Lot 20163 – FIRST DAY OF USAGE OF THE 1859 TWO PENCE DARDENNE

FIRST DAY OF USAGE OF THE TWO PENCE DARDENNE

2d blue, horizontal pair, good to large margins, positions 41-42, cancelled or tied by superb circular PAID hs, on 1859 folded entire from Port Louis carried on the « Benares » P&O steamer via Suez to Marseille (France), with red maritime Suez transits and « 8 » decimes hs alongside, good colour, a superb usage and the earliest example recorded to date of the 2d Dardenne issue and is one of only three covers sent on December 9th 1859, exhibition showpiece

Rate: 4d overseas rate indicating a weight upto 1/2 ounce which is the correct postal rate from the Government Gazette of May 1st, 1859

Provenance: Maurice Burrus, October 1963 (Lot 218)

Vikram Chand, neatly mounted on exhibition page

Expertise: Cert. David Brandon (2007)