360 / Mai 2015 London

1840: 'VR Official' 1 d. black, Imprimatur lettered RI, one of just 33 examples removed from the first registration sheet (before hardening of the Plate), of rich colour and large even margins all round, without gum. An outstanding and very rare stamp in superb quality. Cert. Holcombe (1988), BPA (2015) Gi = £ 35'000. Proveance: Maurice Burrus (Oct 1963), lot 565.  

1840, VR Official 1 d. black, lettered K.K., full to large margins all round and of fresh colour, unused without gum; a very fine example of this rarity, not being from the Dublin Sheet ex Crawford, Certificate RPS (1968) Provenance: Auction H.R. Harmer (1935) Auction Robson Lowe (1952)

1840 (April/May): 'VR Official', 1 d. black, a used example lettered OJ, with good to large margins all round, utilised (by Rowland Hill) for canccellation Trials, cancelled by a Trial strike of the Maltese Cross cancellation in black. After the stamp was cancelled, an attempt has been made to remove the cancellation, fortunately with little success. A splendid and extremely rare stamp in wonderful quality for such a rarity. Signed Holcombe. Certs. Holcombe (1989), BPA (2015) Gi = £ 35'000.

1882/1901: I.R. Official 1 s. green & carmine, fresh mint example of excellent centering and bright colour, minute crack below first perf. at upper left corner, otherwise an exceptional example of this rare stamp, with large part original gum. Signed Holcombe. Certs. Holcombe (1993), BPA (2015) Gi = £ 4'200.

1902 (April 29): 'I. R. Official' 10 s. ultramarine, unused example of excellent centering, from the famous block of nine stamps found in a small leather jewel box in 1947 (photo of the original block with the lot, this being the third stamp in the lower row) and illustrated in the 'The British Philatelist' in June 1947. The Karl Louis index lists a total of 32 examples, of which a pair is in the Royal Collection, a block of four in the National Collection of Ireland (donated by the Duke of Leinster in 1894) and a single example in the Evans collection in the City Museum & Art Gallery in Birmingham, with 5 in used condition. An extremely rare stamp, minor faults in common (incl. trace of vertical bend) with all of the stamps in the 1947 find. This particular example has not been offered on the philatelic market for 57 years, a rarity for the connoisseur. Cert. RPS (1955) Mi 62 = € 70'000/Scott O25 = $ 120'000/Gi. = £ 95'000. Provenance: Harmer Rooke (1947), Corinphila sale 45 (April 1958), lot 3842.