Sale 3031 United States & British Commonwealth Stamps and Covers

S8TC-B, 1886 1c Postal card, Trial color proofs, Without color name at lower right, remarkable array of 48 different combinations of ink and paper colors, each with "Essay-1886" at lower left and no color at lower right, each identified in pencil by Ridgway color on reverse, some minor faults to be expected but overall Very Fine, certainly impossible to duplicate as each is presumably unique, ex-Horton (Scott UX9TC; USPCC S8TC-B, $9,600)rnBecause of complaints about the design and brown ink of the 1885 Jefferson postal card, Charles Schlect of the BEP engraved a new design, which was essayed in a rainbow of trial ink and paper colors, which come with and without the color name printed at lower right. Clarence Brazer listed 90 combinations, while George L. Toppan counted no fewer than 238. Apparently only one example of each submitted combination was printed. The Postmaster General accepted the new design in the least costly ink and paper, black on white.