QV 2d Blue, PLATE 9, White Lines, Corner Letters D-T / T-D
£165.00
A twopence blue of the 1858-69 white lines issue, printed from PLATE 9, with corner letters D-T at the top and T-D at the foot. Used, perforated, with a barred numeral cancellation.
PLATE 9 is one of the earliest plates of the issue and among the scarcer numbers - substantially harder to find than the common late plates 12 to 15. The cancel is heavy across the portrait, which is reflected in the price; a lightly struck example of this plate sells for considerably more.
THE ISSUE. Queen Victoria twopence blue, white lines added, printed from 1858 to 1869. This is the design that introduced check letters in all four corners, and with them the PLATE NUMBER engraved into the side frames - the small numeral in the lattice on both sides of the stamp. Before this redesign no British stamp carried a plate number at all.
WHY THE PLATE MATTERS. The twopence blue was printed from plates 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Plates 10 and 11 were prepared but never put to press, which is why the sequence jumps. The early plates had short working lives and are markedly scarcer than the later ones, so the plate number is the single biggest factor in what one of these is worth.
CORNER LETTERS give the stamp's exact position in the sheet of 240 - the lower pair read row then column.
WHAT HAS AND HAS NOT BEEN CHECKED. The plate number has been read from the stamp under magnification. The watermark has not been checked in a watermark tray and the perforations have not been measured with a gauge. No certificate is offered.
The identification, condition assessment and valuation in this listing were produced by an AI analysis of photographs, checked against the plate number read from the stamp itself. 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.