Lot 50445 – China, Local Post Shanghai – 1866 12ca, two master

China, Local Post Shanghai – 1866 12ca, master negative on film with black painted areas within the side tablets and around characters and symbols, as well as in the surround of the stamp design, such retouches made with the purpose of avoiding the light to diffuse laterally in the process of photographic reproduction. The reproduction of any Shanghai Local Post example by Sperati was previously unknown; this artifact is unique and the only evidence of the first step in an attempt to reproduce Chinese philately.