NSW 4d Cook, Faded Or Quality Control.

Did NSW Post Offices sell seemingly under inked stamps.

The paper for these issues is quite white. This is not and is quite aged. The worn perfs also show this has had a hard life, so this clearly faded.

There are many shades of this stamp i.e. purple-brown, red-brown, orange brown and the lighter shade yellow-brown.

Some (not all) of the NSW 4d Cook issues have fugitive ink - i.e. they bleed ink into the water when soaked.

Yours is an example of this phenomenon.

Thanks FDS,
I had a few queries of my own, in the past.
Sc#79 1888

They all look like good examples of some of the shades, Rod222 - no fugitive ink problems there, although the top right stamp looks tending towards it and may fade away if left in the ater too long.

Fairdinkumstamps...& other Community members..thank you for 'fugitive ink' info, another issue learnt.

My wildest dreams never knew Cook 4d shades can infuse into paper leaving shade almost light Salmon-pink/Flesh colour. Keeper just for that phenomena.

Rod222.. Under UV, what colour shows up on your 4 x 4d Cooks?(please). Mine shows ink purple to bluish violet.

Hi Finches, be patient, my cheapo UV is no longer useful.
Will post in due course.

First issued in 1888 to celebrate the centenary of New South Wales, there is a beautiful range of shades of the 4d Captain Cook to collect (lower right are the result of fugitive ink):

Following in the footsteps of Mr. Orlo-Smith.

Lovely display fairdinkumstamps

The chalk surfaced paper supplied by De La Rue in October 1899 adds to the fading.

"So soluble was the coating, that after immersion in water the coating dissolved, and the impression disappeared, wholly or partially..."

-Basset-Hull p.308

Possibly wiser concerning aesthetics of 'chalk paper' given extreme cases...junk.

Once a stamp has been sold, been applied to a cover, travelled through the mail stream, and then end up in the hands of a collector who has soaked it off the cover; I lose a lot of confidence in my ability to draw conclusions on stamp color. The stamp has literally been through the wash and who knows how much light exposure the stamp may have seen over decades and decades?

Used stamps and color analysis, a tough row to hoe.
Don

I fully agree with Don. And I believe the only way to identify colours and shades is by viewing unused copies.

Rob

Postmarks can of course provide an invaluable insight into the progression and variety of shades for any stamp. There's no doubt that some stamps experience adverse conditions but the study of many (mint and used) is the key.

Some of the rarest, deepest and most extraordinary shades may only have survived as used. The search continues.

Thanks Bobby De La Rue - Bassett-Hull was certainly the master philatelist.

Although soaking does no harm to most shades it does produce interesting results in some stamps, sometimes beneficial to an understanding of our field of study.

For example, according to the KGV Australian Commonwealth Specialists' Catalogue, the famous and highly sought-after KGV 1d eosin shades have a relatively dull flourescence under UV light for mint stamps, believed to be due to the masking effect of the water-soluble paper-brightener, esculin. The full effect is therefore better seen in stamps that have been soaked.