Nigerian Stamps and Postal History

Today's post continues my examination of the stamps of the second Crown CA Issue of Lagos, with the 4d Mauve. Between July 1884 and December 1886, 41,760 stamps were dispatched to the colony in 11 different printings as follows: July 8, 1884 - 58 sheets of 60, or 3,480 stamps.  September 24, 1884 - 60 sheets, or 3,600 stamps. December 16, 1884 - 60 sheets, or 3,600 stamps April 21, 1885 - 60 sheets, or 3,600 stamps. July 13, 1885 - 60 sheets, or 3,600 stamps. September 29, 1885 - 60 sheets, or 3,600 stamps. December 29, 1885 - 62 sheets, or 3,720 stamps. March 29, 1886 - 60 sheets, or 3,600 stamps. June 30, 1886 - 60 sheets, or 3,600 stamps. October 12, 1886 - 76 sheets, or 4,560 stamps. December 13, 1886 - 80 sheets, or 4,800 stamps. As you can see, the last two printings are slightly more common than the others, but by and large the printings are all roughly the same in terms of scarcity. Interestingly, the printing quantities are almost exactly the same for all ...

Today's post is where we begin to delve into some of the more difficult values of the second Crown CA Issue of Lagos - i.e. those having more than 10 printings. The first of these that I wish to deal with is the 2d slate or grey. Between July 1884 and December 1886, 41,760 stamps were dispatched to the colony in 11 different printings as follows: July 8, 1884 - 58 sheets of 60, or 3,480 stamps.  September 24, 1884 - 60 sheets, or 3,600 stamps. December 16, 1884 - 56 sheets, or 3,360 stamps April 21, 1885 - 61 sheets, or 3,660 stamps. July 13, 1885 - 61 sheets, or 3,660 stamps. September 29, 1885 - 63 sheets, or 3,780 stamps. December 29, 1885 - 61 sheets, or 3,660 stamps. March 29, 1886 - 60 sheets, or 3,600 stamps. June 30, 1886 - 60 sheets, or 3,600 stamps. October 12, 1886 - 76 sheets, or 4,560 stamps. December 13, 1886 - 80 sheets, or 4,800 stamps. As you can see, the last two printings are slightly more common than the others, but by and large the printings a...

I have to offer my sincere apologies to my readers this week, as my time got away from me yesterday while writing my post for my other Canadian Philately blog. I was writing an update to a post I did about the 1937 Long Coronation Issue of Newfoundland, and what started as something I thought would take a few hours, took me until 3:30am to complete. Unfortunately it is income tax season here in Canada, and I still have a bit of work that I do in that respect, so the rest of my time this week is spoken for. Consequently, I very much doubt that I will have time to write any post this week, for which I am very sorry. If I do get a few hours towards the end of the week, I may start on the next value in the series. However, in the meantime, if you wish to read my post about the 1937 Long Coronation Issue, you can access it here: http://canadianphilately.blogspot.ca/2017/02/the-1937-long-coronation-issue-of.html If you have never paid much attention to the 1937 Coronation issue, you may...

As many of my readers are now aware, my partner Steph and I recently moved from Toronto to historic Saint John, New Brunswick as we had a dream of operating a Bed and Breakfast, in conjunction with my stamp business. We bought a lovely 140 year old house located in the west side of the city, which used to be a Bed and Breakfast. We decided that it would be a fabulous idea to operate it as a Bed and Breakfast with a twist: it will be the first Bed and Breakfast that I know of, which is aimed at providing a quiet and cozy, stamp filled getaway for those of you philatelists looking to immerse yourself in your stamps, while having all your needs catered to. We offer two guest bedrooms, each with their own self-contained bathroom, so that you can be assured of complete privacy in your room. Our room rates range from a low $95 per night for our Rose Gold Room, to $105 per night for our large Grandma Green Room. You can bring your stamps with you and sit in our comfy office, at a l...