Auction 333-341 Western Australia & Great Britain - Day 3

1840: 1 d. black, plate 1a, lettered HI-HJ / II-IJ, a used block of four in a deep shade, ample to good margins all round, neatly tied to large piece of 1840 cover to Stratford on Avon by Maltese Crosses in red, faint filing crease through HI-HJ, but a very early usage of a large multiple for the quadruple rate - dated on reverse May 13, 1840, in the first fortnight of use. Rare Gi AS2 = £ 24'000.
Provenance: Robson Lowe 8 July 1959, lot 152; Collection 'Great Britain The Line Engraved Issus 1840–1870', The Åke Rietz Collection, Corinphila 7 June 2023.