Xmas 1898

Well I just won this stamp and it arrived in the mail today, its mint but does have hinge damage a little bit but still has all its gum. I paid $3.50 for it including shipping. as a newbie did I do OK or I am I still learning from my mistakes. any replies would be helpful

That's a SC#86 blue. There are at least 4 distinct colours (of the ocean), lavender (85), grey (85i), blue (86) and deep blue (86b). The centering is off on yours but even then Unitrade lists it at $9 for VG condition, $25 for fine. Yours would be more toward the very good, so your price is about 1/3 catalogue. Not a bad deal. Very nice stamp. Congratulations.

Great Stamp.

I love the historical significance. Where else, in 1898, could you purchase a map of the world for 2 cents!

KirkS

This is why I find this hobby fascinating, this one of my favorite stamps I believe it was one of the first Xmas stamps and maybe one of the first colour stamps as well. Next stamp on the hunting list is the Bluenose

Well done, Irishjack! I'm quite fond of this stamp, myself! What really amuses me is how Great Britain was flaunting their empire building as something to be admired ...

This is not a Xmas stamp. It was issued round about xmas time but its topic was not xmas, and it was not intended for xmas mailings. The allegation that this is the "world's first xmas stamp" is incorrect.

Hi moonbird,

I think you'll just have to keep banging your head against that wall!

It may not be what would call an "Xmas stamp" but you can't deny that it's a stamp with the word "Xmas" on it!

I know the Xmas thing is contested. But other firsts... Canada's first multicoloured stamp, first map stamp, first Mercator projection of a map on a stamp. And you can't deny it is the first one to say 'Xmas', to paraphrase Nigel.

And as an aside, a guy at my stamp club spent 40 years collecting this, and only this stamp, and everything to do with it. Told me he had over 50,000 of them at one point.
No one can say that stamp collectors aren't focused.

So it is an Xmas stamp

Maybe it's an Xmas stamp, but not a Christmas stamp?

A quick look at ebay shows that this stamp is going for as little as $1.54 (used) to up to $60 (MNH). I don't have a current Canadian stamp catalog, so can anyone tell me what the catalog list price of that issue should be?

Moonbird, as I recall from the last Xmas season posts, has a bit of problem with the word being "exclusionary" ... is that diplomatic enough? :) But he has lovely stamps and thoughts.

Look up, look waaaaaay up. Unitrade lists it at $9 for VG condition, $25 for fine.

Unitrade lists at as high as $60 in VF, and $150 in VF, MNH

Why is it that are different versions of background (sea) colors?
Errors?...Different printing dates?
Or maybe they did so deliberately?

Note that this copy has a substantial red shift to the right, probably the biggest shift I've ever seen on this issue.