Lot 220 Great Britain SC#128var (SG#219var) 1d Scarlet King Edward VII, 1902-1910 King Edward VII Issue, A Fine Used Single, DLR Printing, Showing N of One Nearly Filled In At The Bottom, Unlisted In Gibbons.

A fine used single of the 1d scarlet King Edward VII from the 1902-1910 King Edward VII Issue, DLR printing, showing n of one nearly filled in at the bottom, unlisted in Gibbons.

Gibbons doesn't list this variety, so we estimate it at $10. The stamp offered here grades 66 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 30/60

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10

Cancellation: 6/10

All plate flaws on De La Rue printings of these stamps are scarce, even the smallest ones. DLR’s printing was of very high quality, with clear, smooth even lines. Inspections of printed sheets were regularly carried out at periodic intervals, and so most were caught & corrected, so that flaws found on say the early printings of the 1/2d blue green are gone on the yellowish green stamps. Gibbons only prices them mint, largely due to the fact that used stamps often have small surface thins caused by aggressive rubbing during the soaking process. But this can usually be ruled out if: 1) you examine the printed surface carefully under a loupe and it is uniformly smooth and 2) you dip the stamp in watermark fluid and the resulting stamp is not darker than the surrounding parts of the stamp. Plate flaws fall into the following categories: A) missing ink resulting from frame breaks, shading breaks, frame or crown deformities or void sports due to plate damage and B) Errant ink spots or spurs. What I am offering is what surfaced from examining over 1000 stamps of the 1/2d and 1d values. Many are constant.