Classic Nova Scotia - Save $700 - Scarce 1860 Full Mint Sheet!

Complete mint sheets from the classic era are seldom encountered, and examples retaining original gum after more than 165 years are exceptionally rare. This well-preserved full sheet of Nova Scotia's 1860 8 1/2¢ issue includes its American Bank Note printer inscriptions in the margins. As expected for early sheets, the margins are uneven, and there are a few minor perforation separations at the lower left -typical characteristics that speak to the sheet's age and authenticity.
The finely engraved design features Queen Victoria, adapted from an 1859 portrait by Royal Court painter Franz Xaver Winterhalter. While Victoria favored the familiar younger profile used on most stamps of her reign, this issue is among the earliest to adopt a contemporary, updated portrait, setting it apart within classic British colonial philately. Issued just five years before Nova Scotia joined Canadian Confederation.
Offered here as a full sheet of 100, it represents a rare opportunity to acquire an important and visually striking artifact of pre-Confederation Canada.