36th International Auction- part 2- philately & picture postcards

1854: Two singles of lithographed 4a. blue & red from the 2nd printing used on 1854-55 cover from Calcutta to England via 'Southampton', cancelled by black diamond of dots, red rect. framed "CALCUTTA/G.P.O./SHIPLETTER/..." datestamp on the back, red boxed "INDIA PAID" and red "PAID/ER/23 JA 23/1855" arrival cds on front. The stamps cut square with almost complete margins, the right hand stamp with a vertical crease at right, still good...

1854-55 Lithographed 4a. blue & red, 4th printing, Pos. 22, variety "KISS PRINT OF HEAD" with clearly visible traces of doubling (hair, diadem, face and portion of other parts), used and cancelled by black diamond of dots, cut square with slightly cut top and bottom frame-line, otherwise fine.

1854-55 Lithographed 4a. blue & red, 4th printing, used at Benares and cancelled by numeral "52", cut square with complete margins all round, fresh and fine.

1854-55 Lithographed 4a. blue & red, 4th printing, sheet Pos. 14, used and cancelled by "B/..." numeral h/s, cut square with complete margins around, minor surface scratches at left, but with interesting retouches at right (frame lines).

1854-55 Lithographed 4a. blue & red, 4th printing, sheet pos. 8, used at Lucknow and cancelled by numeral "176", cut square with almost complete margins all round (slightly touched at top), intensive and fresh colours, fine.

1854 Lithographed 4a. blue & red from 4th printing used on small cover from Hooghly 1856 to Epping, England via Calcutta and Southampton, tied by "B/85" octagonal numeral in black and red England arrival cds, with boxed "DOWN ... TRAIN" h/s in black, boxed "INDIA/PAID" and boxed "INDIA PAID" handstamps in red along with green '18 Sep 56' arrival cds on front, Hooghly despatch and Calcutta transit cds on the reverse. The 4a. cut-to-shape...

1854-55 Lithographed 4a. blue & red, 4th printing, vertical pair of sheet pos. 15+21, used and cancelled by diamond of dots in black and part of foreign double-ring d/s in blue, cut-to-shape with partially touched/cut outer frame-lines and two diagonal pre-cuts into between, thin patch on back of top stamp otherwise fine. (SG for cut square: £2100)

1854-55 Lithographed 4a. pale blue & pale red, 4th printing, Pos. 9 with part of center cross of the sheet on lower right, used and cancelled by Bombay numeral "I", cut square with complete to wide margins around, fresh and fine.

1854-55 Lithographed 4a. blue & red, 5th printing, medium setting, Pos. 6, used and cancelled by "B/1" numeral of Calcutta, cut square with cut frame-lines at foot, complete margins else, fresh and fine.

1854-55 Lithographed 4a. deep blue & red, 5th printing, sheet Pos. 22, medium setting, used and cancelled by diamond of dots, cut square with four margins, thins at lower left and lower right (outside design mostly) otherwise fine. (SG £950)

1854, 4 annas with INVERTED CENTER, defective. A very clever old time forgery, the original head was chemically removed and a new head in inverted position printed. A great item for study purposes.

1854/1890's: Two reprints of the 4a. both with "Specimen" on back, one reprint with issued head showing large "SPECIMEN" in black on back, cut square, the other one with essay head with small "Specimen." in black on the reverse, cut-to-shape, good/fine.