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Auction: 19063 - Important Stamps of India
Lot: 3

1854 Issue
Issued Stamps
The Famous Four Annas with Head Inverted
4a. blue and red, 2st. Printing, Head Die I, Frame Die I, cut-to-shape as all but three recorded examples are and with outer frame-lines present in places, neatly cancelled with diamond of dots leaving the head clearly visible; thin at top left and two small closed tears, none of which visually detract from the most attractive appearance of this exceptionally rare stamp. S.G. 18a, £145,000 upwards

One of the world's most celebrated and iconic stamps of the 19th. Century

B.P.A. (2002) and Sismondo (2012) Certificates, the latter of which states this to be Frame [4], Head [9], this being the sixth example of this error stamp discovered from Frame [4], demonstrating that there were at least six sheets of twelve printed with the inverted head. "w.h.c." Colson handstamp on reverse

Notes: No mention was made of this stamp until 1874 when an example was exhibited at the Royal Philatelic Society. Since that time some twenty-eight examples have been discovered, twenty-five being cut to the design of the stamp. They have always been hugely sought after and have graced some of the most famous collections of India ever formed

This is example XXV in "The Encyclopaedia of Rare and Famous Stamps" by L.N. Williams

provenance:
Grisvold
Jatia
Sagar

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Sold for
£82,000

Starting price
£80000