NEWFOUNDLAND C10 SG196 1931 50c PICTORIAL AIRMAIL ISSUE P14.3x14.1 USED CV$90
Fifty cent Airmail issue of 1931, engraved, green, Coat of Arms watermark* (position 1 - normal for this stamp), perf 14.3x14.1. There are 3 different perforations recorded for this stamp: most common is 14.3x14.3 followed by 14.3x14.1 and 14.3x13.8 - the scarcest. Used with portions of non-distinct full circle cancels in several corners. Small thin in upper right corner mentioned for the record.
Listed as 196 in the 2020 edition of the Stanley Gibbons catalogue with a retail selling price in used condition of 75pds - approximately $90.00 USD. Although Stanley Gibbons retail prices are frequently higher than values given in other stamp catalogues (that don't make a market in stamps), in my opinion, Newfoundland stamps in good used condition are undervalued in the current marketplace.
The normal position of the watermark for this stamp as viewed from the back is with the top of the Coat of Arms shield facing to the left with the elk* facing up - this is listed as watermark position number 1 in the 2023 edition of the Walsh Newfoundland Specialized Stamp Catalogue.
*Note" Many people have assumed that the animal on the top of the Cost of Arms shield is either a caribou or a moose (both of which are quite common in Newfoundland). In the registered design granted in 1637 to the Colony of Newfoundland by Royal Letters Patent, the heraldic description for the Crest reads: "On a Wreath Or and Gules an Elk passant proper." (see attached article by Stanley C. Calder in BNATopics from October 1949) However, this still doesn't clear up the matter. Europeans refer to "elk" what North Americans call "moose". Moose became extinct in Great Britain 1,000s of years before the original Newfoundland Coat of Arms was designed and granted. Therefore it is not likely that the original designer used a "moose" as the model for the "Elk" on the shield. And since "caribou" were largely unknown to European royalty as well, just what was the animal used as a model for the Coat of Arms? In the British Isles, many people refer to some of the larger species of "deer" as "elk". This would probably be most particular to the royalty in reference to Red Deer and Fallow Deer held for their exclusive use on their country estates. Fallow deer were introduced by the Normans into southern England in the first century A.D. for hunting (a sport more or less reserved for nobility). The Fallow "deer" is the only species of deer other than moose with palmated antlers. I believe the animal shown on the Newfoundland Coat of Arms is neither a "moose", "caribou" or an "elk" but is in fact a Fallow "deer".
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