Lot 98 Canada #64 $4 Dark Purple Queen Victoria, 1897 Diamond Jubilee Issue, A VFNH Example With 2018 Greene Certificate

A VFNH example of the $4 dark purple Queen Victoria from the 1897 Diamond Jubilee Issue with 2018 Greene certificate. The Greene certificate was for a block of four stamps, this one being the bottom left stamp in the block. It expressed a clear opinion and states that the gum on the lower pair, which includes this stamp is original and NH, with no qualifications being expressed.

There is a natural anomaly in the gum, at the bottom centre of the stamp in which two pinpoint sized spots do not appear to have ever received any gum at all. We have examined this under a loupe and can confirm that these are spots that never received any gum and are NOT spots of gum loss. The distinction is important, because one occurs after production and is a gum disturbance, while the other is endemic to production and is not considered to be a fault wit the gum. If you look at the selvage tab, which normally would be fully gummed, you can see many areas of only partial gum, which supports the notion that the two spots on the gum are natural gum skips. These are trivial and are not mentioned on the certificate, and they would almost certainly have been present when the committee examined the stamp. They felt that these spots were insignificant enough for them to express a clear opinion on the gum, classifying it as mint NH, and I would agree with this.

I mention it though, just for sake of being thorough in my description. Any other auction house will describe this as VFNH and will assess the full 200% premium on the gum, and will realize a very hefty percentage of this, as very few of the dollar value jubilees have survived with gum this pristine. The attached sheet margin more than compensates for the minor imperfections in the gum, which are completely natural. This is one of the nicest mint $4 jubilees I have seen, when all condition factors are taken into account. The colour is unusually deep and vibrant, and suffers from none of the fading that commonly plagues the ink on this and the $2 value. A fantastic stamp for the highest calibre collection.

Unitrade values this at $6,000. The stamp offered here grades 75 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 45/70

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10