Auction 309-320 - Great Britain 1840–1841 Europe & Overseas - Day 5

1840 (March), 1d. Black, Master Die Proof, on India paper, mounted on soft card, cut to stamp size, showing the addition of the words POSTAGE and ONE PENNY, the four corner squares left blank, cancelled with "London W.C." squared circle, central horizontal crease, yet a die proof of great philatelic significance, one of the few such examples recorded in private hands, illustrating the stage at which final approval could be given to the design that would become the world`s first adhesive postage stamp, this being the unique recorded cancelled example; with 2004 Royal Philatelic Society London certificate. Gi DP17arnrnA mere six examples (cancelled in favour for J.W. Palmer, a London Stamp Dealer at 281 Strand in 1886) of this Master Die Proof are recorded, with even fewer available to collectors. Three are held in instituional collections, with two examples found in the Royal Philatelic Collection, and one in the R.M. Phillips Collection at the Postal Museum (London). A further three are recorded in private hands, two of which, including the example offered here, are in the Beresford-Wylie Collection.rnrnProvenance:rnCollection Shaida, Harmers Auctions SA, Lugano.rn