5c Deep Blue, Buffalo Balloon (CL1). Tête-bêche pair, 6mm spacing, original gum, large margins all around, one stamp with small margin faults including stain, thin and crease

EXTREMELY FINE APPEARING TÊTE-BÊCHE PAIR OF THE RARE BUFFALO BALLOON AIR POST ISSUE.

The Buffalo Balloon stamp, designed by John B. Lillard and engraved by John H. Snively, was printed by Wheeler Brothers Printers in Nashville, Tennessee. Only 300 were printed in tête-bêche arrangement from a single die. The stamps were intended for use on a balloon flight from Nashville to Gallatin, Tennessee, which took place on June 18, 1877. Of the 300 that were printed, Lillard wrote that only 23 were used (see lot 247 for letter).

Based on previous examples we have handled, at least some of the Buffalo Balloon stamps were exposed to moisture around the time they were printed. This accounts for the fact that only two of the eleven tete-beche pairs certified by the Philatelic Foundation are potentially sound. The others are mostly thinned in one corner where they were stuck together.

With 1986 P.F. certificate

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