Auction 321 - 332 Australian States & Commonwealth of Australia, New South Wales, St. Helena, Basutoland The ‘BESANÇON’ Collection - Day 2

1850: 2 d. greyish-blue, a vertical pair with large margins all round (Plate I, positions 3/15, pos. 15 with central circles retouched) with near full framelines on three sides, used on 1850 double rate entire letter from Sydney to Merriwa tied by crisp strikes of the Sydney obliterator in black. Reverse with "SYDNEY / ♚ / NEW SOUTH WALES" despatch datestamp in black. An early usage of the retouched Plate, the retouching believed to have commenced from the end of January. Palmer cover census #41. A splendid and rare franking in extremely fine quality.rnrnProvenance: Harmers, London, 14-15 Jan 1935, lot 347; Harmers, London, 7-8 Nov 1938, lot 352; collection Geo. B. Boucher, RL, London, 19 April 1972, lot 641; Balasse, Brussels, 26-28 June 1972, lot 728; collection "Espana", Harmers, London, 23 March 1984, lot 2124; collection "V.P. Manwood", Siegel, New York, 8 Nov 1995, lot 4124; DF, Geneva, May 2002, lot 10613; "Carrington", Millenium, Sydney, 7 Nov 2012, lot 141.