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1840 Overseas mail. A spectacular 10d rate franking to Bordeaux, France prepaid with ten 1d blacks from Pl.2. QC-QE strip of three, QF and QG singles and QI-QL Strip of four. Each stamp neatly tied by red MC's, four stamps additionally tied by a red Calais transit cds for JU.3.1840. Originally sent from Manchester the cover is backstamped in Manchester, London, Paris and Bordeaux for JU.1-4.1840. A spectacular cover and the only recorded 10d franking to France with the full postage paid by 1d Blacks. Ex. "Daisy" Grand Prix Collection & "Mayflower". PREVIOUS BLACK PLATE 1b or NEXT BLACK PLATE 3
- Registration Date: 22nd April 1840
- Date of final printing in black: 22nd December 1840
- Number of sheets printed in black: 47,443
- Destroyed: 19th December 1841
- Constant Plate characteristics:
- The left star is characteristic, normal only on 55 units FF to JL, all others show an absence of the 7 o'clock ray and of these all but 33 (CI to FE) also show an absence of the 10 o'clock ray.
- Re-Entries: HD, HL, SA
- Double Letters: DG, EA, FG, KE, ME, PA, TL
- Basal Shifts: GC, IL
- Repairs:
- Plate 2 was repaired on two occasions, the first during May or June 1840 during the black printing period; the second repair occured some time in 1841 during the red printing period.
Missing Imprimatur positions courtesy of [1]
State 1
A Row
B Row
C Row
D Row
E Row
F Row
G Row
H Row
I Row
J Row
K Row
L Row
M Row
N Row
O Row
P Row
Q Row
R Row
S Row
T Row
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First Repair (May or June 1840) - State 2 (SG AS17) Black Prints
State 1 showed early signs of wear, particularly to the engraving of the queen's head, in state 2 the engraving was generally restored.
As the repair took place early in the life of the plate, second state copies are more common than copies in the first state.
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 Top right frameline showing signs of re-entry |
 Light burr rub outside left margin, stronger engraving of features compared to state 1 |
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Red Prints Following First Repair - Repaired states only these positions below.
State 2 for SD, TC, TE, TF, TG, TH as no state 1 exist in red for these units.
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Red Prints Following Second Repair - State 2 (SG AS19)
The second repair produced differences in the characteristic ray flaws of the original state generally with one or other ray restored
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Red Prints Following Second Repair - State 3 (SG AS19)
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