1871 1/- vermilion Chalon perf. 11½ SG 134a - is there a story?

[Ross Ewington]

I found this fiscally used 1/- Chalon with a double perf at right in a mixed lot of Tasmanian stamps I purchased at auction over 20 years ago
(yes, I don't always rush into things)

qq3813.jpg (57.66 KiB) Viewed 1866 times

The mss date being 1871, I thought I'd check the perforations and discovered the stamp is from the local printing made in that year .... it can't be from the later printings made in 1873, 1875 or 1878 unless the mss date is incorrect however I believe that this is highly unlikely.

When consulting the SG catalog I noted that the 1871 printing (SG 134a) is not 'priced' either mint or postally used.

Does anyone know why Stanley Gibbons have not 'committed' in regard to pricing this particular stamp ....is there a story?

[bill]

A belated response to Ross's query on the 1/- vermilion perf 11½.

We find the earlier perforations (10, 12, 12½) listed in Gibbons under
catalogue numbers 68, 77 and 90 respectively. This work was all done
on old stock from the London printing of 1858. Yes, it took some time
to use up the 1/- stamp in comparison to the lower values. Note that
perf 12 really means perf 11.8 when we use the Instanta gauge.

The second paragraph of Basset Hull's book describes the 6d and 1/-
as being perf 11½ during the period of interest (November 1870 to
March 1871) in Chapter VII (on the figure watermarked DLR stamps
of that time). OF course, perf 11½ really means 11.4. The 1/- is
probably from the London printing as we don't get a local printing
according to Basset Hull until January 1873 with perf 11½ followed
by more local printings in March 1875 and May 1878.

Gibbons might not know what price to give that 1/- of 1871. People
have to look for that variety and when a few more are found, we will
know how scarce it is, compared to other issues of the 1/-. In reality
the 1/- is less common than the pence values.

Further information would be welcome.