The Circular Letter of 5 December 1934 from the Colonial Office to Colonial Administrators announcing the 1935 Silver Jubilee issue,

comprising a printed letter headlined ‘Downing Street, 5^{th December, 1934.’} from P. Cunliffe-Lister, announcing the arrangements for the issue of the Silver Jubilee stamps, with a Master Die Proof in brown and dark blue on thick glazed paper 46x30mm, overprinted SPECIMEN affixed at the top. Apart from slight creasing to the proof and the letter being trimmed obliquely at the upper left, in very fine condition. EXTREMELY RARE AND THE FOUNDATION DOCUMENT FOR A SPECIALISED COLLECTION OF THIS ISSUE.

The text of the letter reads as follows:

Sir,

With reference to my confidential telegram of the 24^th of August last, I have the honour to inform you that, in connexion with the forthcoming celebrations to commemorate the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of His Majesty’s Accession, the King has been pleased to approve the issue of a series of special postage stamps for use throughout the Colonial Empire.

2. The series will comprise four denominations only in uniform design as depicted in the accompanying leaflet. The stamps will be printed in two colours in sheets of sixty each. The appropriate heading for each territory will be inserted in place of the word “Specimen” where this appears in the illustration, and the duty in the oval panel at the left-hand bottom corner.

3. It is His Majesty’s wish that this issue should be placed on sale on the 6^th May, 1935, and continued in use until the 31^st of December, 1935, when all residues whatsoever are to be destroyed. The sale of the corresponding denominations in the permanent series of stamps in use in each territory is to be discontinued during the currency of the Silver Jubilee issue.

4. Arrangements are being made with the Crown Agents for the Colonies for the sale of the stamps to dealers in this country as usual, and a public announcement concerning the issue will be made on the 1^st of February, 1935, by which date this despatch should have been received in all the dependencies concerned. I assume that you will also wish to make a public announcement on that date in the territory under your administration.

Illustrated in SPECIMEN STAMPS OF THE CROWN COLONIES by Marcus Samuel, Plate 15

 

 

 

 

1935 SILVER JUBILEE

Although commemorative issues had been made by a number of countries in the past, the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935 prompted a concerted effort by many countries of the British Empire to commemorate the event with the issue of a set of stamps in a unified design. This uniform design featuring Windsor Castle gave us probably the finest of all omnibus issues. Together with the non-uniform issues, they have been widely studied by specialist collectors and provide a most enjoyable field of collecting.

The three leading printers of stamps in Great Britain were commissioned to produce the stamps and countries are listed under their respective printers.

There were also a number of countries that issued non-uniform sets. Some of these are offered as Lots 146-148, while others will be found under their respective countries elsewhere in this catalogue; yet others were offered in previous sales 

THE UNIFORM DESIGN

THE COLONIAL UNIFORM DESIGN MASTER DIE PROOF