SS4. 1840 1d black plate 2 (TA-TB)

A very fine 4-margined pair, very small scissor cut at top between them but  clear of design, tied to entire from Jedbergh to Selkirk by BLACK crosses. Jedbergh boxed date stamp on reverse for October 7 1842 and similar of Selkirk on the front for the following day.  Plate 2 is very scarce on cover with a black cross, Spec AS15m – catalogued at £550 on stamp alone.  The stamps ‘TA’ and ‘TB’ are both in the 2^nd State: First Repair, Spec AS17. Only eight stamps identified in this State: SD, TA, TB, TC, TE, TF, TG and TH.  Hence for this pair of ‘TA-TB’ to be two of these eight and on cover with black crosses is remarkable and a very rare if not a unique usage.  A considerable Scottish rarity!  

Price:  £1,385.00     

1106. 1841 1d black plate 8 (AJ)

 A very fine large square margined example, tied to an entire from Leamington to Rugeley by a very fine Leamington characteristic cross, April 20 1841.   Un-priced as yet by Gibbons but as Perth and Leamington crosses on the 1d red imperf have similar catalogue values and the Perth cross is catalogued at £7,000 on a 1d black on cover,  Leamington can reasonably be expected to have a similar catalogue value to this. 

Rare item.  

Price:  £975.00  

1108.  1841 1d black plate 10 (PG)

A fine 4-margined example, tied to wrapper, Warminster to Bristol , April 2 1841 by black cross. Cancellation leaves the re-entry marks clearly visible.  ‘PG’ is one of only 4 re-entries on this plate, Spec AS66b and is illustrated in SG Volume 1 15^th Edition page 92.  Catalogued on cover without the re-entry at £3,000.   A rare item.  

Price:  £795.00 

1840 1d black plate 4, ‘FH’ 

Very fine good/large margins three sides and clear to possibly just touching at top right tied by red cross to very clean small neat un-creased entire from Mansfield to Liverpool. Letter dated inside Mansfield May 23 1840 and on the back of the entire is a Mansfield date stamp in the same ink as the cross for SUNDAY MAY 24 1840 – SG spec A1ti – catalogued a minimum of £7,500 for the third Sunday in May 1840.

The earliest date of use for Plate 4 is Saturday May 23 1840 – this only known such usage is on an envelope used locally in London .  The envelope is age stained as is the stamp which has the NE corner clipped off. This item was sold in the Dr Pichai Buranasombati 2001 sale for £5,500 including the buyers’ premium.

The item offered here is the ONLY KNOWN EXAMPLE of plate 4 used on the next day ie SUNDAY May 24 1840.  An exceptional item in superb condition. 

Price:  £5,000.00 

SOLD  

1840 1d black plate 2, SI, Manchester fishtail cross.

Very fine 4-margined tied to wrapper to Knighton, North Wales by a fine strike of this distinctive cross, spec A1ub, catalogued at £3000.00  Plate 2 is scarcer with a black cross, specAS15m.   Manchester cds on reverse for March 6th 1841 – this is a very early usage of this cross, and is the earliest recorded on plate 2, as the earliest known is March 3rd 1841 on a 1d black plate 8. Remarkable, and probably unique combination of features.  

Price: £1390.00 

  1d Black Plate 3 Entire used Sunday May 31 1840 Bristol Vermilion Cross

Very fine 4-margined copy tied to clean uncreased entire from Bristol to Baltonsborough, Nr Glastonbury, by a very fine strike of the Vermilion maltese cross of Bristol, spec A1vh, in the same shade of ink as the superb Bristol date stamp for Sunday May 31^st 1840 on the reverse. The 1d black is printed in the scarcer Intense Black shade Spec AS19A characteristic of the early printings from plate 3. The 31^st May 1840 date, Spec A1tk, is catalogued in the latest GB Volume 1 Specialised Edition at £7,500.  Allowing for this example being from the more difficult plate 3 and with a Vermilion cross of Bristol, this item has an Estimated Catalogue Value well in excess of £10,000. We are not aware of any other example extant with the above combination of plate, Bristol coloured maltese cross and a May 1840 Sunday date.

Price:  £4,750.00

SOLD

1d Black Blue Cross

1840 SG2 1d black plate 6: 4-margined copy, heavily defective, struck by a complete and almost upright BLUE cross. A very rare stamp, despite the faults, with PEGB Certificate and catalogued at £9,500. 

Price £885.00

  1d Black Plate 7 Liverpool Orange Cross on Entire  

Very fine 4-margined copy from Plate 7 with portions of FIVE other stamps in the margins. Tied to entire to Ballymoney by the Orange maltese cross of Liverpool, Spec A1vg.  On the reverse is a Liverpool date stamp in the same orange shade as the cross for August 15 1840. Also on reverse a Dublin date stamp for SUNDAY August 16 1840. SG Cat £1,000+ in this plate.

 An exceptional item.

Price: £785.00

 1d Black Superb Copy from Plate 1b

 An exceptional example, CL, with the non-coincident re-entry, Spec AS5b.  Very large to enormous margins all round and tied to a small piece by forged magenta maltese crosses.  With a 1995 PEGB Cert. An unusual and attractive stamp. 

