Friday 14 March 2008

Bavaria 1849 1 Kreuzer Black Tete-Beche Pair



Printed in 1849, the 1 Kreuzer Black issue was one of the first stamps issued in the German State of Bavaria. Originally printed in panes of forty-five stamps, the tete-beche varieties were created when a few cliches were mistakingly inserted into the printing plate upside-down. It is unknown how many of the stamps were printed in with the inverted plates, but only three tete-beches are known to exist today. Each of the three tete-beche pairs have a different position and no tete-beche varieties are found in any of the complete panes still in existence. A block of twelve stamps featuring a tete-beche variety was originally found in the Ferrari collection. In 1923, at a Paris auction, the block was sold to New York native Alfred F. Lichtenstein, a rarities collector referred to by many as "the philatelist's philatelist." Upon his death, his daughter, Louise Boyd Dale, inherited the error block where it was kept by the Anne Boyd Lichtenstein Foundation until 1990. The 1849 Bavaria 1 Kreuzer tete-beche pair has a value in today's market of $125,000.

1 comment:

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