5c Deep Blue, Buffalo Balloon (CL1). Tete-beche pair, large margins, deep shade and clear impression, few tiny natural paper flaws, usual slight thinning in one side margin

EXTREMELY FINE APPEARING TETE-BECHE PAIR OF THE RARE BUFFALO BALLOON AIR POST ISSUE.

The Buffalo Balloon stamp, designed by John F. B. Lillard and engraved by John H. Snively, was printed by Wheeler Brothers Printers in Nashville, Tennessee. Only 300 were printed in tete-beche 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, only 23 were used.

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 sound. The others are mostly thinned in one corner where they were stuck together.

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