Canada 1852-57 10d blue "Jacques Cartier" on machine-made thick wove paper, SG20.
A brilliant mint vertical pair with large part original gum, large to very large margins and exceptional colour and impression.
The upper stamp shows some minor gum loss and the lower stamp with full original gum showing only a trace of a previous stamp hinge. Such minor gum issues in no way detract from the overall quality of this magnificent rarity from the Colony of Canada.
A superb quality pair of this classic rarity, exceptionally rare in such lovely condition - an exhibition showpiece.
The machine-made issue of this famous early Canadian stamp were on thick wove paper of a more even hard texture with more visible mesh and clear impressions.
Provenance: Ex The Ralph Hart Collection (private treaty 1977, lot 49).
Accompanied with a Vincent Graves Greene Philatelic Research Foundation certificate of authenticity (2014) as Scott No. 7a.
Stanley Gibbons catalogue value: £32,000+.
French mariner Jacques Cartier was the first European to navigate the St. Lawrence River. His explorations of the river and the Atlantic coast of Canada, on three expeditions from 1534 to 1542, laid the basis for later French claims to North America. Cartier is also credited with naming Canada.
The portrait of Jacques Cartier for the stamp issue is from a painting by Francois Riss who was accused of copying it from another portrait. Some art authorities deemed the portrait as entirely spurious.
The historic chateau de Ramezay on Notre-Dame Street in Montreal owns a similar painting measuring 48 inches high by 36 inches. A note in the 13th edition of the gallery catalogue states that no genuine portrait of Cartier exists.
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