Lot 50070 – Italian States, Sicily – 1859 5gr & 50gr, group of eleven items

Italian States, Sicily – 1859 5gr & 50gr, group of eleven items comprising 5gr vermilion cliché on celluloid (vermilion, together with black were preferred colours chosen by Sperati to reach good contrasts), dated February 1932; the rest featuring the 50gr with five glass clichés of which two extremely rare negative examples in brown purple (dated “3/21”) and black, the other three dated in March 1924, including one with ms “voile vio. 3′ ” for which a violet filter was applied and the exposure to light reached 3 mins, one cliché on celluloid dated “5/44”; four essays on paper with two or three impressions each are devoted to the “ferro di cavallo” cancellations, with various executed in December 1944 and being “calques”, traced from probably cutouts from catalogues where the ink was firstly highlighted prior to create the trace; a unique group where the clichés are great rarities; no examples of these items were found in the “Ultimate” collection.