Lot 60494 – 1854, 5cu orange, an extraordinary example unused without gum

1854, 5cu orange, an extraordinary example as a result of its fine impression characteristic of the early printing, rich shade and exceptional margins including part of the sheet at top, being uncommonly large on other sides, unused without gum as it is the norm; one of the finest, if not the finest example recorded of this stamp in the exceedingly rare unused condition; cert. Graus (1994).

Note: The stamps of the first issue were hand-engraved in Manila on copper plates in “taille-douce” by an unknown Artillery Corps Sergeant in the Spanish Garrison, and were printed by Plana, Jorba y Cía. in Manila. This issue was crudely drawn and engraved, showing a distorted portrait of Isabel II; when the Queen, nearly two years after issue, saw the design for the first time, she was shocked and immediately forbade the continuance of their use on mail to Spain. The first issue stamps are of notable scarcity, as confirmed by the number of stamps printed for each denomination, ranging from only 2,000 to 5,000. The rarity, together with the primitive design, increase the great fascination for the early stamps of Philippines, which are completely underestimated in catalogues.

Although this example was described with original gum when it was previously offered at auction, the gum was not original and was removed. We are of the opinion that virtually all single stamps of this value do not possess original gum. The expert Graus, as usual, only states the stamp to be unused without making any reference to the gum. This was the only example « with gum » in the extraordinary Alfaro collection, and just one unused example without gum was gathered in the Aguinaga collection, which reveals how rare this stamp is in unused condition.

Provenance: John R. Boker, Néstor Jacob (‘Filatelia Hobby’ sale of 1979), and Juan Antonio Alfaro (this was the finest example in his FIP « Grand Prix National » collection, sold for 370’000 pts. -€2’220- hammer price in 1992).