The Withdrawn Citizen Army Stamp

Ger Garland designed the Citizen Army stamp, which was released January 23, 2014.  The 60c stamp recognizes the workers’ militia, which was formed by James Larkin, James Connolly and Jack White during the 1913 Lockout. The Irish Citizen Army aimed to protect trade unionists from the Dublin Metropolitan Police who used extreme viiolence to end demonstrations.  When the Lockout ended in January 1914, the Irish Citizen Army underwent a complete reorganization.

Within one hour after the start of sale of the stamps, An Post issued an email to post offices discontinue sale of these stamps.  Their reason was that the forefront image on the stamp, siad to be Jack White, is not his image, according to scholars.  It is now believed that the image is that of Vincent Poole, GPO Garrison Irish Citizen Army member who was awarded a medal in 1916 and another during the Civil War.  It is not known how many stamps were sold in the short window, but David MacDonnell estimates that only 100-200 were sold.  It is now known that full sheets were sold in Dublin, Smithborough, Dundalk, Moate, Westport, and Cork. But soon after, Irish dealers were selling the stamp and several appeared on eBay.  Two stamps were listed on eBay in fall 2014.  One MNH copy sold on November 18 for 676.67 Euros, about $844 with 31 bids.  The 2015 Scott Catalog has assigned Scott number 2021 to this stamp, but does not yet provide a value

Reference:  Liam Malone, The Infamous Withdrawn Stamp: Hullaballoo or Malarkey, The Revealer (2014),  vol. 62, No. 2, p. 20, and Update on Withdrawn Citizen Army Stamp, The Revealer (2015), vol. 64, No. 4, p. 55.