4c Columbian, Error of Color (233a). Original gum which is very slightly disturbed, lightly hinged, the more intense of the two error shades, fresh and bright paper, well-centered with enormously wide margins

EXTREMELY FINE GEM. ONE OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF THE RARE 4-CENT COLUMBIAN ERROR OF COLOR. A PHENOMENAL STAMP.

The 4c Columbian color error was caused by the use of a wrong batch of ink, and spectrographic analysis has shown that the blue inks of the 4c error and 1c Columbian have the same components.

Stamps from at least two panes reached collectors, and the few cancelled examples indicate that stamps used by the public came from additional panes. It is likely that a number of full sheets were printed using the wrong ink, and most of the stamps have simply been lost to philately.

Ex Zoellner. With 1984, 1998 and 2008 P.F. certificates

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