1899 ½d green - Die 3a

This page is a census of known examples of the 1899 ½d green stamp (the so-called Widows Weeds) Die 3a essay, with blank white tablets.

What Scudder refers to as Die 3a was produced in September 1899, when the tablets in the Die 3 essays, which had the year 1837 in the left tablet and 1897 in the right tablet, were altered to have a blank white tablet - the issued stamps have a blank green tablet. 

Kellow in the Australian Commonwealth Specialists' Catalogue: Kangaroos and the Early Federal Period, 1901-12, refers to it as a plate proof Q1 (PP)1, p. 1/58

It was printed on the 'Crown over Q' watermarked paper, gummed and perforated with the 12 (or perhaps 12.5) gauge line machine and was quickly rejected with further work on the shading on the face and the lower frame being required.

A proof sheet of 40 stamps was produced with the largest surviving piece being a strip of 10 in the H L White collection in the State LIbrary of NSW

Seen in Millennium auction no 80

Seen in Kelleher auctions, 2019

In the collection of Dr Andrew Walker

Another example in the collection of Dr Andrew Walker

Seen in Spink auction no 12043 lot no 1384. Ex Alan Griffiths. Now in the collection of Dr Andrew Mortlock

Seen in Abacus auction no 237 lot no 208

Seen in Corinphila auction