VERY FINE. AN ENORMOUSLY RARE SET OF THE 1948 ERETZ ESSAYS PIN-PERFORATED IN ALL SIX COLORS.

The design for Israel's first series of stamps was started before British rule over Palestine had ended. It had to be done in secret, since it was still illegal to print stamps while the British Mandate was in force. Another problem was the new country was not yet named. Most of these early essays bear the name "Yehuda" or "Eretz Israel", which were thought to be leading candidates for the new country's name. One designer, Otte Wallish, based his design on ancient coins, and, after discussing privately with German stamp dealers, simply inscribed the stamps Doar Ivri ("Hebrew Post") based on German stamps inscribed "Deutsches Post".

The Eretz essays offered here are particularly rare since they are pin-perforated. Most examples are either imperforate or with normal perforations.

Ex Abraham Eylon (Director of the Government Printing Press). With 1979 Muentz certificate. Unlisted in Bale with pin-perforations (Image)

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VERY FINE. LESS THAN FIVE OF EACH COLOR OF THE BROADWAY TRIAL COLORS ARE RECORDED.

As mentioned in the previous lot, trial printings of the new stamps had to be done in secrecy. The Doar Ivri stamp's design had been accepted, but the colors had not yet been chosen. The largest printing house in Tel Aviv, Ha'aretz, was chosen to print the stamps. They moved a printing machine from their Tel Aviv plant to a deserted house in Sarona. To conceal the real purpose of testing colors, they used Broadway Cigarette designs.

The color of the sheet offered here is a greenish yellow, the exact color of which was not used on the stamps, but it falls within the green family, which was used on the 5 mil stamps.

Less than five of each color are recorded. Bale $9,000.00 (Image)

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