Lot 30271 – ONE OF THREE UNUSED 12 CENTS RECORDED

ONE OF THREE UNUSED 12 CENTS RECORDED

1850-51, 12 cents black on blue, Townsend Type A, thick frame, without initials, cut round with the circular borders of the stamp being visible all around, small stain spot at top, in an uncommonly deep bright colour; (unpriced in SG).

One of only four unused examples recorded in the “Cotton-Reel” primitives, this being one of three representing the 12 cents (the other two with initials, one sold in the Hind sale in 1935, the other belonging to the J. Simon Greenwood collection); one of the great unused rarities of the British Empire.

Provenance:

Philipp von Ferrary (Lot 195, Sale II, October 1921)

John E. du Pont (Lot 60009, David Feldman SA, June 2014)

“Imperium” (Lot 30028, David Feldman SA, October 2021)

Expertise: Signed Roger Calves, Cert. BPA (2014)