The 1d Provisional stamps of British Central Africa, also known as Cheque stamps or tokens

Setting 1           Setting 2 Imperforated        Setting 2 Perforated

 

 

  British Central Africa - BCA - 1898 1d Provisional Setting 2 Perforated

 The Control Characters Setting 1 & 2
For possible security purposes control characters were stamped on the back of each stamp. 4,320 were issued in Setting 1, whilst 24,000 were issued in setting 2. The stamps were printed in a sheet of 15 by 2 rows. The following table shows the control characters as seen from the back of the sheet. There are many variations of these controls, they can be found without control at all, part of a control missing, stamped on the front or double.

1
F 		2G
 3
X 		4
M 		F
5 		6
P 		7
H 		F
8 		9
C 		10
Z 		XA
11 		12
WX 		13
D 		14I
 15
K
16
FY 		E
17 		Q
18 		Z19
 T
20 		21
WP 		S
22 		23
N 		24A 25
J 		Z
26 		27
B 		28
FA 		XQ
29 		30
S

The perforated version of Setting 2 were first issued on 1st June 1898. Examples are known for both Zomba and Blantrye. Perforations are 12x12. Almost all perforated examples are known cancelled between 1st June and 31st July 1898. Although the replacement consignment did not appear until November 1898, very few examples exist cancelled August through to November.



SG57 1st day of issue at Zonba 1st June 1898, very scarce


SG57a Vermillion and Ultramarine (Intermediate shade) from top left of the sheet. The CDS is a very early example of the Zomba squared circle July 28th first issued 20th July 1898.



The control characters on the back can be notoriously hard to read, click on the image to see an enlarged picture of the reverse of the block above. The left hand stamp should show 13 D but only the D is visible. Many of these stamps are described as SG57ab (no control characters) just because the characters are not easily spotted. 57ab is much rarer than the CV suggests and if buying over the internet a good scan of the reverse should always be asked for.

SG57 Vermillion and Pale Ultramarine, Fort Lister 1st August 1898 with control /18, very scarce SG57 Vermillion and Pale Ultramarine, Tshkiwawa June23rd 1898 with control 3/XZ, very scarce SG57 Vermillion and Pale Ultramarine, Upper Shire 4th August 1898 with control XQ/29, very scarce





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