BRITISH GUIANA, 1856, 4c Black on Magenta (14; SG 24). Unused, initialed "E.D.W." (Edmond Dalzell Wight, clerk to the Colonial Post Office), large margins, strong paper color, vertical crease, which has slightly cracked the paper, has been strengthened

VERY FINE APPEARENCE. WE ARE AWARE OF ONLY TWO UNUSED EXAMPLES OF THE 1856 4-CENT BLACK ON MAGENTA. AN IMPORTANT RARITY, NOT ONLY OF BRITISH GUIANA, BUT OF THE WORLD.

The only unused examples we are aware of have both been sold through the Siegel firm. One is the ex-Ferrary copy, which we last sold in our 1981 Rarities Sale, when it was purchased by John du Pont. It was then sold as part of the du Pont collection in 2014, where it was noted as the Rose-Carmine paper color (No. 14a; SG 25), though the accompanying B.P.A. certificate states it is Black on Magenta (and has a surface thin painted over). The other is the example offered here, which we last sold in our 1973 Rarities sale. Another copy from the du Pont collection that had previously been offered as unused received a B.P.A. certificate stating "cannot be certified as unused."

Ex Caspary and Lilly. With 1974 Friedl certificate. SG £100,000

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