Page 143 - Jarvis & Wright: Jamaica Display to RPSL

Jamaica: The Vendryes Official

First setting: layout and plating.
This first setting is thought to have been printed in late March or early April 1890. 1 2

The type was set up in the chase in two vertical columns of 20 positions, 3 4
each overprint 17 to 17.5 mm long, struck 3 times to complete each pane. 5 6
So alternate stamps in each row are from the same position. This and 7 8
the first 2½d provisional setting, June 1890, were the only vertical settings. 9 10
Vendryes himself recalled that “this font was already much worn” but it is least 11 12
13 14
worn in this first printing, so few individual positions show obvious varieties that 15 16
readily distinguish single stamps from all others in this and other settings. 17 18
19 20

Setting 1, position 13, Setting 1, position 17, numeral 0 for
lower case i for first I. letter O, raised above other letters.

With few prominent varieties, 20 positions to distinguish and a scarcity of multiples or even mint
singles compared with other settings, this is the most difficult Vendryes printing to plate, even with
minute measurement. Multiples or dated used copies are needed for confident plating. When
multiples are available, a sign of the first setting is the discontinuity between alternate pairs of
columns; there is also a difference in the alignment of the two columns within the setting. So position
8 in the strip below is constantly slightly higher than position 7.

Marginal strip from setting 1,
column 1 to 3, row 4, positions:

7 8 7

↑ ↑ ↑
First strike Second strike

18 17

Setting 1, positions:

20 19