QV 1½d Rose-Red 'Three Halfpence' (SG 51) — Group of 4
£120.00
Four used Queen Victoria THREE HALFPENCE rose-red, 1870-1874, SG 51.
WHY THE THREE HALFPENCE IS SCARCER THAN THE PENNY. The 1½d was issued for only four years and served a rate few letters used. It was printed in a small fraction of the numbers of the penny red and survives accordingly. Collectors of the Victorian line-engraved issues need it and there is far less of it about.
THE FOUR STAMPS, BY CORNER LETTER. The lower pair of check letters gives the stamp's exact position in the sheet of 240, reading row then column. They are recorded here because collectors building a plate reconstruction search on them.
B-P — the palest of the four and the lightest cancelled, the portrait almost clear of the strike. Sound perforations, well centred. There is a diagonal crease across the upper left and the paper has toned. The most presentable of the group.
B-A — the best colour of the four, a full bright rose-red, evenly centred with sound perforations all round. A heavy cancellation falls across the portrait and the right-hand frame.
F-T — sound and complete, good colour, with heavy cancel bars across the centre and a circular datestamp at the lower right.
L-A — the heaviest cancelled of the four, a duplex strike covering much of the design. Included for completeness and priced as such.
PLATE NUMBERS. This value was printed from PLATES 1 AND 3 ONLY — plate 2 was prepared and never used, so the sequence jumps. The plate number is engraved small in the side frames. PLATE 1 IS THE SCARCE ONE and worth materially more than plate 3.
THE PLATES HERE HAVE NOT BEEN READ, AND HAVE NOT BEEN GUESSED. They were examined at high magnification and the numerals were not resolvable — the frames are too heavily inked and too heavily cancelled for the numeral to be separated with certainty. Rather than assert a plate we cannot see, we state plainly that it is unread. If a plate 1 is among these four it has not been identified, claimed, or charged for. That upside passes to the buyer, and anyone with a plate-finder glass can settle it in a few minutes.
WHAT HAS NOT BEEN DONE. Plate numbers not read. Watermarks not checked in a tray. Perforations not gauged. No certificate is offered.
SOLD AS A GROUP of four, not individually. Described honestly rather than flatteringly — judge from the photograph, which shows all four stamps at high magnification.
ALL ITEMS ARE SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION OF BEING IN STOCK.
The identification, condition assessment and valuation in this listing were produced by an AI analysis of photographs. ALL PURCHASES ARE MADE ENTIRELY AT THE BUYER'S OWN RISK. Sold as seen. These are second-hand goods and there are no returns beyond your statutory rights.