Hong Kong. 1863-71. THE OUTSTANDING TREASURE OF HONG KONG PHILATELY… . 96c. olive-bistre, the right margin block of four with full original gum, superb centring and exceptionally fresh colour. This is, without question, the most important item of Hong Kong philately. No other block or cover, despite their rarity, can compare with this block… . . The block shows the original streaky gum which is associated with stamps printed at this time. There are two pencil letters in the margin which have been on this block for a long time and are of unknown origin. There are some typical hinge remainders on the reverse and the fourth stamp has a natural paper inclusion, mentioned only for accuracy… . . The block is from the right pane [47/54].… . The block also shows the variety error of watermark, which is centred unusually low, the letters “C C” appearing above the Crown and at the top of the stamps.. . provenance:. . George Burghard. . Ryohei Ishikawa, December 1980. . Richard C.K. Chan… . In March 1864 a new printing of 52 sheets of the 96c. was despatched to Hong Kong. Initially the Hong Kong Post Office failed to notice that this new supply of stamps was printed in an olive-bistre colour. There was no reason for this change and it is believed that it was simply a mistake on the part of De la Rue. The fact that this stamp is not known overprinted “specimen” also indicates that it is a genuine error of colour. Specimen stamps of all new designs and colour changes were supplied to the Post Offices of the Crown Agents. Records were kept by these agencies as well as in the printer’s archive.… The mistake was discovered when the stamps were needed by the Post Office, but it ws too late to prevent this incorrect colour being used. The order for a supply of stamps in the correct colour took about six weeks to reach the printers with a further six weeks necessary for the new stamps to arrive in Hong Kong, plus the time required for printing… . . The 96c. olive-bistre has a very short life. They were released as the Post Office around January or February 1865 and were withdrawn when the correct brownish grey stamps arrived during late July or August 1865.… Only forty eight unused examples have been recorded, including this block of four. This is the only unused multiple of this stamp. In fact, it is thought that the only other multiples are a used pair and a used re-joined pair.
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