Penny Red Pair On Newspaper - Worth Anything?

I don't know much about the early GB stamps but I heard that the Penny Red is not worth that much. This pair on a newspaper seems to have good margins. Anyone care to give a value to this?

Also any info about the printing and the stamps appreciated. Thanks !

I do not know what plate these are, not knowledgeable enough myself yet, but the imperf pair looks really good to me, and on newspaper may be a bonus also, adding value.

Perhaps look at bay or Delcampe online to get an idea what sells for what and how they do it, or at auction sights.

Delcampe has Prestige houses on there, see the top tabs.

Ok. I checked out ebay. I didn't find that much on Delcampe. There's a range of prices for Penny Red pairs from £10 to £450 - wow !

Possibly good stamps... but I'd have them off that newspaper as fast as possible. The newspaper does nothing for them except tend to pass on any degradation.
On a quick look at the stamps they are an imperforate pair of One Penny reds on blued paper which is a plus. The check letters are Alphabet I which means printing plates between 12 and 131. The postmark can be used to rule out plates 12 to 36 so there is a start to narrowing it down. It might be possible to narrow it further given time.
The value would depend of the plate, condition, etc but a general price for an unplated pair may be obtained via ebay.

Hi Jimjung

the NE could be any of these plates, 13,18,32,45,53,57,76
OE could be 12,,14, 15,16,18,19,32,35,88,,94,98
So by a matter of deduction, because NE could be Plate 32, and OE Plate 32, because they are a Joined Pair, I would opt for Plate 32.
Regards
Horamakhet

Only plates numbered 37 up to 87 are possible with those stamps.

Thanks Horamkhet and scotzm ! That's great knowing the Plate. Since there were so many plates, I feel fortunate to get that bit of info.

I have found a number of horizontal pairs on ebay from Plate 32 running around £40. I haven't seen any mention of the blue paper but from checking a few websites, the older printings were on blue paper and it changed to a yellow or cream paper between 1854-58.

That's more info then I've gotten anywhere else on this pair. But most collectors have said that I should keep it on the newspaper and not soak it off. scotzm, why do you think I should soak it off the newspaper? I would've thought that the extra postmark would at least verify the date (JA 11 1848) and possibly the location the stamps were used.

It is not late 32... only plates 37 up to 87 can be possible... but don't take the stanley gibbons catalog as being gospel

Posted in Liverpool

Newspaper, in my opinion , needs to be removed as that paper was made from woodpulp and is very acidic and is showing signs of degradation. This appears to have affected the stamps... lower one especially... which will greatly reduce any value of those stamps.

Scotzm, I disagree with removing them from the wrapper. The lower stamp is badly enough damaged that I think it's not worth removing, plus it keeps them in context (especially as the postmark is on the wrapper). The damage looks quite old as well and as long as they are kept away from any significant damp they should be OK.

I'd also like to add that the paper the newsprint was printed on may not be wood pulp paper as we commonly use now. Woodpulp newsprint was invented in 1844 (in Nova Scotia) and was not necessarily common in newspapers for another 20 or 30 years (sorry, I don't have an exact date on that).
I used to have an 1858 edition of the Globe newspaper which was printed on a nice cotton rag.
So depending on when your piece of newspaper was printed, and the kind of paper it is, it may be perfectly safe to keep it where it is.

edit- Sorry, but I just noticed the cancel mark of 1848. So with that in mind, I'm sure your newsprint is probably cotton, and therefore safe.
Just my opinion of course.

..."and therefore safe"

In my opinion, whatever the paper source,...newsprint means handling...handling mean contaminants... contaminants mean foxing and degradation of the paper.
Is the paper showing signs of degrading?
Are the stamps affected?
By all means leave the stamps as is... eventually the paper will turn from yellow to brown, become brittle and fall to bits anyway. Unfortunately the stamps will be so much affected to be in really bad condition. I'd have the newspaper off now and maybe cut the bottom stamp away as it is showing noticeable degradation. Perhaps I would do a scan of the whole thing kept as a record of how it used to be.

Actually, scotzm, if the newsprint is cotton rag, which I believe it probably is, it won't turn yellow to brown and crumble away, as cotton is very long lasting and what we now call archival. It's the acid in wood pulp that causes modern newsprint to degrade, which just isn't present in cotton paper. It's very likely that the newspaper is a better quality paper than the stamp.

If it were acidic woodpulp paper, it would have turned yellow and brittle long, long ago. The fact that it has not confirms Jamesw's point, that it's undoubtedly rag content paper. I've worked in many archives and manuscript libraries over the past 40 years and have seen many books, manuscripts, and periodicals from that era and much older (500 years old) that have survived very well. And I don't think I've ever seen 100-year old woodpulp paper that is not badly deterioriated.

Whether the stamp harbors fungus, is of course, another matter altogether.