Scott #74, Facit #100v YELLOWISH VERY THICK PAPER [1910 1 øre yellowish olive brown Posthorn] NEVER HINGED with JUMBO-SIZED MARGINS and SUPERB CENTERING. While this is not a "scarce" variety in normal quality, in my experience it is "rare" in this extraordinary quality! There are several colors and papers of this stamp; one can make a very interesting display of this lowest-denomination stamp. Look for different color shades, Mint and Used blocks, Plate Blocks (month-year date marginal blocks; these help to sort out the colors/printings), Used singles with interesting cancellations, and because this stamp was only used as a make-up-rate denomination look for the wide range of potential uses (along with other stamps, or rarely several of these stamps alone making up a rate) on covers and cards.
ACTUAL item.
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7.50
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401533
Scott #77 BOOKLET PAIR, Facit #103BB from booklet Facit #H9 [1910 (booklet also 1910) 5 øre Green Posthorn] Used VF booklet pair (straight edges on left and right) with two strikes of an (unreadable) traveling post office (probably a coastal ship) cancellation, that appears to be dated in 1915. There is one shorter perforation at the top, but otherwise the perforations are remarkably nice for one of these "very scarce" pairs. This example has small-hole perforations which indicates that the booklet from which this came was made from sheets of a slightly later printing, which fits with the apparent 1915 cancellation date. I have not previously had an example with perforation holes this small. The catalogs list the booklet having been issued in 1910, but it is very likely that production continued for several years, on an occasional as-needed basis, using whatever sheets (printing) of the 5 øre green stamps were currently available. This is from a "very rare" booklet with a Facit Classic 2024 value of SEK 20,000 -- very few examples of the booklet remain in existence. This example is very well centered for this type of pair and has remarkably large margins. This is much, much nicer than typically seen! Probably because such pairs are not well known -- most collectors have never even seen a picture of one -- the value stated in the catalogs is much lower than the rarity would suggest. Such pairs are "rarely" offered, but these pairs do have spaces in certain Norwegian albums, including at least one edition of the Lighthouse album.
ACTUAL item.
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75.00
401536
Scott #78 Pale Grayish Lilac on Bright White Paper [1922 5 øre magenta Posthorn] NEVER HINGED with F-VF centering. Clean perforations and white/clear gum. Wonderfully fresh and quite an unusual color shade. Though there were many printings of this stamp, this is a very unusual example. This example has a much, much lighter and grayer color than usually seen. This "workhorse" stamp is common in normal quality, but such nice NH examples of unusual color shades are surprisingly hard to find; furthermore, this color/paper is particularly unusual (in any condition / quality). There were many printings of this stamp resulting in different papers, colors, and appearance of perforations, but the specialized catalogs do not provide any information other than Facit separating the color shades into "red lilac" and "brownish lilac". This denomination presents a great possibility for making a specialized collection and forging your own path.
ACTUAL item.
5.00
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401535
Scott #78 Deep Lilac on Yellowish Paper [1922 5 øre magenta Posthorn] Mint, extremely lightly hinged (you may need a magnifying glass to find the hinge mark), with SUPERB centering. Though there were many printings of this stamp, this is an unusual example. This example has much deeper color than usually seen. Though this does not look "brownish lilac" to me, it may belong to the "brownish lilac" group that Facit lists. The yellowish paper (and slightly yellowish gum) is quite unusual on this stamp and suggests that this is either an early printing or a small printing of which I have seen very few examples. This example has smaller-hole perforations than typically seen. This "workhorse" stamp is common in normal quality, but such nice LH examples are surprisingly hard to find; furthermore, this color/paper is particularly unusual (in any condition / quality). There were many printings of this stamp resulting in different papers, colors, and appearance of perforations, but the specialized catalogs do not provide any information other than Facit separating the color shades into "red lilac" and "brownish lilac". This denomination presents a great possibility for making a specialized collection and forging your own path.
ACTUAL item.
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4.00
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400857
Scott #83 Dark Red Brown [1910 brown (shades) 15 øre Posthorn] Mint, hinge remnant, with VF centering. Facit lists (#109a) a Reddish Brown, but this is NOT that. The Facit-listed "Reddish Brown" is a very light color, which I call "Light Red Brown". Instead this is Facit #83b which Facit describes in very general terms as a range of colors, "Dark Brown to Brown". The "Dark Brown" extreme of that spectrum is very dark and is NOT obviously reddish. However, the "Brown" end of that spectrum is actually this color -- which I call "Dark Red Brown" to clearly distinguish it from the Facit #83a. This stamp is remarkably difficult to find with nice centering; most examples seen are only Fine or perhaps F-VF. This example has nice perforations for this small-hole perforation issue. While this stamp has a modest catalog value, it is much scarcer with nice centering than the catalog value suggests.
ACTUAL item.