FLOAT
Denmark's 1851 4 Rigsbank-Skilling brown 'Fire R.B.S.' - the design engraved by M.W. Ferslew; whether this copy is the Ferslew printing or the later Thiele printing is not stated by the source.

Denmark 1851 'Fire R.B.S.' (4 Rigsbank-Skilling)

Maker
Kingdom of Denmark (Royal Danish Post)
Year
1851
Rank
96 of 100

Denmark 1851 'Fire R.B.S.' (4 Rigsbank-Skilling)

Denmark 1851 'Fire R.B.S.' (4 Rigsbank-Skilling) by Kingdom of Denmark (Royal Danish Post) (1851) is ranked 96 in the FLOAT 100 for Stamps. It sold for $11,530 on 1 September 2018. Denmark's first adhesive and one of Scandinavia's foundational classics, anchoring every serious Northern-European collection.

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

Denmark's first adhesive and one of Scandinavia's foundational classics, anchoring every serious Northern-European collection.

Scott 2 / AFA 1, 4 R.B.S. brown, Ferslew printing; engraver M.W. Ferslew

What is the best-sourced number for it?

Figure
$11,530
Kind
Realized at auction
Date
1 September 2018

Postiljonen, Sept 2018: the 4 FIRE R.B.S. block of six — the largest recorded multiple of Denmark's first stamp, wide-margined with light mute cancel — realized $11,530. NOTE: figure is for the record BLOCK OF SIX; sound four-margin singles run a few hundred dollars. (A related 2-R.B.S. blue brought $250,000+ at David Feldman, Dec 2011 — not transposed here.)

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