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URUGUAY, 1858, 240c Brown Red (6b). Transfer Types 29-30/5-6, block of four, original gum, h.r., large margins, intense shade and sharp impression, very fresh, horizontal crease in margin between stamps and another in top pair

EXTREMELY FINE APPEARANCE. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED BLOCK OF THE 1858 240-CENTISIMOS IN THE RARE AND DISTINCTIVE BROWN RED COLOR. AN IMPORTANT CLASSIC MULTIPLE OF URUGUAY.

The normal color of the 240c is Vermilion (in dull, bright or deep shades), but the stamps were also printed in a distinctive Brown Red (listed in Scott as Brick Red), which is an entirely different ink mixture. It is reported that one multiple of the Brown Red was divided and sold by Jean-Baptiste Moens, a 19th century Belgian stamp dealer, but the existence of duplicate positions (see lots 2883 and 2884) prove that at least two different multiples reached collectors. Single examples of the Brown Red are very scarce and desirable, and only two multiples have been recorded, both of which are in the Gordon N. John collection -- the only known block offered here and the strip of four with blank space in lot 2883.

Robert Hoffmann displayed this block in the exhibit of Uruguay that won the Grand Award at FIPEX in 1956. In the inventory accompanying the exhibit Hoffmann described it as "unique," and gave its provenance as "ex-Guinle collection," referring to Dr. Guglielmo Guinle, a noted South American philatelist during the 1930s.

Ex Dr. Guglielmo Guinle and Robert Hoffmann. Backstamped Soto Hermanos and signed Diaz.

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