Lot No. 1319
| Auction No. | 30 |
| Category |
King George V Miscellaneous |
| Est. | $22000 |
| Status | SOLD $22000 |
1920 (31st Dec) 4d Colour Trials or Plate Proofs in brown-purple shades on thick ungummed & unwatermarked paper with comb perf 14. Each with an identifying letter in red ink on the reverse comprising "B", "C", "D" & "N". The ACSC states that "Colour Trials for the selection of the new colour of the 4d were supplied by the stamp printer on two separate occasions, on 31st December 1920 (Nos. A-H with each numbered in manuscript on reverse as indicated) and on 11th January 1921 (Nos. I, J and K)." The "Bulletin" of the Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club of NSW (Mar. 2015) contains an article about these proofs by Geoff Kellow & Arthur Gray. In addition to the 14 proofs in the Gray collection, they identified a further five examples in the Australia Post Archives and another offered at auction in 1975 that seem to complete a total series of 10 different colours with 2 of each. In respect of the initial group, official correspondence reveals that they were endorsed "a", "B", "C", "D" & "N", Gray lacking only an example of "a". These were requested to be in the shades of the 6d Engraved Kookaburra, a task that Harrison found impossible to complete satisfactorily using the letterpress method. Our description of the shades is as follows, with the ACSC colours given in brackets: "B" in brown-purple (brown), "C" in a slightly warmer shade (bright brown), "D" in red-purple (brown-purple) & "N" in a slightly warmer shade (deep reddish purple). All are well centered & remarkably fine. ACSC 111PP(1)B,C, D & E, Cat. $60,000 (4) (see front cover)
Image represents the entire lot.