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Auction: 140 - July Philatelic Collector's Series Sale
Lot: 368

#CL1a, 5c Deep blue "Buffalo Balloon", tete-beche pair, an extremely rare unused example of this pair, without gum as is often the case with these stamps, extraordinarily well margined, with huge balanced margins all around, there are just a couple of trivial facial rubs and light wrinkling between the pair in the margin only, these small flaws are quite trivial considering not only the extreme rarity of the pair, but the majority of the few other surviving tete-beche pairs have faults much more severe than the pair offered here, extremely fine appearance; of particular interest is the wide variance of color between each stamp in the pair, with one having a light "milky" blue shade, while the other is a deep blue shade.<<#>> These fascinating "Buffalo Balloon" stamps were intended for use on a balloon flight from Nashville to Gallatin, Tennessee, which took place on June 18, 1877. It is believed that only 300 stamps were printed, of which only 23 were used. We believe that only twelve to fifteen tete-beche pairs still exist today, of which most have been certified by the Philatelic Foundation. Nearly all existing examples have small faults and/or are without gum, suggesting that the original sheets may have been stacked and exposed to moisture prior to their sale; ex-Cunliffe.

Sold for
$5,500