Lot 360

16 New Zealand 19th C. Chalon Head Queen Victoria Stamps - Used

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Lot 360
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16 New Zealand 19th C. Chalon Head Queen Victoria Stamps - Used
16 New Zealand 19th C. Chalon Head Queen Victoria Stamps - Used
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16 New Zealand 19th C. Chalon Head Queen Victoria Stamps - Used

Estimate: $500 - $750

Starting Bid: $250

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
August 7, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Oceania, New Zealand, British colonial administration, ca. 1862–1872 CE. A collection of sixteen different used postage stamps issued by colonial New Zealand, each bearing the celebrated "Chalon Head" portrait of Queen Victoria in full coronation regalia. The engraved profiles float within finely worked frames reading NEW ZEALAND above and the denomination below, printed in a spectrum of soft green, violet, brown, orange-vermilion, blue, and yellow. Values range from the One Penny through Two Pence, Three Pence, Four Pence, Six Pence, and the tall One Shilling. Each is postally used, tied by heavy bar and numeral cancellations that speak to genuine service across a young colony's mail routes. Both imperforate and perforated examples appear, tracing the technical evolution of the issues. Together they form a compact conspectus of one of the most admired designs in Victorian-era philately. Size (all about the same): 0.75" W x 1.125" H (1.9 cm W x 2.9 cm H).

The "Chalon Head" takes its name from Alfred Edward Chalon, whose 1837 full-length state portrait of the young Queen Victoria in coronation robes became the template for postage stamps across the British Empire. New Zealand adopted the design in 1855 and continued it into the 1870s, making it one of the longest-serving colonial portrait issues. The plates were reworked repeatedly, and the same design appears imperforate, roulette, and machine-perforated, so specialists distinguish issues by paper, watermark, and perforation rather than image alone.

Per the accompanying Roger Koerber philatelic lot sheet (Southfield, Michigan), this grouping was catalogued as sixteen different used examples, ranging from a One Shilling green with heavy cancel to a One Penny carmine-vermilion with light cancel, catalogue numbers 20/48, with a stated catalogue value of $888.00 in 1976.

Provenance: private Sheffield, Massachusetts, USA collection, by inheritance, acquired July 1978; ex-Roger Koerber, Southfield, Michigan, USA

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Item # 199749

  • Condition: All cancelled and in very good condition.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000