Page 3 - Jamaica Postal Cards

PROVISIONAL ISSUES - FORMAT

The Gazette of 29 March 1877 states:
' Postcards with an Impressed Stamp denoting the face value, shall be issued by the Postmaster ofJamaica,
and the Cards so issued, and no others, shall be deemed to be Postcards within the meaning ofthis order '.

The fonnat of the two provisional issues are similar although the style of decoration differs.

The instructions, coat of arms and decoration were printed in one operation by the printer,

The 'stamp' was added after delivery to the Post Office.

More than one handstamp?

There is evidence that for the Y:zd and ld handstamps at least two different handstamps were employed, with

small but constant differences in the spacing of the letters. There is little evidence that the changes correspond to

date of use and the sunnise is that rere were two such handstamps (Types A & B below) for the Yld and Id

values.

r~,~-"""<H-:T~h'hll=:~~·.-AB-.+A.i,:.'·W·~AY~~~ <,,_o<y ~~.?{.5·~<' ~-~~
-·,,~.x. '< : I
2 ~Type A on Provisional Type S 1 One Penny Handstamps
Half Penn~Handstamps :\\
Type A on 1st Provisional
(-. . i·;1
' O'above ' Paid'. ~ "1~~'Al~·
' H' in ' Half' above ' Paid' ~:~Ji!· 77 nonnal. ) ~1
' 77' raised. D. '
u 1....

Type Bon 2nd Provisional Type S4 Type B on 2°d Provisional Type S3

'H' in ' Half' level above ' Paid' . ~ -; .. " ' O' level with ' Paid. '
' 77' normal (on blue card). ' 77' raised (on blue card).
D; . I ~ .'
I>
( r:--

A second provisional µ{;5stcard {i ype §5) as delivered from the printers and lacking the t value handstamp,

red

although discoloured it is thought to be the only known card without a value handstamp.