Auction 309-320 - Great Britain 1840–1841 Europe & Overseas - Day 5

1d. black, plate 8, horizontal pair, lettered RA-RB, margins mostly close to very good, touching at upper left, with sheet margin at left, unused with large part original gum, deep fresh colour, once forming part of a re-joined block of twenty-four (RA-TH, TI-TK), creases, yet a scarce and fine-appearing unused pair. Gi. AS49 = £45,000rnrnRemarks: The history of this pair may go back to the year 1917, when Charles Nissen mentioned in THE BRITISH PHILATELIST (Sept. 1917, page 51) the existance of a mint 1d black plate 8 ".... corner block of eight, from the  lower left corner...." which was at the time the largest mint block known to Nissen. This block must have been a "vertical" block lettered QA/TB, because no horizontal block of eight from the lower left corner has ever been seen.rnrnrnLater, at a date unknown, the block has been reduced to the vertical block of 6, RA/TB, by cutting off QA-QB. rnrnThe reduced corner marginal block of 6 RA/TB was seen in the 1970s in Michael Lea's collection and then went into Hassan Shaida's collection.rnrnIn November 1988, "out of the blue", a re-joined block of 21 turned up at Phillips auction consisting of RC/TD, RE/TH and TI-TK. Hassan Shaida realised that his block of six RA/TB originally adjoined the block of 21 to a block of 27, RA/TH plus TI-TK.rnrnHe bought the block of 21 and re-joined it with his block of 6. A poor photo exists of this re-joined block of 27 (provided to Karl's Card Index by Mike Jackson).rnrnHassan Shaida's collection was sold after the London 1990 International Exhibition. The 'R'- row was then sadly cut from the blocks, including RA-RB, making a re-joined strip of 6, RA-RF, consisting of three pairs (Phillips auction May 1992, lot  291).rnrnLater in the mid 1990s, the re-joined  strip RA-RF was separated again, the pair RC-RD was cut in singles, the pair RE-RF has not seen since 1997 and the pair RA-RB finally went into Simon's  collection, offered herewith. rnrnThe remaining three blocks of 4, SA/TB, SC/TD and SE/TF are now forming a re-joined corner block of 12, now housed in a famous collection, and was illustrated in 'Il Collezionista' italian philatelic magazine in January 2009.rnrnProvenance: (as part of a block) Michael Lea collection (1978); Hassan Shaida (London 1990)rnGrosvenor, 9 December, 1997, lot 134.rn