The First POSTAGE-REVENUE Issue

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The additional stamps added to this issue between 1914 and 1931 were printed from the POSTAGE-REVENUE keyplate, with the exception of the 1½d value issued in 1924. The stamps were issued with two watermarks. This first issue had the same Crown and CA watermark as the last issue. This issue was also identical to the last in perforation, sheet make-up, and plate number location. One difference in this issue is that the values up to 2½d were on ordinary paper, but the values from 3d to £1 were printed on a chalk-surfaced paper used by De La Rue to foil attempts to remove cancellations and re-use the stamps  (Gisburn). The plate numbers used were:
     Plate 1:   ½d, 1d, 2d, 2½d, 4d, 5d, 6d, 1/-, 2/-, 2/6d, 5/-, 10/-, £1
     Plate 2:   1d, 2½d, 1/-, 2/-, 2/6d, 5/-
     Plate 3:   3d, £1 (Plate numbers at bottom only)
    
Like the previous issue, there is much controversy over shades of the various stamps. There appears to be no way to reconcile the printing dates given by Gisburn with the various shades listed by Gibbons and Bridger & Kay. The problem is made even more perplexing by Gibbons not listing the 2/- and 2/6d shades that are reported as separate printings by Gisburn and look so startlingly different from the other shades of those values. Your perplexed actual webmaster would greatly appreciate new information on this subject.

The 2½d value paid the foreign postage rate. Since this rate was raised to 3d in 1924, the value was not continued in the next issue. The £1 value was also discontinued, since there was little real postal need for this amount. Most of the used £1 stamps were probably actually used to pay for messages sent from the Government Wireless Station in Tulagi. Since a standard CDS was used there, there is no way to identify a genuinely postally used copy of the stamp with a Tulagi postmark.

Duty Plate Die Proof on White Card - Actual Size: 3.625 in x 2.375 in 
Die proofs of this issue are known for the center of this issue, although it is impossible to tell for which colony they were printed. Proofs for the duty plate dies are known in black for the 2d, 5d, 6d, 2/-, 2/6d, 5/-, 10/-, and £1 values. (Gisburn) Specimens were printed using the the Samuel D12 setting which existed as a type-set, 60-impression form.
       
The printing history for the issue is as follows: (Gisburn)
Delivery Date from Printer Value Quantity
December 1913 ½d 122,880
1d 121,680
April 1914 2d 24,000
2½d 24,000
4d 23,520
5d 24,480
6d 24,000
1/- 12,000
2/- 6,000
2/6d 6,360
5/- 6,240
10/- 6,120
£1 3,120
April 1916 1d 121,920
March 1920 1d 119,520
2½d 12,600
1/- 12,360
2/- 6,240
2/6 6,240
5/- 6,240
August 1921 £1 2,880
August 1922 3d 6,960
August 1927 £1 11,520