STRAITS SETTLEMENTS' PROVISIONAL ISSUE

8¢ on 2a Yellow

Surcharged by De La Rue in different coloured inks to distinguish the various values because the 1 anna brown and 2 annas yellow were used to make three different “cents” values each.

Overprinted in green on India's Queen Victoria SG #61.

Original stamp issued in 1865, printed on yellowish-to-white paper.

Postmark unknown, partially read as D14.

CROWN COLONY

The Straits Settlements, a British colony of islands off the Malayan peninsula that included Singapore, used stamps from India between 1854 and 1867. When the Settlements became a crown colony in 1867, they began issuing their own stamps, not least because they adopted a currency based on 96 cents to a silver dollar.

Straits Settlements first adhesive stamps were issued beginning on 1 September 1867, nine types in the existing stocks of Indian stamps featuring a portrait of the young Queen Victoria, and the stamps were inscribed with a crown across the top and the "cents" denomination across the bottom.

A surcharge is an inscription on a stamp that alters its value, either an increase or decrease. Most stamps are printed with one surcharge, but the Straits Settlements stamps carried two - one for altering value and second to alter the currency.