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EXTREMELY FINE. THIS SPECTACULAR COVER BEARS THE ONLY RECORDED TWO-COLOR FRANKING WITH THE MEDIO PESO ERROR. IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT COVER OF PERUVIAN PHILATELY AND ONE OF THE ARISTOCRATS OF SOUTH AMERICAN PHILATELY.
According to the Percy Bargholtz booklet on the Medio Peso Error, the first report of the error occurred in June 1858, about three months after the March 10, 1858, issue date of the first official government postage stamps. Bargholtz cites the generally-accepted statement that postmasters were instructed to treat the Medio Peso error as a One-peseta stamp, but he also notes that a few covers appear to have required the half-peso denomination and were accepted as such.
The cover offered here was posted in September 1858, months after the errors were discovered. It is probably franked for the double rate of two pesetas with the Medio Peso Error counted as a One-peseta stamp. The Bargholtz census of Medio Peso Error covers lists all of the covers which were known to him in 2001. Only this cover bears the Medio Peso Error in combination with a stamp other than the One-peseta Rose Red.
Bargholtz Census Da1. Ex Magonette and Schatzkes. (Image)
VERY FINE APPEARANCE. BY FAR THE FINER OF TWO RECORDED SURVIVING BLOCKS CONTAINING THE MEDIO PESO ERROR (THE OTHER IS OFFERED IN THE FOLLOWING LOT). THIS EXTRAORDINARY MULTIPLE IS WIDELY REGARDED AS THE MOST IMPORTANT OFF-COVER PIECE OF PERUVIAN PHILATELY, AND IT IS CERTAINLY ONE OF THE ARISTOCRATS OF SOUTH AMERICAN PHILATELY.
The make-up of the lithographic stone which produced the 1858 One-peseta is not known with certainty. However, by studying examples of the Medio Peso Error, specialists have deduced that at least one of the 10-subject bloc reports erroneously included a row of five of the Medio Peso denomination. The normal One-peseta bloc report consisted of two horizontal rows of five, all of the same denomination, which philatelists have classified as ten different numbered types, based on tiny distinguishing marks in each transfer. The correct arrangement of the types in the bloc report became known after the type numbers were assigned, which accounts for the non-sequential order of the bloc report (top row 10-1-4-7-3, bottom row 5-2-8-6-9).
Apart from the obvious philatelic importance of this se-tenant Medio Peso Error block, it also tells us something about the bloc report that produced it. The two errors, which are called Types C and D, are the third and fourth positions in the bottom row of the 10-unit bloc report. Normally, the stamps above these two positions in the bloc report would be Types 4 and 7. However, the Types are 8 and 6, which indicates that Types 5-2-8-6-9 were in the top row of the error bloc report rather than their normal position at the bottom. This means that not only were the five Medio Peso denominations transferred to the stone, but the entire bloc report of ten was uniquely configured with the bottom row positioned at the top and the error transfers at the bottom.
For many years, no one knew the whereabouts of the remarkable block of six offered here, which is known as the "Small Weinberger Block." We quote directly from the Bargholtz handbook on the Medio Peso error: "The earliest mention found of this block was in a 1930 publication Etudes Philateliques by Didier Darteyre, who illustrated it together with the Ferrari block and stated that the new block had recently been offered for sale by the German auction firm H. Kohler. Subsequently, in 1931, Hall mentioned that the block belonged to one of Mr. Kohler's customers, Mr. Alfred Weinberger from Czechoslovakia. An illustration of the block was also included in Hall's article mentioned above. After this, the block disappeared and was not seen or heard of again until 1997, when it was offered as lot 245 in the Harmers of London auction on 24 July together with some other material from the Consul Weinberger estate."
