Lot 310 (C) New Brunswick #1 3d Red Crown & Heraldic Flowers, 1851-1860 Pence Issue, A Poor OG Single One Margin, Sound Except For The Fact That The UL Corner Is Skimmed Off, Gum Appears To Be Original, A Rare Mint Stamp Regardless

A poor OG single of the 3d red Crown & Heraldic Flowers from the 1851-1860 Pence Issue one margin, sound except for the fact that the UL corner is skimmed off, gum appears to be original, a rare mint stamp regardless. A poor example of this rare mint stamp, which does appear to have original brownish gum, and has a decent sized margin at the bottom of the stamp. The right marginis clear to just touching at the upper right corner. The top margin is touching all the way along and the left margin up to "NE" is close, but clear. If it weren't for the fact that the upper left corner is completely skimmed off, this would be a VG-F example, as the back is completely sound, with no thins or tears. But, we have deducted 30 points from the grade for the missing corner, which brings the grade down below the cut-off for fair, making it poor.

Unitrade values this at $4000, for fine OG. Our estimate of the value for the condition offered is $250. The stamp offered here grades 70 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 24/70

Paper Freshness: 10/10

Colour: 10/10

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations:

Adjustment for mentioned faults: -30 points. The pence issues are notorious for condition problems. First of all the paper used was very soft and fragile: it tears very easily, creases easily and thins very, very easily. As a result, very few stamps have survived without at least one of these three faults. Many have been repaired or rebacked to conceal these faults. The genuine paper should have a somewhat rough surface under magnification, and will often show very fine mesh. If it is smooth, lacks any bluish undertone and shows no mesh at all, even when held to backlight, it very likely has been rebacked. The second major condition issue with these is small to no margins. This is because the printing plates for these were laid down by hand, by just 2 or three individuals. Spacing between the impressions was often no more than 1 mm, to even less, and occasionally slightly more, so that margins are rarely more than 1/2 mm wide. So, quite often a stamp will appear to have fewer than 4 margins, even when it does. Full margins on all sides is XF to superb. VF stamps will have 4 margins of 1/2 mm width.

This is a consignment lot. Accordingly, a 15% buyer's premium will be added to the hammer price.