4c Columbian, Error of Color (233a). Deep rich color, bold duplex cancel, small horizontal crease at right and tiny picked out inclusion at left

FINE APPEARANCE. ONLY 15 USED EXAMPLES OF THE 4-CENT COLUMBIAN ERROR OF COLOR ARE LISTED IN OUR CENSUS. ONE OF THE GREAT RARITIES OF USED UNITED STATES PHILATELY AND OF THE POPULAR COLUMBIAN ISSUE.

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 three panes reached collectors, and the few cancelled examples indicate that stamps used by the public came from at least one additional pane. 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.

Our census of used Scott 233a, available at https://siegelauctions.com/census/us/scott/233a , contains 15 stamps. One additional stamp was previously certified as the error, but received a recent certificate as the Dark Ultramarine sub-shade. Only two stamps listed in our census are confirmed as sound.

Census No. 233a-CAN-08. With 1993 P.F. certificate. Scott Retail value is for an example with small faults

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