An early version of the YotTR Tsort 1 Drachma stamp used the frame that was to be shared with the Djelibeybi 1 Talon. As previously explained, this idea of similar stamps from neighbouring states was abandoned, leading to a unique frame being drawn for the Tsort stamp.

However, this may not be the earliest version of this stamp, and the town used to illustrate it was originally drawn as lying on the banks of the Tsort River. I imagine maps were consulted and Tsort was visited, and it was redrawn as a coastal town. Though I have no images of earlier stamp as such, the original drawing crops up as the background to a colour options test sheet for the final design; and it can be seen as as the leftmost image at the top of the sheet. The other two show the final artwork for the issued stamp and the sport.

Look at the background and to the left, where the horizon is on the final stamp, is a range of hills. It is also used in the top left drawing of the town and ziggurat, so may have still been under consideration for use should the balance of the overall stamp would have been better served by it, even it was factually dubious. Sheets like were commonly used to illustrate possible colour combinations for selection for the issued stamp. They serve to demonstrate what may have been released.

The actual coastal town artwork had some modifications made to it before the design was finalized, even after the town was ‘moved’ to the coast. Compare the artwork from the early design in brown above to the issued stamp and the missing dome sport. There are quite a few differences to a number of details indicating that it was redrawn. The dome involved in the sport is absent from the early stamp, but significantly it is also missing from Alan’s actual artwork for the stamp, and must have been added later, so that it could be disappeared from the sport!

        
early                                          common                                        sport

I have been trying to find some parallels between this stamp and any Roundworld stamps. These, from Aden states issued in 1942, have some generic features in common. Coincidentally they also illustrate how prevalent the use of common designs was in those days.

The stamp design was finalised and released during the Year of the Three Roses as part of a staggered triple release from states bordering the rimwards coast of the Circle Sea. The sheet comprised 42 stamps. This number ensures that finding such a sport has quite a low chance, compared to most other stamps. In this case the sport is missing a dome on top of a building, just to the right of the tower in the town