SG7

This stamp is in the precise shade of the 1858 printing by Richardson on 'no wmk' white paper. An unsevered pair is known with a Dunedin cancellation on a cover front showing an Auckland arrival postmark of JA 19 1857.

This may have come from a single sheet used by Richardson as a trial. Some stamps have obviously managed to find their way into Edward Staffords possession and then onto his wife, who has used them to send the below letter to her husband.

Exceedingly rare.

1857 (Jan):
Richardson printing
1 d. dull orange
wmk. Large Star
on white paper
SG7 / CP A1b

The famous 'Castle' cover front bearing a horizontal pair of vibrant colour, touched to large margins, right hand stamp with vertical scissor cut at top and small printer's creases, lightly cancelled by "18" numeral handstamps of Dunedin in black with AUCKLAND / NEW ZEALAND arrival cds at left (January 19, 1857). This cover is mentioned in the Robson Lowe Encyclopædia, volume IV on page 404, and in the Stanley Gibbons Part One footnote - this is the only recorded multiple of this stamp - just eight examples being recorded, two of which are 'Dwarf' examples and one of those is in the British Library. An extraordinary and very rare piece. Certs. Odenweller (1990), BPA (1990) Gi = £ 60'000.rnProvenance: M.P.Castle, President of the Royal Philatelic Society (1913-1917); Collection Charles Lathrop Pack, Harmers, New York, Dec 1944, lot 1358; Collection Dale-Lichtenstein, Harmers, London, 14 May 1990, lot 377; Collection Joseph Hackmey, Spink Shreve, New York, 19 Feb 2009, lot 1074.
Catalogue 227: EUROPE & OVERSEAS

It can be said that this stamp (A1b) is recognisable with absolute certainty only when found used and on cover before 1862 (almost certainly in 1857).