Photograph removed from revised version of withdrawn Irish Citizen Army stamp

Ireland’s An Post issued a revised version of its withdrawn Irish Citizen Army stamp April 17.

The stamp shows a photograph of the Irish Citizen Army at Croydon Park, Dublin. The photograph is courtesy of the National Museum of Ireland.

A stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Irish Citizen Army was to be issued Jan. 23 but was withdrawn from sale over a dispute about the identity of the man shown in the foreground of the photograph. The inscription on the stamp reads, “Captain Jack White.”

The announcement of the revised design in the second 2014 issue of its publication for collectors, Irish Stamps, The Collector, said: “The original stamp was withdrawn due to the emergence of new information regarding the photograph of a man believed to be Captain Jack White, a former British Army Officer who, in 1913, volunteered to train the Irish Citizen Army. This photograph had been published, without challenge, in academic books and periodicals over many years, including the highly regarded publications History Ireland and The Irish Civil War. However, just ahead of the stamp issue date, a number of historians disputed the veracity of the image saying that the man depicted is not Jack White.”

The photograph of the Irish Citizen Army at Croydon Park is pictured in the background of the withdrawn stamp.

Examples of the withdrawn stamp have reached the public. According to a report in the Feb. 17 issue of Linn’s, Irish stamp dealer Padraig O’Shea of Raven Stamps sold a pane of 15 for £3,000 (about U.S. $4,100). O’Shea also reported that he knew of at least six other single stamps.

The withdrawn stamps have been offered on eBay. The prices have ranged from approximately $472 to $977.

On the new stamps, the locations of the inscriptions were changed, with the country name and denomination moved to the lower left and the commemorative inscription to the lower right.

Ger Garland designed both versions of the stamp, and they were printed by Irish Security Stamp Printing Ltd. in panes of 15. An Post reported that the printing quantity of each version was 136,000.