Canada Scott 40e Pale Mllky Pink Small Queen

This is my favorite stamp. The Canada Scott 40e Ten Cent Small Queen Montreal First printing perf 11 1/2 x 12 Issued Nov 1874.

The pale milky pink is a distinct shade done immediately after the very first printing which was a duller yellowish pink shade.

I exhibited this stamp at the Capex 1996 International Show in the Gems of Canadian Philately Court of Honour exhibit. Chuck Firby a well known Michigan dealer and auctioneer published a book of the same name and this is the page from the book.

Provenance:

I purchased the stamp out of a Jim Hennock sale in 1995 for 1,300.00 hammer Canadian. I then sold it in 1999 to John Jamieson as part of my ten cent small queen collection. John sold off the collection and I believe the stamp then was purchased by a collector who sold it recently in the Nov 2019 Eastern Auctions sale for 4,750.00 Hammer Canadian. This shows that rare and top quality stamps do go up in value over the years as Bill Gross is fond of pointing out.

I believe I have one of these (single, not on cover) I picked up in a chunk of a K. Bileski collection I obtained a bit ago. I'll have to double check but I agree - it's a gorgeous stamp. I love the small queens, although I think I now have too many and got to the point where I'm overwhelmed by them haha. That's a beautiful cover.