Price: £225.00

1109. 1840 2d blue plate 1 (SC-SD)

Exceptionally attractive pair, with very large to clear  margins, tied to a small piece by lightly applied red/orange crosses.  Cat from £1700. Superb and very scarce. 

Price:  £1100.00 

1110. 1840 2d plate 2 (DF)

Deep full blue - a superb example with good to huge margins and black crosses.  Margin at left with large portion of stamp ‘DE’ which has the catalogued variety ‘double letter ‘E’ ‘.  It has been printed on UNCATALOGUED THIN PAPER and shows plate corrosion in and around ’POSTAGE’.  A remarkable stamp and catalogued at a minimum of £1000. 

Price: £725.00   

1840 2d Blue SG5 TG plate 1 

Full margined with a superb upright and complete GREENOCK cross, spec D1va, with a clear RPS Certificate. A rare stamp and catalogued at £2,000.  

Price: £890.00 

1111.  1841 August 17:  Exceptional 1d red imperf.

Black plate  X1 tied to a clean wrapper, Chesterfield to Sheffield ,  by a black cross which leaves virtually the whole of QV’s Head clear. Rare so fine and of Exhibition quality.  

Price:  £245.00

1112. 1842 March 10: 1d imperfs plate 12

Two superb 4-margined singles, ‘TE and TB’ both with clear profiles  on clean entire from East Grinstead to Wellington , Somerset .  ‘TB’ with basal shift and faint letter ‘B’.  Exceptional item from a Gold Medal Winning Collection.  

Price: £285.00   

1113.  1843 May 15:  Superb 4-margined 1d red imperf plate 33

 Tied to a clean wrapper from Dublin to London by a superb characteristic Dublin Cross type 1, spec B1tf.  Exhibition quality.  

Price:  £240.00  

1848 1d red 3-margined ‘OH’ 

plate 80 cancelled indistinct RED numeral, SG spec BS29xd and with PEGB Certificate.  A rarity and catalogued from £7,500.   

Price: £935.00   

1843 1d red plate 24 

Very fine 4-margined, on wrapper from Coventry to London tied by an equally fine Coventry distinctive cross, SG spec BS10te, June 28 1843.  Interestingly the cross appears to be showing signs of wear.  Catalogued at £2,200. 

Price: £1375.00   

     SG8 1d Red Plate 75 

LK, a 3+ margined copy of the famous Union Jack re-entry, SG spec BS28c, tied to wrapper from Leeds to London by Leeds 447, cancel leaves almost all of re-entry visible. Cat £2700 off cover. 

Price: £970.00 

  Plate 77b B Blank Corrected

 A used copy of this rare stamp with the ‘92’ numeral cancellation of Bolton, Lancs.  Not a 4-margined copy but the cancel leaves the letter squares clear.  Clear 1991 RPS certificate.  Spec BS29b and catalogued at £1500.

 Price:  £595.00

SS5. 1850 March 20:  Fine 4-margined 1d red imperf

 Tied to REGISTERED wrapper from Glasgow to Dunbarton by the ‘159’ of Glasgow .  Superb strike of the rare circular ‘Registered at Glasgow ’, McKay Fig 1151, with handwritten ‘181’ inside and a m/s ‘6’ in red for the 6d registration fee.  The registration marks are positioned superbly on the front of the wrapper and the rear flap when raised displays the date markings well as seen in the scans.  Very rare item.  

Price:  £285.00  

1114. 1851 March 28 1d imperf blue town cancel.

A very fine example, ‘AI’, 4-margined with close but clear to large margins, on envelope to Derby – part of rear flap missing and opened roughly at the top with a brown card inserted but the damage could be made much less apparent by a better choice of colour for the insert.  However, the 1d imperf is  tied by a superb Nottingham Town circular date stamp  in BLUE for March 28 1851.  A further similar cds strike applied top left with the same orientation and showing the blue ink of the cancellation to advantage.  There is also a red ‘1’ in m/s applied centrally.   Derby receiver on reverse in green for March 29 1851.  In the Spinks GB Sale, December 2005, Lot 812 was a 1d red imperf, small to large margins, tied to an envelope by a partial blue cds of Truro , applied upside down.  It realised an inclusive figure of £2,875.   The example offered here is arguably as rare and a more attractive item which displays better.  Unrecorded as a blue cds by Danzig , a blue Town cds, Spec BIbv, was catalogued in the Gibbons 2008 QV Specialised Catalogue Volume 1 at £5,000. A considerable line-engraved rarity.  

Price:  £2,325.00 

SS6. 1851 June 18  Rare Plate 107

Entire from Leith to Edinburgh with a VERTICAL PAIR of 1d red imperfs from the RARE PLATE 107, ‘LJ-MJ’. MJ is large margined and LJ has 3 plus margins.  Superb colour and this rare item is made even rarer by the stamps cancelled contrary to regulations by a superb SINGLE strike of the ‘221’ of Leith .  An attractive and exceptional item of Exhibition Quality.  

