Two worthy stamps from 1938 and 1942 would make a fine, and easily attainable, addition to your collection. ~ Published: 2008-10-06 08:44:23

Bermuda St. Davids Lighthouse

By Jeff Walker

Light House Background

The Island of St David lies in the upper part of Bermuda. On the South side of the island is a lighthouse that has stood for over 100 years. Built in 1879, the lighthouse was one of 2 on the Island of Bermuda.

St David's lighthouse had a steady beacon, while the other light (Gibb's Hill) had a flashing beacon. The purpose was so that sailors could use the 2 known lights to determine position on a map, and thus avoid destruction.

Like most lighthouses, St David's was put out of service by 1922. Today it is a favorite tourist spot and landmark. A visitor can easily see why it was a worthy subject of a postage stamp design.

Time for a new stamp

Starting in 1938, a pictorial issue was introduced for King George VI that replaced the pictorial issue of King George V. The 3p Value of King George "Typical Cottage" was replaced by St David's Lighthouse (Scott 121 & 121a).

Stanley Gibbons catalog lists the stamps designer as a "Miss Higginbotham" - further research has not disclosed any more about her. She may have worked for Bradbury & Wilkinson, the printers responsible for the issue.

Production

There are two lighthouse stamps, a Scott #121, and Scott #121a. Both stamps are identical in design, except that the 121 stamp is printed in Carmine & Black, while 121a is printed in Deep-Ultra & Black. A probable reason for the color change is that the overseas postage rate of 2-1/2p was raised to 3p.

The paper used for printing both stamps was the common "Watermark Multiple Crown & Script CA" (Scott watermark 4).

Interesting perforation variations exist. This particular stamps spanned the change of technology of perforation. The earlier stamps used "line perforation" 13.5 x 14, then switched to comb perforation around 1950.

Usage

The Carmine stamp was issued in 1938. There were 8 print jobs that produced about 745,000 stamps of this type.

The Deep-Ultra was issued in 1942, although, the first official usage is known as July 16th, 1941. There were 11 printings scattered from 1941 to 1952. From these printings came 5.5 million stamps. There are distinguishable color variations ranging lighter to darker ultramarine.

Worthy addition

You can see the reason that the Deep-Blue version is more common and less expensive, but both stamps are reasonably priced and you can obtain a copy of both for less than $5.

From time-to-time at stamp club, I have claimed that the ultramarine & Black stamp as my favorite. It is hard to go wrong with a bi-color engraved stamp as pretty as this. The engraving work is exquisite, the subject beautiful and the colors very complimentary. It's an awesome stamp. I plan on accumulating a few.