Lot 20131 – Bull’s Head 81pa unused

81 Parale, bright blue on blue wove paper, large even margins on all sides, of a very fresh colour and sharp impression, unused, full original gum, attractive and extremely rare

Rarity: Only 35 mint examples recorded, with one cut round, more than 15 with major faults and at least 5 in museum collections.

This is the finest of the only two known examples with full original gum and hence, a major world rarity !

Note: The David Feldman catalogue mentions: « equal or superior to the Ferrary stamp which sold for more than a « Post Office » Mauritius! ». However, the describer failed to notice that the Ferrary stamp was in fact the same stamp he was describing and which was previously part of the Caspary collection. There is a minuscule colour dot to the right of the bullhead, somewhere above the I and C, of “CKPICOPI” and which is present in the image depicted in all three catalogues. (the Caspary catalog mentions: « negligible traces of thinnings at top and corner crease extreme top left far from design » – subsequent to the sale, a very narrow portion of the top was removed, thus eliminating the thinnings and the corner crease. Consequently, the top of the item in the Tomasini/Feldman sales is slightly narrower than in the Caspary and the Ferrary sales).

Expertise: cert. Heimbuchler (1983), signed Alberto Diena

Illustrated: Heimbüchler I, page 365 (#355/5)

Provenance:

Ferrary Collection: Gilbert, Sale # 11, November 19-21, 1924, lot 594Caspary Collection: H. R. Harmer, Sale # 11, November 18-21, 1957, lot 370Tomasini Collection, 1969Tomasini-Kunzi Collection: Rapp, November 1983, lot 6010Tomasini Collection: D. Feldman , December 2006, lot 20015