top and bottom of the sheet to offset the pressure on the outer edges as the sheets were printed.

During the war, as an economy measure, new cylinders were made with the shallower etching, and I have to agree with the statement that these were made from complete impressions rather than having the deeper head superimposed onto the lighter background. (This can be supported as stated by examination of the issued stamps). Also, the inks used for the production of these stamps was supplied from occupied countries, thus further supplies were impossible to obtain. Whist the newly lighter etched plates save ink, and more importantly wear on the cylinders thus prolonging their production life span, it was decided that the ink would also be diluted to further safeguard supplies.

After the war, when the values were issued in changed colours, these were also produced in pale shades, however these get progressively darker during the life of the stamps and these make a nice array when arranged in date order."

At first I was 'on the side' of the etching argument, but I think Allan may well be correct and that both etching and dilution methods were used. This would explain why research into the lighter colours can come up with two different arguments.

I also asked the Stamp Magazine for its views and the following response was given in the September, 2005 issue -

"The short answer is that both shallow etching and dilution of inks were tried, and that the resulting production process was actually a combination of both!"

I think this goes some way to explaining the two different views raised above, but I still think this leaves a few questions open - most importantly, was etching tried on some print runs / dilution on others - or were both methods used on all?

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Contact : Malcolm Sanders :  kg6gb@hotmail.com