1d Vermillion - Imperforate

Discussion

This issue is known imperforate with the Crown over A watermark on gummed paper which was used from November 1907 onwards. There are three types of imperforate issues known; 

• wholly imperforate (discussed on this page)
• imperforate on the right margin of the sheet due to sheet not being rotated to perforate the margin. (discussed HERE)
• Left imperforate margins associated with the perforation 12 x 9½ stamps from mid-1901 (discussed HERE)

Not much is known about the fully imperforate issue but presumably, as was the case with most other mint imperforate Queensland 2nd and 3rd Sideface issues, a sheet or two was for some reason not perforated. It never went on sale at a post office but instead must have come from within the Queensland Post and Telegraph Department and made available for purchase to certain unknown favoured collectors.

It is listed as SG 288a (Imperforate pair) by Stanley Gibbons and is priced at £400 in the 2022 catalog. Brusden White in their 2023 Australian States Federal Period, 1901-1912 catalog list it as Q11b. Imperforate (pair) and priced at $750. They include the following note: 

"There does not appear to be any contemporary evidence that the imperforate error was sold over a post office counter, but a full sheet of 120 seems to have reached the philatelic market. At least one pair is known used on cover, almost certainly philatelically contrived."

Kenneth Scudder in Queensland Postage Stamps 1897-1912 p. 256 suggests that the stamps come from an April 1912 printing. My block of 4 appears to a pale scarlet vermillion shade on Cowan paper. Below is a census of examples seen by me. A total of 50 stamps are shown below. I have yet to see the philatelic cover mentioned in Brusden White.

Census

1d. Imperforate left lower corner marginal block of 4 on gummed paper. Seen on the Michael Eastlick Website

1d. right marginal Imperforate block of 4 on gummed paper. Seen in Corinphila Veilingen auction no 260

1d. Imperforate block of 4 on gummed paper. Seen in Abacus auction no 256 lot no 318 and previously in David Feldman auctions. Ex Bernard Manning. Now in my collection

1d. Imperforate block of 4 on gummed paper. Seen in Spink auction no 12043 lot no 1405. Ex Alan Griffiths

1d. Imperforate block of 4 on gummed paper. Seen in Spink auction no 12043 lot no 1406. Ex Alan Griffiths. Now in the collection of Dr Andrew Mortlock

1d. Imperforate block of 4 on gummed paper. Seen in Spink auction no 20030 lot no 216(x). Ex Gary Diffen

1d. left margin Imperforate strip of 4 on gummed paper. Seen in Abacus auction no 229 lot no 424

1d. bottom margin horizontal Imperforate pair on gummed paper. Seen in Abacus auction no 237

1d. left margin horizontal Imperforate pair on gummed paper. Seen in Status auctions

1d. left margin horizontal Imperforate pair on gummed paper. Seen on Ebay

1d. left margin horizontal Imperforate pair on gummed paper. Seen in Abacus auction no 237

1d. right margin horizontal Imperforate pair on gummed paper. Seen in Leski auction 2019 lot no 443. Ex Bernard Manning

1d. horizontal Imperforate pair on gummed paper. Seen in Millennium auction no 21


1d. horizontal Imperforate pair on gummed paper. Seen in Spink auction no 16030 lot no 1180

1d. horizontal Imperforate pair on gummed paper. Seen in Prestige Philately auction no 152. Now in the collection of Dr Andrew Mortlock

1d. horizontal Imperforate pair on gummed paper. Seen in Abacus auction no 239

1d. horizontal Imperforate pair on gummed paper. Seen in Classicphil auctions

1d. horizontal Imperforate pair on gummed paper. Seen on Ebay