Lot 260 Lagos SG#22 (SC#15) 1d Carmine, Queen Victoria, 1884-1886 Second Crown CA Watermarked Issue, A Mint Group of Four Early Printings, Likely Pre-1886, 2022 Scott Classic Cat. $9 For the Commonest Printings, Est. $20

A group of 4 fine and very fine mint and unused examples of the 1d carmine, pale carmine and rose carmine Queen Victoria De La Rue Keyplate stamp from the 1884-1886 first Crown CA watermarked issue, printed in the new colours. According to J.F Ince in his definitive work, there were a total of 41,400 stamps issued in 11 printings from July 1884 to December 1886, 687,660 stamps issued across 36 printings between March 1887 and October 1900, and finally 375,900 stamps across the last 2 printings from plate 2, between August 1901 and August 1902. Consequently, the majority of the mint stamps on the market today will be the later printings made from about 1897 to 1902. The early printings - those made prior to 1894 are much scarcer than the later ones and are on a par with other stamps from the early crown CA period, and should be valued accordingly.

The stamps in this group are all early printings made well before 1894, and likely before 1887. They are all different with respect to head and duty plate shade, and are different from all the other lots of printings offered in this sale.

Stanley Gibbons values VF-75 mint OG examples of the common printings at 8 pounds = $16. However, these should be considerably more, due to their scarcity.

I have written several blog posts which explain the differences between the printings. You can access the first one here.

The stamps offered here grade between 65 and 75 as follows:

Margins/centering: 35/70, 40/70, and 45/70

Paper freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of visible paper flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10