Los-Nr. 18

1873/89: 6 d. grey, plate 16, wmk. Spray of Rose, the marvellous mint interpanneau block of 12, lettered OE-OH / QE-QH, of bright fresh colour and margin with full inscription 'Price per label...', negligible folds in interpanneau margin only and trivial blunting of perforations of no significance, the stamps very fresh and fine with large part and eleven stamps unmounted og. A wonderful and extremely rare block, the sole recorded interpanneau block from this plate. A spectacular showpiece. Cert. BPA (1983) Gi J86 = £ 9'000 (as three blocks of four). Note: The sheets of 240 were divided prior to their delivery to Post Offices in panes of 20 or 40 (2 x 20). Therefore interpanneau multiples are amongst the rarest multiples of the Victorian Surface Printed Issues, with only a handful recorded from any issue between 1855 and 1880, when the Crown watermark paper was introduced. Provenance: Robson Lowe (Feb 1957), lot 302 as a block of sixteen; 'Layton' (1995), lot 1340.