Los 508
1852/57, Beaver 3 pence red, diagonal bisect in pair with entire stamp, nice fresh colour and large to very wide margins, showing part of neighbour stamp at the bisect bottom, used on entire letter of the Port Hope branch of the 'Bank of upper Canada', dated July 16, 1855, to New York. The stamps tied by black target and additionally by red double line "CANADA PAID 10 Cts", adjacent red (partly faint) dispatch mark "PORT HOPE U.C. JY 16 1855". The paper of the entire somewhat weak in the folds and partly split, but alltogether in fresh and otherwise flawfless condition. Allthough no 4½ pence rate has been recorded and the letter is underpaid for the usual 6 pence rate to the US it was treated as fully paid and remained untaxed in both Canada and the United States. A mysterical and most attractive letter which appeared for the first time 120 years ago. Only few bisects of the beaver stamp have been reported, especially in pair with normal stamp. Certificate Vincent Graves Greene (2018) (SG 8a, 8)
Provenance: Illustrated and described in Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal June 30, 1898
