18 FEBRUARY 2016 http://www.stampandcoin.co.ukStamp update
A ½a deep vermilion marginal block
of four India 1854 ‘9½ Arches’
stamps, prepared for use though not
issued, was sold at Spink’s recent
auction. The stamp design had been
prepared by the East India Company
in April of that year and would have
formed part of India’s first stamp set,
but was not produced as the vermilion
ink was deemed too expensive and an
alternative Indian ink damaged the
printing plates.SOLD FOR £12,Latest auction results
A block of four of the famous United States 1979 ‘CIA’ Invert error recently went
under the hammer at Cherrystone Philatelic Auctions. The $1 tan, brown orange and
yellow stamp, with the brown printing inverted, discovered in 1985, was the first
major inverted USA stamp in 66 years. According to the auction house the lot was
‘one of only three known blocks of four of this popular error’. The catalogue explained
the story of the error: ‘An auctioneer specialising in US error stamps announced the
discovery (by a “business in northern Virginia”) of 85 inverted 1979 $1 Rush Lamp
stamps. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing launched an internal investigation
and found that there were no indications of impropriety by its employees. It was
discovered that an on-duty CIA employee had purchased a partial sheet of 95 inverted
stamps at a small post office near McLean, Virginia. When the office workers realised
what they had, they pooled their money and substituted non-error $1 Rush Lamp
stamps for the inverts. Each of the nine co-workers kept a stamp. The remaining 86
stamps, including one that was damaged, were quietly sold.’SOLD FOR £41,A ‘remarkable’ South Georgia cover bearing a set of the 1933 Falkland Islands centenary
issues, including the rare black and yellow orange shade of the 5/- value, was recently sold at
Cavendish Philatelic Auctions. The envelope was sent to Grytviken on 15 November, 1933.
All the stamps were tied by fine strikes of a ‘SOUTH GEORGIA/C/15 NO/33’ circular date
stamp (CDS) and the cover was described as ‘philatelic but an exceptional item’.SOLD FOR £3,An unused 1860 ½t deep blue stamp of Naples, as detailed in
the recent guide to Italian States stamps in the November and
December issues of Stamp & Coin Mart, was recently sold by
Cherrystone. The ‘Trinacria’ stamp was unused with large part
original gum and ample margins all around, and was described
as ‘a fine appearing example of this world-class rarity’.SOLD FOR £9,p18 Auctions.indd 18 21/12/2015 09: