Lot
1243 
Ecuador, 1865, 1r yellow on greenish blue wove, right stamp showing a distinctive green tinge that differs from the later 1871-72 blue paper printings, full well balanced margins, in combination with 1865, 1r yellow on white wove, clear to ample margins, on 1869 folded letter to Lima, Peru, tied by neat blue "Guayaquil, Franca, Dic 26, 69" cds, blue company handstamp at right and reverse with clear "Lima, Dic 31, 1869" receiving cds, Very Fine, ex-Peyton, Isleham and Goeggel; with 2013 Moorhouse certificate. Scott No. 4 var., 4 Estimate $15,000 - 20,000.
A REMARKABLE COMBINATION FRANKING BEARING THE 1865 1R YELLOW ON GREENISH WOVE TRIAL PAPER - ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED COVERS OF ECUADORIAN PHILATELY.
According to Brian Moorhouse, this cover was originally discovered by Bill Homan (as part of the Chavez correspondence) and it was sold by him to the well known collector, Bernard Peyton. After Peyton's death his collections were donated over a period of time in the late 1950's to early 1960's to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington but some items were seemingly held back, including this cover which ended up in the "Isleham" collection. The cover was included in the Latin American portion of this collection, which was auctioned by Christies Robson Lowe in New York in March 1987. When sold in New York, it was apparently offered with a Royal Society of London certificate.
The paper on the right stamp is colored though and has a greenish tinge that is slightly different to the blue papers from the later 1871-72 period. Several stamps on this paper have been noted. One might speculate that the printer pulled a couple sheets simply as a trial to see what they might look like and that these "trials" then ended up being sold in the post office.
The first stamps of Venezuela can also be occasionally found on both bluish and greenish paper as well as the more usual white papers and some early issues of Columbia can also be found on bluish papers.
Realized: $10,000