A set of three registration sheets from the 1918-1919 Great Britain issue has sold at the top of Sotheby's auction of stamps from the British Postal Museum & Archive, which has just closed in London (July 11).
 The block of four from the top of this sheet sold from the Chartwell collection in 2012 |
The three registration sheets, all bearing 36 stamps and each missing a block of four, sold for £192,000 ($285,978).
The sheets feature the 2s 6d, 10s and 5s denominations from the King George V Seahorse Issue, so called due to its depiction of Britannia riding her chariot on a stormy sea.
As registration sheets, they are some of the first printings from this issue, submitted to the Inland Revenue for their files.
Each block comes complete with a typed registration certificate, with the 2s 6d sheet reading:
"THIS SHEET OF FORTY 2/6 POSTAGE STAMPS WAS THIS DAY PRINTED IN MY PRESENCE BY MESSRS BRADBURY, WILKINSON & COMPANY, LIMITED, FOR REGISTRATION."
They have all been signed by HW Langley, assistant inspector of stamping.
Another registration sheet, this time bearing all 40 stamps, sold for £90,000 ($134,000) to bring the second highest bids of the sale.
Again printed by Bradbury Wilkinson & Sons, the sheet of 10s stamps from 1923 was submitted for the registration of the first print of stamp on paper supplied by Joyson & Son.
According to Sotheby's, no other examples of the 10s stamp on Joyson paper exist outside of the British Postal Museum's collection.
Paul Fraser Collectibles specialises in sourcing the finest British stamps for sale. We have a spectacular example of the 10s deep blue from the 1915 Seahorses issue, a rare shade which boasts its full original gum and perforations with superb centring.
