Lot no. 1924

1840, 1d. black, plate 1A (earliest printing), LK, attached to Postal Notice „TO ALL POSTMASTERS“ from the General Post Office in Edinburgh, April 1840 (the month before the Penny Black, the first postage stamp in the world, was issued on May 6, 1840). The 1d. black with good to large margins, another 1d. black stamp, KK, formerly in a pair with the1d. LK, was removed, very fresh state of preservation. Karl Louis BPP certificate (2025) (SG GBP 75‘000)

Remarks: Based on the characteristic edges of the upper margin of the 1d. black, LK, and a further recorded single 1d. black lettered KK, with almost certainty both stamps originally formed a vertical pair stuck on the notice. The 1d. black, KK, must has been taken off at least 70 years ago and has been spotted on a Robson Lowe auction in 1956, a Harmer auction in 1957 and a Phillips auction in 1992. See illustration of the virtually re-joined pair. Twelve ‚genuine‘ Postal Notices bearing a vertical pair of the One Penny Black (of which at least two are in institutional collections) are recorded in the the Karl Louis Card Index, plus two Postal Notices (incl. this one offered here)  bearing a single Penny Black (with the second stamp from the vertcial pairs most likely cut off). A challange for the future owner to search for the ‚lost‘ single 1d. black, KK, and to re-unite with its original neighbour stamp LK on the Postal Notice.  

It must be assumed, that this Postal Notice has leaked from the Stamp Find in Edinburgh (and Dublin) before the first schedule of the find in 1899.