Lot 70866 – 1850-51 12 cents black on pale blue, Townsend Type B, with initials of postal clerk Wight “EDW”, cut octagonally, used

1850-51, 12 cents black on pale blue, Townsend Type B, with initials of postal clerk Wight “EDW”, cut octagonally with almost clear to large margins all round, with ideal strike of 29 July 1851 Demerara datestamp, “two shallow thins” mentioned in the certificate, but we are of the opinion that these could be due to translucency caused by the gum from a previous hinge, as no paper abrasion is to be seen (actually in the Caspary sale this stamp was described as “very fine”); (SG £13’000).One of the finest of just seven cut-octagonally single examples in private hands. Provenance: Alfred H. Caspary (Lot 204, Harmers, May 1957)John E. du Pont (Lot 60023, David Feldman SA, June 2014) Expertise: Pemberton guarantee hs and signed Bloch, Cert. BPA (2014)