Red, Violet, Blue. Each
employing the PB plates. (Die3 was a 1d red only). Colour changes came about as a
consequence of postal rate changes and the agreement to conform to U.P.U requirements.
Fortunately, much of the watermark and perforation varieties occur along colour changes.
Prior to the UPU convention of 1922, there was no official color for any
particular usage. Red however was the 'traditional' color for the 'denomination
most in use'. During the State and Colonial Period state stamps within
the state borders, and those within the town, were (obviously) 'most in
use', and Red was the de-facto standard employed. (For similar reasons, Green
was for postcards). At this time, Red was the 'standard letter rate' to anywhere
in Australia.
All
color changes in the KGV series, when they occurred, occurred because of
Australia joining the Universal Postal Union
in January 1922.
There were two tranches of color
change, the first, a piecemeal effort of adapting to the UPU requirements as and
when. As old stock was exhausted various denominations began to appear in their
new color.
Red was the color for UPU
foreign postcard and blue for foreign letter. The 2d became red, the 4d violet
was changed to blue and the 1d assumed the 4d's old purple color.
In May, 1924 a general reduction of a ½d in
postage necessitated a color change again. This time to, the foreign postcard
rate which had been reduced from a 1½d..
Unlike the earlier piecemeal effort however, all changes for all values appeared
on 1st May, 1924
1d red shades.
I avoid discussing shades wherever
introducing them would cloud the basics. In essence, with the billions of stamps
printed, similar shades re-occur again and again, through the years of use. In
studying them, they are not generally useful in establishing timelines with any
certainty. You can date a particular shade to one (of several) time periods, but
that in itself is rarely helpful to who printed the specific stamp you have
between the tweezers. Deteriorating plates and flaws do a better job.
The rare, expensive, highly sought after (but rather drab)
Salmon Eosin shade.
Long thought to be a one off printing of some scarcity, with
modern spectrograph instruments, it turns out to be a color changeling.
Color changelings occur to any stamp exposed to excessive
light or water for long enough periods. In this case, nearly a century! Many of
these 'rare' shades are in peoples collections without them knowing of their
rarefied 'value', or, their true makeup.
