The cluster of oranges was a black-and-white magazine picture, and the artwork’s original deep bluish green leaves and background was changed to a shade of bottlegreen at the request of the “client”. A panel of this colour was added to the artwork as a guide. The actual colour of the stamp seems to have struck a happy medium. This design is of interest because it bears pencilled notes relating to the lettering. Mr. Whiteley favours cased or outlined letters which enable the country name to be superimposed on a multicoloured design, whereas plain letters need a solid background panel in contrasting colour to make them distinct.
The notes read: “The outer case round title is intended to assist printing throughout entire set of stamps; i.e. in this case the casing will merge with background – giving prominence to white lettering”.
While the image is labelled as citrus, the original photographic image by D C van Melsen from the Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs records the image as “Kieffer Pears on show at the Rhodes-Inyanga Orchard.” Therefore, the image is not of the genus citrus but pyrus.
Details
- Designer: Victor Whitely from a photograph by D C van Melsen (Department of Public Relations)
- Printer: Harrison & Sons Ltd, London
- Process: Photogravure
- Paper: White paper
- Watermark: None
- Perf: 14.5 (comb)
- Cylinders: 1A, 1A
- Sheet: R20 x 12
- Quantity: 5,382,000
Sheet Numbers
