one of GB rarest stamps

i was offered this today from SG, a little out of my price range, but still an interesting read

Steve
I'm going to let you in on one of the world's great philatelic mysteries...
Unsurprisingly, it involves one of Britain's rarest stamps.
The stamp carries a price tag of £550,000 - making it the most valuable single stamp we have available or have ever had available.
Yet curiously, virtually identical stamps can trade for as little as a few pence.
The stamp in question is a Penny Red. What makes it so valuable and so extraordinary is the fact that it comes from the legendary 'Plate 77'.
The legend starts in 1858 with Rowland Hill - the man behind the world's first postage stamp, the Penny Black.
He announced the decision to issue a perforated Penny Red with check letters in all four corners and a plate number on either side of the stamp printed within the design. The numbers on either side identified the plate from which the stamps were produced.
You can see an example of the plate number 107 below (enhanced so that you can see it) on a common Penny Red:

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Hundreds of millions of Penny Reds were printed over a twenty year period, and as each printing plate wore out new ones had to be produced.157 different plates were produced in all, numbered 69 to 225.
However, plates 69, 70, 75, 77, and 128, were laid up out of alignment and rejected. The perforations would not line up correctly on the printed sheet and thus they were never "put to press".
As a result you should not be able to find any Penny Reds from plates 69, 70, 75, 77 or 128.
Except you can.
A handful of plate 77 Penny Reds did find their way into public domain. These stamps should not exist. Officially, they don't.
As the Stanley Gibbons 'Part 1' catalogue states: "No stamps exist, except for a very few from plate 77 that somehow reached the public."
Not surprisingly then, the 'Plate 77 Penny Red' has become a type of Holy Grail for collectors with millions religiously checking every Penny Red they come across for that magic combination of two sevens.
Just how rare is a plate 77 I hear you ask. Unfortunately even this is not a simple question to answer.
To date, 4 mint and 5 used examples have been reported, although some have not been seen for so long their authenticity is unconfirmed and often doubted.
Of the four mint examples, one is in the Royal Philatelic Collection, one from the Tapling collection in the British Library, one was in the Raphael collection that was stolen in 1965 and has not been seen since.
The fourth was in the famous Ferrary collection that was sold in the 1920s, its authenticity has never been confirmed and again has not been seen since the auction.
This leaves no mint examples available to collectors.
Of the five used examples, two damaged examples were found in the early 20th Century, neither of which has been seen on the open market for over 50 years. A third was in the "Crocker" collection and lost in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and a fourth example from the "Adams" collection is now in the British Library.
The fifth example, which I offer you today, adjoins the "Adams" example in the British Library and is unquestionably the finest used example in existence inside or outside a museum and realistically the only one that will ever be available to you.
The legend of plate 77 grows and grows.
This almost mythical stamp has been part of some of the most famous stamp collections ever formed and now you have the chance of becoming part of the legend by investing in this prized item, desired by major collectors the world over.

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I'm occasionally critical of our stamp describers for not understating the significance of some of the wonderful rarities we have, but our GB director has done us proud with his description of this showpiece item:
"This example has graced some of the finest stamp collections ever formed and is not only a magnificent exhibition piece but one of the great rarities of GB and World Philately."
We are offering it at £550,000, but in time and with continued market appreciation, this could be worth significantly more.
If you have an interest please contact us straight away. The chances of us offering you one again are very slim at best.

 

Thanks for the wonderful article. I think if I had that kind of money, I probably would not spend that much on one stamp.

 

well i would have a think about it, but would probably pay if i had it, very unique stamp, same as i would pay for the inverted jenny if i had the cash to spare as well

 

As soon as I win the lottery, I will buy it for you.....

 

Quite amazing - nothing to be found on the Gibbons site about this, for a stamp that would attract world wide attention.
Maybe the SG pages are outdated !

 

Wow, finally I can complete my "one each" collection of Penny Red plate numbers...Do they take Mastercard?

 

Great read! I own a plate 78..only one off...*sigh*

 

lol

 

Wonder if I could sweet talk the Mrs

 

lol

 

Good luck with that!

 

I know I had one of those around here somewhere...except mine was mint! I prob used it on the cover of some trade with 1 of you guys. If you find it, I want it back!!!

 

Steve, out of curiousity, are premiums paid for the various plate numbers depending on their rarity? Have you seen the Scott Catalog pricing for the various plate numbers for the Penny Reds and are they realistic? Do people actually pay more for certain plate numbers over others or is this kind of a specialization within UK philately?

 

yes Darrin, there are collectors from all over the world that only collect these plate numbers.

The value difference between the plates i believe is determined to how many were printed from the plate before it was replaced, i have about 100+ of the different plate numbers in my own collection, but always lookinmg for the ones i am missing.

 

Gibbons have one for sale at the moment if anyone is feeling flushed.

 

You can get all the other plates though, H?

 

There is a company called Dauwaulders who sell all the plates except this one in one go.