One of the joys of collecting is that as you develop knowledge, the path opens up in front of you. The more you learn, the more you realise you have more to learn.
In 1902 Australia issued the second series of postage dues with the design completed at the base (a concurrently issued series had modified the New South Wales design by removing the letters NSW at the base, leaving a white blank where the letters used to be). The values were ½d, 1d, 2d, 3d, 4d, 5d, 6d, 8d, 10d, 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s and 20s. The only way to tell the 1d, 2d, 5d and 10d values apart from the 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s issues was in the use of the either of the words 'pence' of 'shillings' in the design.
This caused confusion as the values could be mistaken for one another. I have sighted a cover cancelled with a 1s and 2s value that more probably should have been cancelled with a 1d and 2d stamp.
In 1908 is was decided to alter the design of the shilling values to include a stroke, so the pence values and shilling values could be easily distinguished from one another.
The 5s and 1s values were on issue in September and December 1908 respectively, with the 2s, 10s and 20s available by March 1909.
It is hard to understand why this was done when the replacement series for Australia-wide use was distrbuted in July and August 1909.
The end result is, of course, that the shilling values with stroke with contemporary used cancels in the 2s, 10s and 20s values are very scarce.
In 1990, Stanley Gibbons in Melbourne offered a new discovery, the first used copy of the 20s with a contemporary cancel. It was dated 1910, remarkable in the Paul Simonsen had acquired the stamp in that year but it was unknown to the market until offered in the Gibbons sale.
Rod Perry was the buyer at $6,000 (plus purchase costs) from memory and immediately offered it in his 'Private Treaty 101 Selected Items" sale of 1991 for $12,500.
Prestige sold the stamp again in 2005 for $60,000 plus purchase costs.
Seigel Auctions now have for sale another copy, pictured at the start of this thread.
Apparently consigned in a world lot and given a certificate in the UK (I have asked for further details) it is for sale in the November 13-14 sale #1059.
http://www.siegelauctions.com/dynam...3-14,%202013Now, I think there is a valuable lesson here for all of us. Just because something is rare or not known does not in any way indicate that copies do not lie in collections, unidentified. This is particularly true for Aussie dues because the Scott listings are very basic) We have seen the third copy of a Canada's rarest stamp (
https://www.stampcommunity.org/topi...IC_ID=33484) located, a 6th copy (faulty) of a WA 1879 2d mauve Swan error of colour in a €5 Delcampe lot, all in relatively recent times.
Keep looking, keep researching, we can all make discoveries if we search.
Edited by 64idgaf - Yesterday 7:18 pm
Posted 10/17/2013 12:32 am
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