4c Columbian, Error of Color (233a). Mint N.H., deep rich color in the darker of the two recognized shades, bright paper, centered to bottom left but with perfs clear of design

FINE AND PRISTINE. ONE OF THE FEW AVAILABLE MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLES OF THE RARE 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.

Ex Hoffman. With 2002 P.S.E. certificate. With copy of 1967 (for block of four) and 2008 P.F. certificates. We have offered only five other Mint N.H. examples since keeping computerized records.

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