Now it’s the summer and I’m on holiday, instead of laying by the pool in the sun all day I’m going to be catching up on my Ebay posts as well as some content for the rest of the site. So expect some more updates in the coming weeks.
The first item is an important block for the marginal settings enthusiasts. Even if I had spotted this at the time, I think its importance would have passed me by; and it’s all because of the dot in the margin! This interpane perforation dot under the 6th stamp in the 10th row means it is from setting 1B, which wasn’t known to exist at the time Wiseman published his seminal “The De La Rue Years”, in which he only postulated its existence based on examples seen of the 3d. The lucky buyer, who bought it for a snip at £84.46, I believe is going to publish an article about this find in the GB Philatelic Society’s GB Journal soon. Looking in my files, I have recorded one other example which was featured in “The Overprinter” (2019, vol.3, p.76), which was an Army Official lower right corner marginal strip of six.
Sticking on the theme of marginal settings, this pair of 5d from the top right corner of the sheet is from setting 2, showing the continuous Jubilee lines of both colours and sold cheaply to the only bidder for £29.20.
This Specimen overprint on the Inland Revenue 1/2d vermilion is type 15 which is the scarcer type which can be found on this stamp out of the two (the other being type 9). SG currently don’t price the different Specimen types separately in the Specialised catalogue but it’s something they should definitely do. This example sold for £58.78.
And finally a plate proof of the 1/2d green on buff paper that sold for £38.10, which is the right price. I remember very early on in my Jubilee collecting paying £95 from a dealer for one.
The 1887 Jubilee Issue 