GREG POPE: "When Harrison took over the 2½d plates from Cooke, he repaired a number of faults prior to his first printing in June 1918. He carried out a further series of major retouches to both plates immediately prior to his last printings, the Pale-Blue printings in 1921. So when one looks at the 2½d stamps over three watermarks and two printers the varieties divide clearly into three periods:
Period 1: contains the varieties that developed on the Cooke Plates;
in Period 2: a number of these varieties disappear following Harrison's first audit of the Plates; and in
Period 3: we have the final, and very important, Harrison Pale Blue printings that are characterised by numerous retouches and significant wear to many of the clichés.
Watermarks, Paper and Shades:
The 2½d Indigo was printed in a two-plate configuration - one upper and one lower, each of 120 clichés. Upper Plate 1 and Lower Plate 2 were used for printings on all three watermarks. This stamp departed from the generally adopted design in that the value is in colourless relief against a solid background, both in the value circle and the words of value tablet.
First watermark: The paper employed was imported ready gummed with white gum Arabic. It has a vertical weave so the stamps tend to curl from top to bottom. Thickness varies from 0.09mm to 0.10mm. The official colour of the stamp was Indigo but the ACSC catalogues two shades, Indigo and Blue [NOW INDIGO, LIGHT BLUISH-INDIGO & DEEP BRIGHT BLUE]. It is clear that the first printings were in Indigo. There are no recorded examples of inverted watermarks or offsets. There is only one recorded first day cover and it is in the Royal Collection. Stamps on first watermark paper were printed from Upper Plate 1 and Lower Plate 2. Plate 1 is without the printer's monograms. Plate 2 has the JBC monogram under L57 and the CA monogram under R58. This is an unexplained reversal of Cooke's normal layout. There were three printings on first watermark paper of 4,884,000 stamps between January 1913 and July 1915. It was issued as the letter rate to non-Commonwealth foreign countries.
Second watermark: When the war interrupted supplies of paper in 1914 Cooke turned to the paper used for the ld Georgian stamp. The paper has a horizontal weave. Thickness varies from 0.09mm to 0.10mm. The ACSC catalogues just one shade: Indigo [NOW ALSO BLUISH INDIGO]. There are no recorded examples of OS punctures, inverted watermarks or offsets. Cooke reverted to his normal control pattern for second watermark printings with the CA monogram under L57 and the JBC monogram under R58. Monograms were also added to the Upper Plate 1. They can be readily distinguished from lower plate monograms by the partial cutting away of the marginal line above each. There is an example of both the CA and JBC monograms from the Upper Plate in the "Printers' Imprints" section of this book. There was only one printing in July 1915 and 1,416,000 stamps were issued.
Third watermark: The paper employed was imported ready gummed with white gum Arabic. The paper has a horizontal weave so the stamps tend to curl from side to side. Thickness varies from 0.09mm to 0.10mm. The ACSC catalogues five shades: Indigo (1917-19), Intense Indigo (1919), Blue (1919), Deep Blue (1921), and Pale Bright Blue (1921). Cooke was responsible for the first third watermark printings in March of 1917. For the first Harrison printing in June 1918, the Cooke monograms were replaced with his one-line imprint. It is estimated that there were nine printings totalling 22,405,680 stamps printed between March 1917 and August 1921. The rate to non-Commonwealth countries was raised from 2½d to 3d in late 1923 and the 2½d value of the Kangaroo and Map series was withdrawn from sale in April 1924."
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