Victoriana

I hope this is the right place for posting this but here goes.

I have received an offer from Westminsterorders.com after buying a Penny Red from them (the stamp was actually free, I had to pay postage). The offer consists of the following, called 'The Early Victoriana Stamps Collection' :

1854 - 57 Perforated 1d Red 'Star'
1858 2d Blue Plate
1864 1d Red Plate
1870 1/2d Red

The cost is £9.99 plus £2.99 post and pack

Are they worth it at this price?

What is a Red 'Star'?
What are Blue & Red plates?

I realise that whether they are worth it depends largely on condition and rarity.
Apart from buying from a company like this (they will send stamps on 'approval' if I buy the Victoriana set), where is a good place to buy from. I have had stamps from Cancelnation in the USA before and they did good service but would it be better to buy from the UK? I am really more interested in pre Elizabeth II but cannot afford too much money.
I hope all of this makes sense

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in anticipation

Brian

See if this helps...a picture is worth a thousand words


http://shop.worldstamps.co.uk/queen...ria-64-c.asp

There are so many varieties of the early GB that I can't tell from your descriptions just which ones you have. You would have to assume that you have the most common varieties, but you never know. The only way to tell would be to get a Stanley Gibbons Specialised and compare with the stamps in hand.

Of course that would be too late unless you can return them.

The plates refers to the plate numbers of the plates used to print the stamps. On the later line-engraved issues the plate numbers are actually incoprorated onto each individual stamp.

In all my years of collecting early GB, I am not sure what red plate "star" means. The first GB stamps had stars in the upper corners. Perhaps this is what is being referred to.

http://www.westminsterorders.com/ is a link to
the website. Click on stamps, than page 2 of the GB
section and you will find the ad mentioned above with
pictures of the issues. Mike in NYC

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I think the star does mean those thing in the upper corners. I have had some bad reports about Westminsterorders so will not be dealing with them. Rohumpy mentioned line-engraved, does anyone know the difference between this and surface printing?

Thanks again

Brian