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

1927: De La Rue Colour Trials for the 20 pi. value, three different (in the colours of the issued 4 pi., 6 pi. and 8 pi.) all in matching  imperforate sheet corner marginal strips of three on gummed SG watermarked wove paper, all with Colour Schemes noted with BORDER / CENTRE and file numbers of colours utilised. A magnicient and unique triornrnProvenance: Collection Col. H.E. Hebbert, Robson Lowe, London, 10 Nov 1977 ex lot 2098; Robson Lowe...

1931: Air Mail, three pages ex the De La archives, each page (151 x 258 mm.) bearing two vertical columns of five Imperforate Colour Trials, all with black Value Tablets, the left hand columns with vignettes in black and the right with brown vignettes; the Trials all in differing colours and annotations in ink to the proposed values, each signed off at base by P.W. Urben, Controller of the Posts & Telegraphs Service in Khartoum, on 19 May...

1931/37: Air Mail, De La Rue Plate Proof of the vignette only, printed in deep blue on thick cream card paper. Scarce and most attractive.

1931/37: Air Mail 15 m. red-brown & sepia, an unused example, marginal from right of sheet, variety "Watermark Sideways Inverted", showing well in the margin, fresh and fine, superb large part og. A scarce stamp Gi = £ 275.

1931/37: Air Mail, De La Rue Colour Trails (3) all for the 7½ pi. value, Imperforate on watermarked paper, matching sheet marginal examples printd in blue & violet, grey-black & blue-green and grey-blue & blue, fresh and very fine, without gum. Rare and most attractive.rnProvenance: Phillips, London, 6 Feb 1992, lot 339.rnrnrn 

1934/35: De La Rue unadopted Essay for the Gordon 5 m. value, imperforate and inset in brown presentation card (112 x 112 mm.) marked "A" at top left and "I" centrally, with printed General Gordon vignette in red, the rest of the design entirely hand-painted in rose-carmine and deep scarlet with the alternative lettering (both English and Arabic) picked out in Chinese white. De La Rue OVAL company cachet on reverse in black. A wonderful and...

1934/35: General Gordon issue, the complete set of nine De La Rue Imperforate Plate Proofs in issued colours on ungummed watermarked SG paper, but with values for 5 m. for the Gordon portrait designs; 5 pi. Memorial College designs in the three issued colours and 50 pi. Gordon Memorial Service in black and red-brown; all are sheet marginal examples. A delightful and scarce set.rnrnProvenance: Collection Freschi, Harmers, London, 11 March 1993...

1935: 15 m. in black on Airmail 10 m. black & carmine, an unused example from the top right hand corner of the sheet, variety "Surcharge Double", fresh and very fine, large part og. Typical minor gum bend of no significance, a very scarce stamp: just one sheet of 50 examples recorded. Signed Todd AIEP Gi = £ 1'000.

1935: 2½ pi. surcharge in black on Airmail 5 m. black & green, an unused example showing variety "Surcharge Inverted", fresh and fine, large part og. An exceedingly rare stamp Gi = £ 1'000.rnrnProvenance: Bridger & Kay, Temple Bar Auctions, London, 22-23 Sept 1980, lot 1863.

1935: Surcharge Essay 7½ pi. on 4½ pi. red-brown & grey, in a sheet marginal block of four, with 7½ PIASTRES typographed surcharge in red, the block with positions 19-20/24-25; fresh and very fine, large part or unmounted og. Extremely rare with just two sheets of 50 subjects printed. Signed Todd AIEP.rnrnProvenance: Harmers, London, 8 July 1999, lot 1431.

1935: 15 m. on Airmail 10 m. black & carmine and 7½ pi. on 4½ pi. red-brown & grey, each in a sheet marginal block of four, the first showing 15 MILLIEMES typographed surcharge in red, the second with 7½ PIASTRES typographed surcharge in red, this last block with positions 11 and 16 (the left hand vertical pair) showing error of Arabic surcharge "⅓" for "½" - this was corrected when the surcharged issue was released. Both blocks with...

1938 (July 1): 3 pi. in black on Airmail 3½ pi. black & violet, perf. 11½ x 12½ variety, sheet marginal at left, fresh and fine appearance, slight aging on unmounted og. Superb and rare Gi = £ 750.