1885-86 Typo-graphed, Vienna

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These stamps were typo-graphed on white wove paper by the Austrian Government Printing Office in Vienna. It is said that values to 1 Kran were issued in March 4th, 1885, and Five Krans stamps issued by February 15th, 1886.

 

Above, shows the only known essay for this issue.  A & B arrows show the differences between the issued one Shahi stamps and the essay.

 
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Although it is said that the stamps of this set were issued in March 1885, however, the existence of covers franked by these stamps prove otherwise. Apparently, in March of 1885, and emergency issue was prepared which consisted of the Five Shahis stamps (apparently lithographed). This stamp which so far was considered as the redrawn issue of the 5sh blue, is proven beyond any doubt, that has been placed in used prior to the rest of the issue printed typographically. The existing covers franked with 5 Shahis Type I  (with 90 rays around the lion) show the usage between April and July of 1885, while the 5 Shahis Type II (with 120 rays around the lion) or the rest of the set did not appear until September or October of 1885.  The mint copies of the 5 Shahis Type I as well as the complete covers are quite rare. An imperforate example of the 5ch type I exists. The illustrated stamp is the only copy known.

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The following table shows the varieties of perforations found for each value.

 

Type	Perf.	1ch	2ch	5ch	10ch	1kr	5kr
A	12	x	x	x	x	x	x
B	13	x	x	x	x	x	x
C	12.5	x	x	x	x	x	x
D	13.5	x		x	x	x
E	12 X 13	x	x	x	x	x
F	12 X 12.5	x	x	x	x	x	x
G	12 X 13.5	x	x	x	x	x	x
H	13 X 12	x	x	x		x
I	13 X 12.5		x			x	x
J	13 X 13.5	x	x	x	x	x
K	12.5 X 12		x	x		x	x
L	12.5 X 13		x	x	x	x	x
M	12.5 X 13.5	x		x
N	13.5 X 12	x	x	x	x	x	x
O	13.5 X 12.5		x	x	x
P	13.5 X 13			x

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