Hi, I have not written for a while. Actually I haven't found anything to write about to be honest. But I just saw this. Listed in an auction with the other three in the set, as "Fine Used".

Sorry, this is "damaged" and a "spacefiller" at best. Please, new collectors especially or collectors with not that much experience of the stamps in these early QE II issues:

1) please read the stamp condition guide at the front of your catalogue and learn the correct quality grading descriptions. It upsets me that someone will buy this perhaps thinking it is as described by the seller. and,

2) please get yourself a decent catalogue. This is listed with the other three in the set as Scott 371 - 374. That makes this Scott 374. Actually there are two printings in this set, De La Rue and Bradbury Wilkinson. The Stanley Gibbons Concise catalogue shows both. SG 598 for this £1 value for the De La Rue printing with a 2018 catalogue value of £12. The Bradbury Wilkinson printing is SG 598a with a catalogue value of £8. Without seeing the actually stamp it is hard to tell but I suspect this is the BW printing. Oh, and I am assuming the seller did actually check the watermark on all the stamps as there was a different watermark for the 1955 issue of this design and value, but that is another aspect.

So you have a stamp (in a set) listed by a catalogue number you really do not know what it is and in a condition that is just so totally incorrect. To the person who wrote to me that dealers are cheats, well you are spot on in this case. But one bad apple does not make all apples bad!

Have a great philatelic weekend. Michael cddstamps.com