There were twelve sheets (1,440 stamps) of these provisionals printed, but not many were issued for use, and we believe they were withdrawn from issue _before_ the arrival of the new Halfpenny value in December. It is an excessively rare stamp used, and at the date of its issue and for some considerable time afterwards it was unattainable unused. We believe this was owing to an official order to the effect that neither stamp collectors nor dealers were to be supplied with it. Whether this order was eventually rescinded, or fell into abeyance in the course of time, we do not know; but one thing is certain—that philatelic persistence triumphed in the end, and that the unused remainder of the issue found its way at last into the hands of philatelists, so that now it is not at all a rare stamp in the unused state. For this reason, and because the unused Six Pence itself is so difficult to find, the forgers have not been so busy with it as with its predecessor, the provisional One Penny; but forgeries of it do exist, and for the satisfaction of our readers, we give the dimensions of the surcharge. The extreme length from the top of the letter “d” to the bottom of the numeral “2” is 16½ mm.; the height of the letter “d” is 4 mm.; the space between the “d” and the figure “1” is 2 mm.; the height of the figure 1 is 4 mm.; the space between the figures “1” and “2” is 2½ mm.; the height of the figure “2” is 4 mm.; and finally, the width of the letter “d,” without measuring the foot, is 2¼ mm. These measurements all vary a little according as the surcharge is lightly or heavily impressed. Issue 16. _November 1881._ 4d. in black on 1s., bright vermilion-red, of Issue 11. Four Pence being one of the Postal Union rates, the stamps of that value remaining in hand from the issue of July, 1877, were soon used up, and in November, 1881, the new lot of the Four Pence value not having yet come out from England, 21 sheets (630 stamps) of the vermilion-red shilling perforated B were surcharged in the Island with a large “4d.” in black, and issued as provisionals. The original values were obliterated by black bars, 2 mm. wide, printed across the sheet. The _Philatelic Record_ of December, 1881, says: “St. Vincent.—Since this Colony joined the Postal Union there has, of course, been a demand for Four Penny stamps. Those used hitherto have been blue, like the issue of 1866, and not yellow, like those of 1869. They were not remainders of the 1866 issue, but stamps reprinted in a brighter shade of blue, and perforated in the rough way which has lately distinguished the stamps of St. Vincent. By the mail delivered here on the 13th inst. we have received letters franked by a provisional Four Penny adhesive, formed by surcharging the current scarlet Shilling 4d., and obliterating the original value by means of a bar.”