Lot 30054 – THE UNIQUE EARLIEST IMPRESSION ‘PENOE’ ON COVER

THE UNIQUE ‘PENOE’ EARLIEST IMPRESSION COVER

1848-49 Post Paid 2d. blue, position 7, exhibiting the famous ‘PENOE’ variety, intense deep shade, large to predominantly very large margins, tied by bars cancel on 3 July 1849 folded cover to Bordeaux, leaving the profile quite clear, endorsed ‘p. Pondicherry’, showing Mauritius crown cds and ‘6’ décimes manuscript rate alongside, reverse with arrival cds on 6 October (SG £45,000 for the stamp used)

This stamp is characteristic of the “dry” or ” sticky” impression which results in missing the completion of lines especially on the portrait cheek

Illustrated in colour on page 66 of Hiroyuki Kanai’s ‘Classic Mauritius’ handbook

This is the only recorded ‘PENOE’ Earliest Impression cover, a major Mauritius rarity and the most important item of this territory featuring a variety

Provenance: Alfred Caspary (1958), Lars Amundsen (1967), Hiroyuki Kanai (1993) and Vikram Chand

Expertise: Certs. Miro (1958), RPSL (1959), Brandon (2006)