#83a, 1910 1c Dark green and black, Center Inverted, centered to lower right, used exhibiting clean strikes of Taltal and Santiago datestamps, leaving the design very clear, boasting a fresh impression, with few blunt perforations at the right side, which are of no importance and mentioned for accuracy only, being very fine for this great rarity.This is one of only two examples recorded of this Center Inverted, this piece having been recently discovered by the Chilean collector Oscar Schublin. The other example recorded was brought to light in 1955; it is important to state the history of this "1955" piece, which reveals the significance of this variety, from the moment in which is was offered at an international auction for the first time. That point in time occurred in the year of 1971, when it was sold in New York at $4,000, to be subsequently acquired, by private treaty, by the famous Chilean collector Joaquín Gálvez. In the 1980s it was offered again at auction, on this occasion in Geneva, being acquired, for about $25,000, by another renowned collector of Chile, the Swiss philatelist Gerhard Blank. In 1989, Mr. Blank sold privately the stamp for $50,000 to René Lazo, a distinguished philatelist of Concepción in Chile. In 2004 the stamp changed hands and now graces the collection of an anonymous Spanish philatelist, after he paid a similar figure to the $50,000 for which it was sold in 1989. The most important variety of Chilean philately, beingone of only two recorded examples, this possess the added significance of being in a better state of preservation, considered as one of the three most significant items of this country, an impressive world-class rarity offered here to the market for the first time; 2017 Brian Moorhouse certificate. (Image)

Est. $15,000-20,000