Lot 40563 – 1881 “Empire” 20pa black perf.13 1/2 showing variety background colour (rose) omitted

1881 “Empire” 20pa black perf.13 1/2 showing variety background colour (rose) omitted, postally used with mute barred blue cancel, very fine

Expertise: Cert. Sismondo (2015) with a detailed analysis commenting that the stamp is printed on fairly rough paper compared to the smooth paper of the issued stamps and therefore does not believe that it is a simple variety, but possibly a short-lived trial printing on poor quality paper which, to his knowledge, has not been recorded in standard or specialised literature.