Lot 359

1841 British Two Pence Blue Victoria Stamps - Uncut Used Pair

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Lot 359
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1841 British Two Pence Blue Victoria Stamps - Uncut Used Pair
1841 British Two Pence Blue Victoria Stamps - Uncut Used Pair
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1841 British Two Pence Blue Victoria Stamps - Uncut Used Pair

Estimate: $200 - $300

Starting Bid: $100

(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

United Kingdom, Victorian era, ca. 1841 CE. A horizontal pair of Great Britain's celebrated Two Pence Blue, the imperforate companion to the Penny Black, printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co. from line-engraved plates. The young Queen Victoria appears in profile, her diademed head crowned by the word "POSTAGE" above and "TWO PENCE" below, set against a finely reticulated ground of engine-turned lathework that defied Victorian forgers. Corner check letters (L-F and L-G in the lower angles) mark each stamp's position on the printing sheet, while both bear the black obliterating cancellation of the Maltese Cross or barred numeral handstamp that certified their use. Issued the year after the world's first adhesive postage stamps, this joined pair survives uncut, its margins clear to large, a scarce condition for so fragile a paper relic of the Uniform Penny Post reform. Size: 1.625" W x 1" H (4.1 cm W x 2.5 cm H).

The Two Pence Blue debuted on 6 May 1840 alongside the Penny Black, but the plates seen here belong to the 1841 "white lines" issue, distinguished by thin white lines added below "POSTAGE" and above "TWO PENCE" to help postal clerks separate the value from the penny stamp. Assigned catalogue number 4 in the standard reference, it was engraved by Charles and Frederick Heath after William Wyon's City Medal portrait of the young queen. Because the stamps were issued imperforate, examples had to be cut apart with scissors, making an intact multiple such as this genuinely uncommon. The consignor's collector sheet, from Rasdale Stamp Auctions (Lot 1608), records the pair as a used horizontal pair with margins clear to large.

Provenance: private Sheffield, Massachusetts, USA collection, by inheritance, collected 1970's; ex-Rasdale Stamp Auctions, Westmont, Illinois, USA

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Item # 199721

  • Condition: Both 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