2d blue (plate 1) pair, printed in the rare steel blue shade. Full margins, large to close but clear, and placed across a light fold in the paper prior to posting.
Tied to a commercial letter from Greenock to Edinburgh, September 10th 1841, by 3 strikes of the characteristic Greenock MX, Spec D1va. Believed to be the earliest known example of this cross on a 2d blue - Rockoff and Jackson record only two earlier usages of the characteristic Greenock cross and these are on 1d black covers.
Each of the three crosses show a black ‘circle/dot’ between the outer and inner arm of the cross at the right, especially visible on the right hand bottom cross going onto the letter and possibly caused by a holding pin in the cross. This constant variety was not recorded by Rockoff and Jackson.