Sale 1098 — Worldwide Stamps and Postal History
Sale Date — Tuesday-Wednesday, 19-20 May, 2015
Category — Kuwait thru New Brunswick
KUWAIT, 1923, -1/2a-15r King George V, "KOWEIT" Overprint Essays (1E-15E, O1E-14E; SG 15 Footnote). Complete set of the 27 values of both the postage and Official series, several values with selvage, small h.r., bright colors on fresh paper, each stamp with light pencil marking "8" or "11" and "RR" (Richard Roberts) on reverseVERY FINE AND IMMENSELY RARE. ONLY 24 SETS WERE PRODUCED WITH NO MORE THAN 17 BELIEVED TO BE IN PRIVATE HANDS. AN ICONIC SET OF ESSAYS AND ONE OF THE RARITIES OF THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH.
Produced in early 1923, these were prepared prior to adopting the name change from "Koweit" to "Kuwait" for postal purposes and making it closer to the pronunciation in Arabic. Two panes of 12 each were printed in Calcutta. One of which, according to Kuwait-Stamps.com, a set of block of four resides in the Royal Collection, two sets sent to the then Viceroy and one set to the Deputy Director General. The other pane was obtained by a London dealer who broke them up into sets. Therefore, no more than 17 are believed to be in private hands and there is a good chance that less are available to collectors today. Many sets have also been broken down and few complete sets remain.
With 2015 B.P.A. set certificate. A similar set realized $32,500 hammer in our November 2014 sale. SG value
