Auction 321 - 332 Australian States & Commonwealth of Australia, St. Helena, Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Swaziland, Brazil 1843 –1870 - Day 1

Recess by Perkins Bacon 1855: Prepared for use but Unissued - Perkins Bacon 1 s. violet, wmk. Large Star, imperforate, an unused example with ample to large margins all round, minor corner bend at lower right corner not detracting from the appearance. Considered too close in colour to the issued 6 d. value, all the few examples of this stamp (incl. the six Ormond Hill "Cancelled" examples) are originally from a block of 24 left over and found after the balance of these stamps were destroyed on 5 June 1857 in the presence of the Assistant Treasurer and Auditor General. From the eighteen stamps, four are in institutional collections and Michael Blake and Tony Presgrave located the whereabouts of 15 examples, leaving eleven in private hands. What must also be pointed out is that none of these 24 stamps ever actually reached South Australia. An exceptionally rare stamp and a British Commonwealth and Australasian rarity. Cert. RPSV (2014) Gi = £ 25'000.rnrnProvenance: Collection Louise Boyd Dale & Alfred F. Lichtenstein, Harmers, London, 14 May 1990, lot 154.rn                     Collection Michael Blake, Prestige, Melbourne, 7 Feb 2014, lot 1055.