SELECTED NON AFRICA
ANTIGUA - GIBRALTAR
SNA2547
BRITISH LEVANT 1893 GB QV ½d vermilion hand-stamped ‘40 PARAS’. HORIZONTAL STRIP OF FIVE, all showing broken top to ‘S’ of ‘PARAS’ (a flaw which developed during the five days of use). Very fine and fresh unmounted. UNIQUE. BPA certificate (2005). SG 7
 
Note: believed the largest known multiple, the next a block of four in the Royal Collection, and apparently the only known multiple in private hands. The British Postmaster, in his haste create a 40 paras substitute, neglected to send examples of this provisional overprint to the U.P.U. When this oversight was made known by the G.P.O. in London, a further printing of some 800 examples was made. These all show the late stage of the broken 'S' in 'PARAS'. Strips of five were then circulated to the U.P.U. in December 1894.
£4,850