"Lafayette" Collection
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1849-1850 Ceres Issue
20 centimes bleu sur azure tęte-bęche

tęte-bęche original gum pair, plate 1

Provenance:
ex Ferrary (sale #11, lot 22:) and Loeuillet

References: 
Ceres #T8b, Yvert #8e
illustrated in 2000 Yvert & Tellier Specialisé catalog

Census of unused in blue on bluish shade:
this is one of two pairs, other is without gum

Production information:
The twenty centimes blue was to have replaced the twenty centimes black but was not issued. A total of 23.3 million were printed from five plates, including the first plate used for the black stamps, which contained tęte-bęche clichés at positions 92, 110 and 148. Although about 100 thousand of the error pairs were printed, virtually all were destroyed by the Post Office in July, 1851. Examples survive in all three of the major shades (blue on yellowish, blue on bluish and dark blue).