Lot no. 6001

The Gauthier Frères & Cie 1856-1857: "Barcelone" red ship letter stamp, fresh colour and wide margins all around, used with clear  "G.F. & Co." manuscript cancel, a perfect and very attractive copy, a total of only 8 stamps are recorded and accordingly S. Ringstrom and H.E. Tester in their authoritative work "The Private Ship Letter Stamps of the World - Part 2" describe the Gauthier Freres stamps as being "among the rarest in the world", signed and certificate BPA (1996) Provenance: The Denwood Kelly Collection [cover picture] (Robson Lowe 1985)                       ex Golding                      depicted in Encyclopedia of rare and famous stamps, The Biographies, page 78 (1997, L.N. Williams)