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 £2500.00  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: £695.00

 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

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 £1,800.  

Price: £890.00 

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 £1,600. 

Price: £1200.00   

     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:  £535.00

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: £550.00  

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

  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