The "Large Weinberger Block," which included two Medio Peso Errors se-tenant with sixteen One-Peseta in a tall vertical block, no longer exists. It was also mentioned in the 1931 article by Hall, but sometime between then and 1959, it was cut down into two se-tenant strips of three (Types A/10/5 in one strip and B/1/2 in the other, both of which are now in the Jaretzky collection of Peru). The only other block containing the Medio Peso Error is the ex-Ferrary block offered in the following lot. Although a rare artifact, the Ferrary block's condition cannot compare to the "Small Weinberger Block" offered here.
Bargholtz Census A2. Ex Consul Weinberger. Offered publicly in this sale for only the third time in approximately 80 years. (Image)
ONE OF TWO SURVIVING SE-TENANT BLOCKS CONTAINING THE MEDIO PESO ERROR. AN IMPORTANT PHILATELIC ARTIFACT AND EXHIBIT-WORTHY DESPITE FAULTS.
Bargholtz Census A1. Ex Ferrary, Hall, Nosiglia and Schatzkes. (Image)
FINE APPEARANCE. THIS IS THE ONLY MULTIPLE OF THE MEDIO PESO ERROR OTHER THAN THE TWO BLOCKS IN THIS SALE.
According to the Bargholtz handbook, this pair was was owned by J. M. Prentice when it was illustrated in the Catalogue of the Postage Stamps of Peru, published in 1933 and serialized in the journal El Peru Filatelico. It was illustrated in 1951 in Filatelia Peruana (No. 9) and reported to be in the collection of M. G. Vigil. Islander acquired the pair privately from the Dr. Joseph Schatzkes collection of Peru.
Bargholtz Census A3 ("Only one pair of two Medio Peso errors is known.") Ex Prentice, Vigil and Schatzkes. (Image)
EXTREMELY FINE. A SUPERB SE-TENANT PAIR OF THE MEDIO PESO ERROR AND ONE-PESETA. ONLY FIVE SE-TENANT PAIRS ARE RECORDED IN THE BARGHOLTZ CENSUS (EXCLUDING THE LARGER MULTIPLES AND COVERS), AND TWO OF THESE ARE IN THE TAPLING COLLECTION. THIS IS PROBABLY THE FINEST OFF-COVER PAIR EXTANT.
Bargholtz Census Cb2. Ex Ferrary, Vigil, Schatzkes and Gonzales Garcia. (Image)
EXTREMELY FINE. ONE OF FOUR RECORDED COVERS IN THE BARGHOLTZ CENSUS BEARING THE MEDIO PESO ERROR IN A SE-TENANT MULTIPLE WITH THE ONE-PESETA. THIS IS THE ONLY ONE OF THE FOUR ADDRESSED TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY, AND ONLY THREE OTHER MEDIO PESO ERROR COVERS TO A FOREIGN DESTINATION ARE RECORDED (ALL TO BOLIVIA WITH SINGLES). ONE OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING COVERS OF CLASSIC PERUVIAN PHILATELY.
The se-tenant Medio Peso Error pair on this cover shows the unusual configuration of the bloc report that produced it. The error, Type A, is the first position in the bottom row of the 10-unit bloc report. Normally, the stamp above this position in the bloc report would be Type 10. However, the One-peseta is Type 5, which indicates that Types 5-2-8-6-9 were in the top row of the error bloc report rather than their normal position at the bottom. This means that not only were the five Medio Peso denominations transferred to the stone, but the entire bloc report of ten was uniquely configured with the bottom row positioned at the top and the error transfers at the bottom (see diagram on page 34).
Bargholtz Census Ca2. Ex Schatzkes. (Image)
EXTREMELY FINE APPEARANCE. THIS IS THE ONLY UNUSED EXAMPLE OF THE MEDIO PESO ERROR KNOWN TO US. ONE OF THE GREATEST RARITIES OF SOUTH AMERICA.
Ex Ferrary and Schatzkes (Image)
EXTREMELY FINE GEM. ONE OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF THE MEDIO PESO ERROR IN EXISTENCE.
Ex Schatzkes. Signed Holcombe. (Image)