Auction 321 - 332 Australian States & Commonwealth of Australia, New South Wales, St. Helena, Basutoland The ‘BESANÇON’ Collection - Day 2

1850: 3 d. bright yellow-green (positions 16-17 / 21-22), the magnificent block of four on hard thick bluish grey wove paper, with good mostly even margins all round, with position 22 showing 'missing lower left ray in NW corner ornament'; used on 1851 printed Official envelope from the Colonial Secretary's Office in Sydney to the Comptroller General of Convicts in Van Diemen's Land to pay the quadruple Ship Letter rate, endorsed "Pr. Shamrock, via Launceston"; tied by three strikes of the Sydney barred obliterator in black. Circular "PAID SHIP LETTER / ♚ / SYDNEY" despatch in red (Feb 1) and Crowned "Free" in red applied on arrival with Launceston arrival cds on reverse (Feb 10) in black. Palmer cover census #63 - just two blocks of the 3 d. on cover are known, file folds well away from the wonderful block, a stunning cover of great importance to both Worldwide classic and Australian Philately, without doubt one of the most important covers in New South Wales Postal History and of impeccable provenance. Cert. RPSL (1962).rnProvenance: "Stamp Collecting", 2 March 1918, page 306; Australian Stamp Journal, May 1918, page 121; Collection Charles Lathrop Pack, Harmers, New York, 6-8 and 13-15 Dec 1944, lot 1104; collection Alfred H. Caspary, Harmers, London, 6-9 Oct 1958, lot 130; collection Sir Andrew Clark, Harmers, London, 29-30 Jan 1962, lot 137; collection Lars Amundsen, SG, London, 6-8 Dec 1967, lot lot 320; collection V. Frankenstein, DF, London, 26-27 May 2000, lot 10740; collection "Carrington", Millennium, Sydney, 7 Nov 2012, lot 299.