Estimated
value: US$488,900
Canada's
12 Pence Black was issued in 1851 and features a portrait of the youthful Queen
Victoria. It is one of the most famous stamps in the world.
Altogether,
51,000 copies of the 12 Pence Black were printed, but due to its high
denomination, only 1,450 copies were sold. The remaining unsold 49,550 copies
of the stamp were taken off the market and destroyed in 1857. It is believed
that about 100-150 pieces of this stamp exist today, but this is mere
speculation.
In 2011,
a brand new copy of the 12 Pence Black was auctioned off for US$488,900 in New
York, USA.
Estimated
value: US$5 million
The UK's
1840 issued Penny Black is the first stamp in the world. It was designed by
Rowland Hill, who proposed the reform of the British postal system. He was
called the Father of the Postage Stamp.
Before the
Penny Black was issued, post offices had to take payments for mail delivery in
cash. People had to wait in line to deliver every piece of mail. Postage was
charged by the number of letter papers and the amount of distance traveled.
Following Rowland Hill's suggestion, a letter was wrapped in an extra piece of
paper (envelope) and an adhesive stamp was attached to indicate the prepayment
of postage. The stamp was the Penny Black.
The
picture in the stamp shows Queen Victoria, based on a sketch of her by William
Wyon when she visited London in 1837. The Penny Black Stamp was only used for
one year because the red cancellation mark was hard to spot on its black
background. As a result of this, nine months later, the stamp was reprinted as
a red stamp so that the black cancellation marks were easier to see and harder
to remove.
The Penny
Black was scheduled to be issued on May 6. However, in some cities, a number of
the copies were issued on May 2. Only two pieces of the early issue can be
found now and these are regarded as real treasures. A few years ago, a rich
businessman bought a copy from a US auction house at the price of US$5 million.
The rarity and error in prints of
the old and rare stamps determine its price In the entire stamp world British
queen stamps are quite large in mumber,since many countries issued such stamps
when they were under their colonization.Very fast progress in civilization and scientific approach for their defence and
offence helped them to conquer many nations and organized colonization
worldover. The concept of ‘the survival of the fittest’ was pointed out by them to all the people..
The queen stamps are so beauty to
look at.Some of the queen stamps that I
have are shown below.
