Lot 61304 – 1847, (5c) blue, “Lady McLeod”, on entire letter

1847, (5c) blue, “Lady McLeod”, large margins on three sides, sharp impression and deep shade, used on 21 August 1849 entire letter from San Fernando to Port of Spain; census C36 in the Marriott-Medlicott-Ramkissoon handbook; a fascinating, rare and highly desirable stamp on cover, this being sold for the first time on 6 .1.1892 according to pencil notice on reverse. The stamp seems to be thinned with both corners at base torn off diagonally and later repaired; it is interesting to note that from 13.9.1847 onwards all the covers originating in San Fernando exhibits stamps either uncancelled or with their corners mutilated as in this example, which in our opinion was an action taken to avoid its reusage: this being one of only four “Lady McLeod” covers known to exist showing this rare form of “cancellation”. The stamp was not pen cancelled and obviously belongs to the cover, as no examples of mail from the Taylor correspondence exist without stamps.

Note: The “Lady McLeod” has the very significant attribute of being the first adhesive stamp to be issued in a British Colony. With a delightful design, there is a great fascination around the usage and mysterious production of this stamp, which was presumably printed locally if one considers the quality of the production and the similar thick yellowish paper as used later in the 1852 printing of the lithographs. It was issued to prepay mail carried by the “Lady McLeod” steamer (named after the wife of the Governor of Trinidad) between the ports of San Fernando and Port of Spain.