Price:  £735.00  

1115.  1852 April 7 Late Use  

1d red imperf – not full margined – but tied by a very fine black cross of South Shields to an entire to Leeds .  Danzig in ‘The Cancellations of the 1841 Penny Red’, page 91, illustrates another late usage of the South Shields cross for April 3 1852.   This April 7 1852 late usage of a Maltese cross is one of the LATEST USAGES recorded on the 1d red imperf from any location in the UK .  As seen in the scans the date markings from South Shields and Leeds display well.  A significant rarity.  

Price:  £695.00  

 1116. 1853 July 8:  Entire to London from Liverpool 

Almost 4-margined 1d red imperf cancelled ‘466’ of Liverpool and on the bottom left front a very fine upright strike of the very attractive Forwarding Agent cachet of Edward, Sandford and Co incorporating an image of a transatlantic paddle steamer.  This exact cachet is illustrated by Rowe in ‘The Postal History of The Forwarding Agents’, page 115.   The letter mentions cargoes on the Cunard Line’s ‘Europa’ and ‘ Asia ’ and the Collins Line’s ‘Artic’.  An attractive and rare item.  

Price:  £275.00   

1118.  1841 2d blue plate 3 SG 14

A fine/very fine 4-margined example with RED and BLACK crosses and with a clear 1995 GBPE Certificate.   Very few examples with this coloured cross combination are known – perhaps only two others – and is un-catalogued by Gibbons in the 2008 Specialised Volume 1.   One of the last examples to appear on the market was in the Harmers ‘GL’ sale of 1981.  A far rarer combination than on the 1840 2d blue.  A red cross only on the 2d blue plate 3 was last catalogued by SG in 2006 at £16,000.  An exceptional  rarity.  

Price:  £3,850.00  

SS7. 1841 2d blue plate 3 SG14 

An exceptional strip of three, ‘TA-TC’, cancelled by Aberdeen numerals.  Huge to very large margins and printed on un-catalogued thin paper.  Thin paper is catalogued for 2d plate 4 but not as yet on plate 3.   Exhibition quality and rare item so fine.  

Price:  £235.00 

1119.  1852 September 6 2d blue plate 4

SG14: pair, ‘MH-MI’, tied to an unfolded envelope to Loughborough by BLUE ‘448’ numerals of Leek, Staffs.  ‘MH’ has large to huge margins and ‘MI’ is almost full margined with a minor rub in the SE corner.  Leek cds on reverse for September 6 1852 in the same blue ink as the ‘448’.  Spec E11wb, and catalogued as a single 2d with blue numeral on cover at £2200 in 2008.  Rare multiple usage of a blue numeral.  

Price:  £1,285.00   

1850 2d blue plate 3, SG14, pair ‘DK-DL’, DL 4-margined and DK 3-margined, scissor cut between not touching the designs, both stamps with faults.  However, each stamp has been cancelled only by strikes of the Liverpool transit mark, (Robertson type 64/65), used on the outside of maritime mail going through Liverpool .  The date is August 31 and the only sailing in the period 1840-1860 on that date was on August 31 1850 when the Cunard packet ‘Asia’ sailed from Liverpool to New York/Boston.  From our researches we can find no other such example of this type of transit mark being used alone as a cancellation on either the 1d red imperf or 2d blue.  An exceptionally rare and probably unique item from the line-engraved period.  

Price: £750.00  

2d SG 13-15, pl 4, RECONSTRUCTED SHEET of 240

 stamps, approaching 70% are 4-margined copies. Remarkable and rare with additional blocks, multiples, varieties, papers and covers. Cat value well in excess of £30,000. Great basis for development and with huge potential. More details and scans on request. 

Price: £7500.00

1120.  1850 December 22: 1d ARCHER 

Perforated from plate 100, very fine example tied to an entire from Ashburton to Ranscombe near Kingsbridge by a superb ‘29’ of Ashburton in BLUE ink.  This colour matches the blue Ashburton cds on the reverse for December 22 1850.  This was a SUNDAY and hence this is a rare – probably unique – Sunday usage of an Archer perforated 1d on cover with a blue cancellation.  Superb and very rare item with only some 3 or 4 examples known with an Archer perforated 1d with a blue cancellation.  Clear RPS Certificate.   Supplied with this item are two further entries from Ashburton each with a 1d red imperf one cancelled with a black numeral ‘29’ for February 17 1850 and the second creased but with a BLUE numeral ‘29’ for December 29 1850.  

Price for the trio:  £2,975.00 

 1d SG21 Mis-Perforated Vertical

Mint Block of 6

 Very fine mint block in a rich shade with such extreme mis-perfing that each copy has portions of 4 stamps. The piece also shows the sheet to have been twisted before or when being printed. Misalignment of the stamps also in evidence.   A rare combination of features with a basic block of four cataloguing at £2,400.

 Price: £1250.00

SOLD

271.  1870 SG48 1/2d plate 9 and plate 8 

A clean neat envelope to Haverfordwest, plate 9 tied by ‘539’ duplex of Narberth, Wales and the plate 8 unusually by a single ‘539’.  The only example of which we are aware with this combination of plates. A rare item.  

Price: £670.00