What we collect!

 

Stamporama Discussion Board Logo
For People Who Love To Talk About Stamps
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Stamporama Discussion Board Logo
For People Who Love To Talk About Stamps
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Stamporama Discussion Board Logo
For People Who Love To Talk About Stamps



What we collect!
What we collect!


Oceania/Australia : Australian stamp printer W.C.G McCracken's use of the John Ash imprint

 

Author
Postings
Rob1956
Members Picture


Member ACCC (Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club of NSW)

11 Feb 2017
02:59:49am
Image Not Found
John Ash
(Commonwealth banknote and stamp printer 1927-1940)


Image Not Found

Image Not Found

The above stamps were all printed on December 10, 1941 (with the exception of the Scout Jamboree), a year after Ash's retirement, notice the 5½d surcharge with the ram, it has McCracken's imprint while he allowed the other surcharges to remain unchanged with the former printer's imprint.

McCracken used surplus stamp sheets to add the overprint of a ½d surcharge, the ½d being a war tax (the military was exempt from the war tax). The 2½d and 3½d he left the Ash imprint unaltered, it is believed that the 5½d were not in surplus, resulting in McCracken adding his imprint, all three were issued on December 10, 1941, a year after Ash’s retirement).

John Ash died at his residence at Orrong Crescent in Caulfield, Victoria on Friday, November 28th 1947 at 75 years of age. He was the Australian banknote and stamp printer from 1927-1940 (his retirement).

The Scout Jamboree commemorative was issued on November 15, 1948. the unpopular impersonal "By Authority" imprint was by McCracken.

The £1 stamp that will be shown in my upcoming display of King George VI was issued in 1949, two years after the death of Ash; it is of a deep dull blue (signature shade of McCracken) and is on thick chalk-surfaced paper (Ash); all official McCracken stamps incorporating the robes issues were on unsurfaced paper (thin).

W.C.G. McCracken C.B.E. retired on 22nd March 1963 after 23 years in the role and William Howard Wilcock took over as General Manager of the Note Printing Branch of the Reserve Bank of Australia and later oversaw the introduction of Australia's decimal currency.

When Princess Elizabeth became Queen, McCracken decided to remove the watermark permanently.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Specialised Collector of Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Stamps"
Winedrinker
Members Picture


11 Feb 2017
12:41:18pm
re: Australian stamp printer W.C.G McCracken's use of the John Ash imprint

Image Not Found

Good info Robert. I have a "partial" John Ash (depicted). Not sure why someone would tear this stamp off from its neighbor. Oh well.

Eric

Like
Login to Like
this post
Rob1956
Members Picture


Member ACCC (Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club of NSW)

11 Feb 2017
05:46:20pm
re: Australian stamp printer W.C.G McCracken's use of the John Ash imprint

I have no idea why a collector would tear in half an imprint though I have seen quite a few even the very early Harrison and Mullett imprints, my opinion would be the collector had no knowledge of the value of the imprint at the time.

It's like a man I met at the GPO, I was on the side of him watching this guy buy hundreds of dollars in common stamps (about $300), blocks of 4 and full sheets and he had them neatly CTOd. When he was about to leave I asked him why did he cancel the stamps; his reply was, "it will make them expensive one day", I felt sorry for him.

There are people who collect stamps and know nothing about what they are collecting (the man said he had been cancelling his stamps for 30 years), and there are collectors who know what they want in a stamp yet know nothing about the imprints.

McCracken eventually retired both Ash's and his own personal imprint dies and in 1945 new plates arrived and the "By The Authority" imprint was adopted and was in use until the introduction of the new Monarch when imprints were scrapped altogether.

The Centenary of Australia stamp you have there is nicely centred.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Specialised Collector of Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Stamps"
        

 

Author/Postings

Member ACCC (Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club of NSW)
11 Feb 2017
02:59:49am

Image Not Found
John Ash
(Commonwealth banknote and stamp printer 1927-1940)


Image Not Found

Image Not Found

The above stamps were all printed on December 10, 1941 (with the exception of the Scout Jamboree), a year after Ash's retirement, notice the 5½d surcharge with the ram, it has McCracken's imprint while he allowed the other surcharges to remain unchanged with the former printer's imprint.

McCracken used surplus stamp sheets to add the overprint of a ½d surcharge, the ½d being a war tax (the military was exempt from the war tax). The 2½d and 3½d he left the Ash imprint unaltered, it is believed that the 5½d were not in surplus, resulting in McCracken adding his imprint, all three were issued on December 10, 1941, a year after Ash’s retirement).

John Ash died at his residence at Orrong Crescent in Caulfield, Victoria on Friday, November 28th 1947 at 75 years of age. He was the Australian banknote and stamp printer from 1927-1940 (his retirement).

The Scout Jamboree commemorative was issued on November 15, 1948. the unpopular impersonal "By Authority" imprint was by McCracken.

The £1 stamp that will be shown in my upcoming display of King George VI was issued in 1949, two years after the death of Ash; it is of a deep dull blue (signature shade of McCracken) and is on thick chalk-surfaced paper (Ash); all official McCracken stamps incorporating the robes issues were on unsurfaced paper (thin).

W.C.G. McCracken C.B.E. retired on 22nd March 1963 after 23 years in the role and William Howard Wilcock took over as General Manager of the Note Printing Branch of the Reserve Bank of Australia and later oversaw the introduction of Australia's decimal currency.

When Princess Elizabeth became Queen, McCracken decided to remove the watermark permanently.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Specialised Collector of Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Stamps"
Members Picture
Winedrinker

11 Feb 2017
12:41:18pm

re: Australian stamp printer W.C.G McCracken's use of the John Ash imprint

Image Not Found

Good info Robert. I have a "partial" John Ash (depicted). Not sure why someone would tear this stamp off from its neighbor. Oh well.

Eric

Like
Login to Like
this post

Member ACCC (Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club of NSW)
11 Feb 2017
05:46:20pm

re: Australian stamp printer W.C.G McCracken's use of the John Ash imprint

I have no idea why a collector would tear in half an imprint though I have seen quite a few even the very early Harrison and Mullett imprints, my opinion would be the collector had no knowledge of the value of the imprint at the time.

It's like a man I met at the GPO, I was on the side of him watching this guy buy hundreds of dollars in common stamps (about $300), blocks of 4 and full sheets and he had them neatly CTOd. When he was about to leave I asked him why did he cancel the stamps; his reply was, "it will make them expensive one day", I felt sorry for him.

There are people who collect stamps and know nothing about what they are collecting (the man said he had been cancelling his stamps for 30 years), and there are collectors who know what they want in a stamp yet know nothing about the imprints.

McCracken eventually retired both Ash's and his own personal imprint dies and in 1945 new plates arrived and the "By The Authority" imprint was adopted and was in use until the introduction of the new Monarch when imprints were scrapped altogether.

The Centenary of Australia stamp you have there is nicely centred.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Specialised Collector of Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Stamps"
        

Contact Webmaster | Visitors Online | Unsubscribe Emails | Facebook


User Agreement

Copyright © 2024 Stamporama.com