Tristan da Cunha 2015 The Potato Essays (a stamp proposal)
- Issue date: 9th September 2015
- four values
- Designed by: Bee Design, after Allan Crawford and Jimmy Brown
- Printed by: Cartor, France
- Print process : lithography
- Perforations: 13.25 x 13.5
- stamp format: height 28 x width 42mm. Sheetlet (overall) format height 160mm x width 180mm
The ‘Potato Essays’, A Petition for Postage Stamps by Allan Crawford
50p ½d (3 potatoes) map of South Atlantic. Orange-ochre
50p 1d (4 potatoes) essay - penguin and profile of island of Tristan da Cunha. Deep red
50p 1½d (6 potatoes) essay - map of Tristan da Cunha. Pale green
50p 2d (8 potatoes) essay - King George VI. Reddish purple
50p 3d (12 potatoes) essay - Tristan longboat under sail . Pale chocolate
50p 4d (16 potatoes) essay - spinning wheel, view of Tristan shoreline. Violet
50p 6d (24 potatoes) essay - two girls on shore watching steamship. Blue-green
50p 1/- (48 potatoes) essay - meteorological station. Khaki
50p 2/6 (120 potatoes) essay - buildings at landing point. Deep dull green
50p ½d purple (real stamp)of St Helena with portrait of George VI overprinted TRISTAN da CUNHA (from the first official stamp issue, 1952). Multicolured
Labels (positions 8 and 10): EUROPHILEX LONDON 2015 logo with Penny Blacks. Border: sketches by Allan Crawford
- Notes: each design shows an original drawing by Crawford and the finished stamp essay, denominated in sterling and potatoes (effective island currency in the 1940s), with Union flag (or Crown on George VI design), all colourised, after the original black and white drawings. Crawford, a meteorologist on Tristan, had the penny red design printed in sheets of four - they were used as stickers on outgoing island mail