The 2¢ Large Queen on laid paper is the rarest

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Printed in 1868, it was not discovered until 1925, and so far only three have been found, all used. Many more could exist as at least one sheet must have been printed, and possibly many sheets; however, they may all have been destroyed, or lie unrecognised in

stamp collection Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study (or combined study and collection) of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth ...

s or on

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of c ...

Background

The Large Queens were the first issue by

; they are so-called to distinguish them from the 1870 issues (the "Small Queens") which are similar in appearance but physically smaller. The Large Queens were normally printed on

wove paper Wove paper is a type of paper first created centuries ago in the Orient, and subsequently introduced to England, Europe and the American colonies in the mid-eighteenth century. Hand-made wove paper was first produced by using a wooden mould that c ...

, but the 1¢, 2¢, and 3¢ values were also printed on the less-desirable

laid paper Laid paper is a type of paper having a ribbed texture imparted by the manufacturing process. In the pre-mechanical period of European papermaking (from the 12th century into the 19th century), laid paper was the predominant kind of paper produced. ...

. The 1¢ and 3¢ on laid paper were long-known although uncommon. The ''Unitrade Specialized Catalogue of Canadian Stamps'' lists Scott number 32, the 2c Laid Paper Large Queen, at $250,000. The last auction price recorded is $247,500.

First copy

The stamp was first reported in 1925, although many authorities were dubious, and the

Scott catalog The Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Company, now a subsidiary of Amos Media, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the world that its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in f ...

did not list it until the 1930s. According to a 2014 BNA Topics First Quarter article by Glenn Archer, the second known example bears a two-ring 5 numeral cancel and was discovered in 1935 in the estate of English stamp dealer JW Westhorpe. According to an 18 November 1971 Globe and Mail article by Douglas Patrick, this example sold for $25,000 to New York dealer Robert Lyman, in the J.N. Sissons' Firth collection auction. In 1986, Vancouver stamp dealer Daniel Eaton acquired this 2c Laid Paper from

Stanley Gibbons The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and phila ...

in London and sold it to Los Angeles stamp dealer George Holschauer for $90,000. The 1971 Globe and Mail article says A.L. Michael of Stanley Gibbons was the underbidder in the 1971 auction. According to Eaton, Gibbons sold the stamp in 1986 on behalf of John Dupont, who collected Canadian stamps using the alias John Foxbridge.

Second copy

Canada 2c Large Queen on laid paper Registered cancel

Kasimir Bileski Kasimir Bileski (September 14, 1908 – January 19, 2005) was a Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of ...

purchased the second copy of the stamp in the Lewis Reford sale of October 1950 for $3,800.''2c Large Queen, Laid Paper Sold''
Saskatoon Stamp Centre, 28 January 1998. Retrieved 28 September 2013. Archived at Internet Archive. This copy had also been in the

Ferrary Philip Ferrari de La Renotière (January 11, 1850 – May 20, 1917) was a noted French-born stamp collector, assembling probably the most complete worldwide collection that ever existed, or is considered likely to exist. Among his extremely rare ...

collection. Daniel Eaton acquired the stamp from Kasimir Bileski then sold/traded this example to John Jamieson for $150,000. Jamieson sold it to Robert Darling Jr. In 1998 it eventually wound up in the award-winning Ron Brigham collection. A certificate from The Royal Philatelic Society, London Expert Committee states the following: "No. 18,955 12 Dec 1935 We have examined the enclosed Canada: 1868-72, 2c. pale emerald-green, on laid paper, perf. 12,(SG 57A), used stamp, sent by Dr. Lewis L. Reford. of which a photograph is attached hereto, and are of opinion that it is genuine." Image reference: Confederation, The Newsletter of the Large and Small Queens Study Group, Number 7, March 1998, pg.4. (This is a study group of the British North American Philatelic Society and .pdf copies of the news letter are available on their website) This example was offered at auction by Ron Brigham in February 2014. It was estimated at $900,000. and sold for $475,000.

Third copy discovered

It was announced on 16 July 2013 that the Greene Foundation had issued a certificate of genuineness to a Canada Two Cent Large Queen stamp on laid paper, Scott number 32. This is only the third known copy of this stamp and the first copy seen since the two existing copies were expertized in 1935 by the

Royal Philatelic Society London The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) is the oldest philately, philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as ''The Philatelic Society, London''. The society runs a postal museum, the Spear Museum of Philatelic History ...

.''Special Announcement''
Vincent Graves Greene Philatelic Research Foundation, 16 July 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2013

/ref> According to a cover story in ''Canadian Stamp News'', the third 2c Laid Paper was found in an

American Philatelic Society The American Philatelic Society (APS) is the largest nonprofit stamp collecting foundation of philately in the world. Both the membership and interests of the society are worldwide. History The organization, originally named the ''American Phila ...

salesbook and purchased for less than $5. Vincent Graves Greene Philatelic Research Foundation Certificate No. G 20118 states the following:

"Date June 24, 2013
Comments: Canada Scott No. 32, used, on horizontal laid paper, .0036 in.
thick, genuine, two diagonal creases, internal tear on right side, dated
Hamilton MR 16, 1870."

A 2014 First Quarter ''BNA Topics'' article, however, states that the price was $60 and the purchaser was American collector Michael D. Smith. The stamp is creased and torn and bears an 1870 "Hamilton C W" (Canada West) cancel. This example realized $215,000. plus 15% buyers premium, ($247,250) in the 18 October 2014 Eastern Auction held by Gary Lyon.

References

External links

Canada 2c Large Queen on laid paper value

Large Queen issues

Rare Canadian stamp could be worth $1 million

Full expertising report from the Greene Foundation on the third copy.Archived here.
* http://bnaps.org/hhl/newsletters/lsq/lsq-1998-03-w007.pdf {{Canadian stamps Postage stamps of Canada Queen Victoria on stamps