Corinphila Auction 291-297 Day 2

1883: De La Rue stamp-size Essay for the Key-plate with blank value tablet, completely hand-painted in carmine-rose (the issued colour of the 4 d.) and Chinese white on tracing paper backed on to thin card (63 x 73 mm.), with WESTERN AUSTRALIA around Swan vignette. Alternative value tablets incorporating POSTAGE hand-painted above: Two Pence, Four Pence, Six Pence and I Shilling. Illustrated in "The De La Rue Collection" edited by Frank Walton on page 6539. A stunning and beautiful Essay.rnProvenance: RL, Melbourne, 5 Aug 1976, lot 180; Collection Mike Brachi; Argyll Etkin Direct Sales List, 1986, lot 343; Collection Lord Vestey, Spink, London, 19 May 2015, lot 466.