Corinphila Auction 291-297 Day 2

Commemoratives 1956: Olympic Games 3½ d. carmine-lake, Essay or Unissued, no watermark, perf. 14½ x 14¾, an unused example, fresh and very fine, unmounted og. The stamp had been printed by the Post Office for the basic rate of 3½ d., however the issue coincided with a rate increase to 4 d., applicable from November 1, 1956. Some 27 million booklet stamps hade benn printed at the old rate and these, with the exception of some retained by the P.O., were destroyed. An extraordinarily rare stamp, the Post Office Arhives sale released four single stamps, four Booklet panes of six and a Plate Number block of twelve (since reduced to a horizontal strip of four) in 1986/87 when sold by tender. This example, one of 40 that can exist is one of the singles sold at that time. Rare and superb BW 332E(1) = $ 10'000.