CORNER LETTERS

1) INTRODUCTION

The corner letters were intended as a precaution against forgery. Each stamp within a single sheet was given a different combination of letters from any other on the same sheet.



Initially, corner letters only appeared in the bottom two corners. However from 1858 onwards letters appeared in all four corners, the upper letters being in reverse order from the bottom. This was intended to avoid the piecing together of unmarked portions of used stamps to form apparently unused wholes.

When refering to corner letters on the issues with letters in all four corners, it should be remembered that they are read in the order they appear on the bottom row. In the above illustration, the corener letters are referred to as 'KF'.