The above stamp, I am confident, is from plate 125 (and printed on the thicker, lavender tinted paper).The side marginal ornaments follow a decision in 1851 to make it easier for postal clerks to divide sheets in half.
All the plates at press at the time were engraved with the first type of ornament, being a twelve pointed star within a circle - part of which is seen on this stamp.
Those plates therefore exist in two states of the marginal markings - with and without the ornament.
The plates noted in the printer's records as having been so altered are:
13 Dec 1851 - 120, 121, 127, 130, 131.
16 Dec 1851 - 116, 118, 119, 122, 123, 124, 125, 128, 129.
Despite this, Statham (page 1439) says that plate 125 had not yet been seen with the side marginal ornament.
If this is correct this would be the first one; and it would go against Statham's estimate of when this plate was removed from press.
His estimate is mid-April 1852 for removal, a date in common with some of the other plates in the list above and from which many examples in the altered state have been seen.
There are therefore two possibilites: either Ken and his contacts simply had not been able to locate an example of plate 125 with the ornament despite their numbers being about equal to the other plates; or the estimate of when this plate was taken from press is wrong, with the actual date being considerably earlier.
Proof either way lies simply in how many 125s with ornament can be located.
Does anyone have one, or more?
