FLOAT
An 1851 British Guiana 2c rose 'Cottonreel' pair on cover, ex-Ferrary, now in the Royal Philatelic Collection - another example of the issue, not the 'Weill' vertical pair cut square that prices this constituent.

British Guiana 'Cottonreels'

Maker
British Guiana (Crown colony), Royal Gazette office, Georgetown
Year
1850
Rank
21 of 100

British Guiana 'Cottonreels'

British Guiana 'Cottonreels' by British Guiana (Crown colony), Royal Gazette office, Georgetown (1850) is ranked 21 in the FLOAT 100 for Stamps. It sold for $312,000 on 1 January 2024. British Guiana's first stamps — crude circular typeset provisionals nicknamed for resembling thread-spool labels; extreme rarity makes them a supreme gem of world philately.

What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?

British Guiana's first stamps — crude circular typeset provisionals nicknamed for resembling thread-spool labels; extreme rarity makes them a supreme gem of world philately.

2c black on rose, Type B, circular typeset provisional; the 'Weill' vertical pair cut square (finest known) — ~10 stamps known total

What is the best-sourced number for it?

Figure
$312,000
Kind
Realized at auction
Date
1 January 2024

Spink, 'British Guiana Part 1 — The Simon Greenwood Collection,' Lot 47: estimate GBP 240,000, realized GBP 240,000 (~$312,000). A separate Cottonreel cover sold EUR 597,000 (David Feldman, 2008).

This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it. Source.

How this is made

The figure
One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not
A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
Why no grade ladder
Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
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2026-08-08