Large Crown watermark and perforation 14 on paper that is more or less blued. These stamps first appear in early 1856 in deep red-brown shades on clearly blued paper. By the time the early months of 1857 arrived, the shades were becoming more orangey and the blueing of the paper more variable. Care should be taken not to mistake a C8 with very little bluing with the much scarcer C8A stamps which have no blue at all. The way to think about it is that if even one pixel of the stamp is blued, then it is a C8, not a C8A. Sometimes you will also see what I describe as 'essence of blue', in other words there is just a small generalised bluish tone...this is still blued paper.