Lot 42285 – 1863 cover franked with the rare ‘Eagle’ 2r green sent

1863-64, 2r green, cut slightly into at top, touched at right, but with portions of neighbouring stamps on two sides, paying the inland rate to St. Thomas for foreign mail on 1863, dec. 6 entire letter from Caracas to Gironde, France, tied by dispatch cds, French entry and Anglo-french accountancy marking with « 8 » décimes alongside, the second earliest usage known of this value, which is exceedingly rare on cover, with only six examples recorded of this stamp complete (not being a half bisect or a quarter bisect); certs. Club Filatélico de Caracas (1984) and Moorhouse (2015); ex Heister.