It was D. E. Wadia, then of Bombay, the well-known research student of the Indian Classical, Stamps, who had in 1963 foretold of the existence of such a sheet in his article in the Philatelic Jour-nal.
He had arrived at the conclusion after studying just one stamp of this rare setting which was 'in his specialized collection of India 1854, though other learned authorities of Indian philately had not at that time accepted his theory.
The credit for discovering this sheet and thus vindicating Mr. Wadia's earlier theory goes to D. Hammond Giles, till recently of Calcutta. He is the author of the "Handstruck Postage Stamps of India", and its companion volume published by the Philatelic Society of India, Bombay.
He was ably assisted in the study of this new discovery in the Indian Postal Museum by the postal authorities in general and S. P., Chatterjea, in-charge of the Museum In Parliament Street, in particular.
While publishing Mr. Giles' arti-cle on the find, the PJI editorial said that the research article was a parting gift from Mr. Giles who left for his home country after 33 years in India.
Mr. Wadia's theory of a new type of corner ornament was not supported by the experts of Indian Philately and the matter rested there until Mr. Giles had an op-portunity to visit the Museum in New Delhi early in September and later again in October last year.
He states, ". . . but I do recall discussing with Mr. Wadia some years ago, the subject of corner ornaments, and when I was look-ing at Frame A4 in the Museum, I saw that It contained three sheets that were headed 'Die 1, A Stone, May 1854, I noticed that on two of the sheets, both of blue or pale blue shade, the corner ornaments had, around the rose, a set of leaflets on either side, but not, one pointing towards the corner stamps.
"On the third sheet, either deep' blue or Indigo shade, an additional set of leaves appeared In the cor-ner ornaments. This appeared to me to be rather strange, but not having my reference books with me, and not quite remembering the details of my earlier discussion with Mr. Wadia over his theory, I merely made a note of it to verify the position on my return home"
Mr. Giles then continues to write ". . . when, however, I examined the frame a second time,' it was quite apparent that not only were the stamps on the third sheet quite, clearly 'Die I, and not .'Die III', but also the engraving at the foot of the sheet clearly show-ed the date of May 1854.
"Further, I was then able to confirm quite definitely that all four corner ornaments had the, central set of leaflets.
"On my return to Calcutta, I immediately wrote to Mr. Wadia, to tell him what I had discovered, and, not unnaturally, he wrote and said that he was 'thrilled- beyond words', because if what I said was correct, it would prove (his) theory of being a third type of, corner ornament of the half anna Die 1, May Stone'."
With the help of the museum authorities, the sheet was photographed and the corner orna-ments especially enlarged and the, result was that Mr. Giles confirmed Mr. Wadia's surmise of a new type of corner ornaments existing in half anna May 1854' setting.
His investigations revealed and confirmed what Mr. Wadia had foretold in 1963,in his articles in the Philatelic Journal of India.
Mr. Giles further observes "…the photographs prove conclusively that the, third leaf of corner ornament appears on this sheet at each of the four- corners, but it is curious that no other sheet has been found and only two specimens of stamp No. 96 are known, and that although this sheet is dated May 1854, the new type of corner ornament did not appear in any of the later printings of either the half anna Die I or Die II, or the one anna Die I A Stone.
The study shows that the Indian Post Office has in its collection "only recorded half anna die I A Stone, May 1854 sheet with the 3rd type of corner ornaments in the world."
"The Indian Postal Museum has two specimens of proof sheets of the half
anna Die I A Stone,
printed in red, but both of these have corner ornaments of the first
type.
"As, therefore, there is evidence of the use of type I corner ornaments on the proof sheets which were the first to be taken, and on Die I and Die II half anna printings after May 1854, the purpose, of using the corner ornament type now discovered during the first. printings of May 1854 is unexplained.
"Could it in fact have been the very first Stone that became damaged almost immediately and thereafter discarded, and, if so, why was the third leaflet not included n Type I?
Alternatively, could the third leaflets have been added to the Stone right at the end of the print-ings of May 1854, for some reason, perhaps to indicate printings from a damaged and repaired stone, and discarded immediately thereafter," he reasoned logically.
Mr. Giles, who has made his name as a prolific writer on research studies of Indian Postal History, offered this research study on the subject as a "Parting Gift" to Indian philately as the "find" came to be known dur-ing the last few months of his very long stay in India.
The article had roused considerable interest among the students of Indian Lithographs at home who had by now studied the article.
Mr. Wadia feels: that it is too premature to express any definite' opinion on the "find" nevertheless, he has offered for publication in a future edition of the journal, the correspondence amongst the Stalwarts of Indian lithographs on the subject.
In an interview with Mr. Wadia at his farm estate at Toomb where he has now settled follow-ing retirement, be was full of excitement 'on the Giles' find and stated that there was much to be- done still in that connection before a reasonable final conclusion was reached.
In the course of the talks at Toomb Mr. Wadia stated that the sheet required to be studied with great care to arrive at a reasonable conclusion. He was al-so hopeful in being assisted by Sir Eric Studd and Col. D. R. Martin, in Britain, L. E. Dawson in Ireland, and N. D. Cooper who are the well known authorities on the stamps of 1854.
"It needs the recordings of the flaws, individual as well as sub stone flaws of each of the 96 stamps, a close scrutiny of the corner ornaments in relation to Die 1, A, B, C, Stones, Die H C Stone, Die III D Stone and of one anna Die I, 11, and III Stones.
"This is a task which will require considerable time many hours of research studies," Mr. Wadia said. Much remains yet to be looked into before a satisfactory conclusion is reached.
"It is unfortunate," Mr. Wadia observed," . . . with Col. Martin, and Messers. Dawson and Cooper incapacitated, the only person to look forward to is Sir Eric Studd, himself"
He further added "� this unique discovery will surely invoke considerable
interest from the specialists and their findings and deliberations will
further provide pointers to the solution of the elusive sheet of India
1/2a Die I May 1854."