With its short period of use, some might consider the Jubilee to be too narrow a field in which to develop an interest. However, the period of the issue is rich in many other fields of philately. It impinged on the likes of first flights, rocket mail, zeppelin covers, tin can mail, to name but a few. It even shows up in the field of bisects.

Bisects are when stamps have been cut, usually in half, vertically or diagonally, in order to represent half the original face value, if a postmaster has run out of a particular denomination.

Basutoland 1d diagonal bisect, with an added manuscript ½d, on a local unsealed last day of issue cover, tied Mohaleshoek cds for 31 Dec A35

Marginal vertical bisect with manuscript ½d tied to piece by Morija cds for 31 Dec 35

Vertical bisect without the manuscript ½d tied to piece by Corn Exchange cds for 31 Dec 35

Vertical bisect without ½d m/s, tied to piece by Quthing cds for 31 Dec 35. (Curtesy of Larry Grossman)

With probably less authority, this recently acquired Canadian bisect seems to have been accepted since no postage due has been applied. Neil Donen, who specialises in the Canada 3 cent, writes: “As far as I am aware there were no instances in Canada, including during WWII, when you were permitted to use bisects as legal tender.” Neil then reported that this example had probably “slipped through” or produced “per favour”.

Bisected 3 cent in conjunction with an EIIR definitive tied to a local cover by Niagra Falls m/c cancel for July 6 1956 - when the local rate was 4c, not 4½c

This Cutress cover, (from the Spink auction), shows a GB 1d diagonal bisect tied by a Type V Tristan da Cunha cachet and, at Durban, by a straight-line Tristan da Cunha hand stamp, but gained GB ½d & 1d postage dues on arrival in the UK.

Harvey Russell’s cover showing a bisect of 1½d pair on a cover to the taxman. Harvey comments: “As the postage to any government department at that time was free (OHMS), I reckon he was just trying to get them to pay, as the proper treatment for an ordinary letter bearing bisects at that time was to surcharge double!! He must have had a bad time of it - but then, who loves the Inland Revenue demands, anyway?”

From the sublime to the, er, perhaps fanciful.......a cover bearing GB ½d and 1d,  with their bisects neatly interchanged, yet seemingly unchallenged by the postal authorities since they are tied by a Stockwell m/c cancel for 19 Jun 1935.

AJA - April 2009, augmented May 2009