1851 - Dos Reales
Since 1851 The Dos Reales stamps retains its title as Spain's most rarest stamp.The scarcity of the stamp is due to the error of color occurring as a result of the printing head of the Dos Reales being placed by mistake into the plate of the blue stamp.
There are only 3 known existing copies.In 1868,the first copy made its appearance in England and changed many well known hands from Ferrari to Perpia.
Tapling brought the second known copy of this rarity in 1886 and included as part of the famous Tapling collection now housed in British Library.
In 1899, the third copy was discovered by Vives, sold to Ferrari finally making its way to the famous collector Hind.
The Dos reales sell for as high as 15000 $. |
GB rarities
Of the celebrated GB rarities, the most prominent is undoubtedly,The Penny Red printed in 1864.Several plates were produced for printing this stamp but none of them passed the quality check.Nevertheless a few were printed from plate 77 which somehow got out in the public.
Apart from the Penny Red the official overprint varieties command a significant monetary value in the GB rarity line-up.The oficial stamps were for strict use of government duties and hence prohibited for public use.However one of them the 6d King Edward overprinted 'I.R. OFFICIAL' was used as a regular issue and today commands a value of 1,75,000$ and is one of the rarest GB stamp in existence.
Another of the GB rarities are the 1 pound and 5 pound QV stamps with the Maltese cross watermark.They retail anywhere between 50-60000$. |
1910 - GB Abnormals & The Tyrian Plum
The Abnormals - a term associated with QV stamps of GB.These stamps were printed by De La Rue and submitted to the GB Revenue Board for a proof check.Normally the board retained a copy of these stamps before getting back to De La Rue with improvements.Accordingly the plates were modified and the final prints would be slightly different from those that were submitted to the Board.The ones that the Board retained came to be classified as abnormals.This happened between the years 1862 and 1880 there by producing a series of abnormals.Some typical cost estimates for the abnormals range from 20000$ for the 1s deep green to 28000$ for the 10d pale brown.
One recent example of an abnormal is the 2d Tyrian plum of 1910 printed in a purple shade rather than the usual hues of Red and Green.Somehow it was decided not to go ahead with the issue of this stamp although a few were printed.The price of the Tyrian Plum currently stands at 30000$. |
1868-2c Queen series of Canada
The 1868 2c large queen series is undoubtedly Canada's rarest stamp although the popular belief is the 12 p Black series of 1851.
Only two known copies has been discovered so far one of which finds its place in the Ron Brigham collections.The other copy graces the collection of George Holschaeur.The asking price for this stamp has been in excess of 250,000$. |
