4c Columbian, Error of Color (233a). Mint N.H. with wide right selvage, deep rich color in the darker of the two recognized shades, bright paper, three wide margins, small natural inclusion at right

VERY FINE. A RARE AND DESIRABLE MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLE OF THE 4-CENT COLUMBIAN ERROR OF COLOR.

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.

With copy of 2014 P.F. certificate for irregular block of nine

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