A superb example of the 1882 £1 brown lilac provided the highlight among the Great Britain stamps at a November 12 US auction.

Used high value stamps are often rarer than unused examples

The used stamp, which was cancelled by a nice strike of the Borough B. O./High St. SE circular date stamp, sold for $3,250 against a $3,000-4,000 estimate. It was sold in excellent condition, with just the usual perforation faults often found on stamps of this variety.

The world's first postage stamp sporting the world's first cancellation

The lot was followed by a strong example of the Penny Black, which was stamped with the Maltese Cross cancellation - the world's first cancel mark for an adhesive stamp. The stamp originated from the scarce Plate 11 and featured the O-D position letters. Further boosted by full to wide margins and its superb condition, it sold for $4,750.

Also featuring was a rare Penny Black printed with an inverted watermark. Again cancelled with a good strike of the Maltese Cross and lettered A-B from plate 1B, it made a 10% increase on its $1,000 high estimate to sell for $1,100.

Paul Fraser Collectibles is currently offering a fine example of the 1840 1d black, which is lettered VR in the upper corners and is one of the rarest of the Officials.

Highlighting the United States section of the auction was a used pair of the 1857 1c blue from positions 95-96. With a neat, light cancellation and just a thin speck on the left stamp, the pair brought $9,500, achieving a 26.6% increase on the $7,500 high estimate.

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