There are many stamps of Canada which are quite elusive to find in top quality. I remember searching through many hundreds of stamps to find the modest O41, the 1954 two cent Official, which now catalogues $1.50 well up from the $.60 of ten years ago. Our experience with hundreds, both mint and used, of the 1928 twenty cents Harvester is that nice centering is the exception with likely less than ten percent of all issued stamps achieving the grade of very fine. For perfect or near perfect centering the ratio is likely below one percent.
Even scarcer than well-centered stamps of this issue are stamps with jumbo margins:
Lot 523 — Canada # 157 1929 20¢ dark carmine Harvesting Wheat marginal example with jumbo margins, immaculate, extremely fine, never hinged. An exceptional stamp in every respect. Unitrade CV$200.
So to combine an immaculate fresh never hinged stamp with extremely fine centering AND with jumbo margins is a magnificent condition rarity.
Often the best quality and centering were picked out by a collector shortly after the issue and then the stamp took pride of place by being carefully hinged onto an album page. An interesting story will be told by the prices realized for Lots 378, 379, and 380. All are the six cent Leaf issue of 1897 (Scott #71). The first two lots offer very fine to extremely fine examples which are never hinged. The third is a jumbo which is hinged.
Lot 380 — Canada #71 1897 6¢ brown Leaf, huge margins, fresh, lightly hinged, very fine. Unitrade CV$200.