Mauritius’ Sherwins Part 2 : Covers and Used

A number of queries arose following my last article regarding the printing details. Not everyone has access to the detail published in our catalogue for the celebrated November 1993 Kanai collection auction mostly still relevant today, and I feel therefore it can be worthwhile to reprint here:

Specifications

Denomination:

Two Pence (a One Penny was prepared but never issued)

Engraver and printer:

It is uncertain who actually engraved the copper plates but the available evidence suggests that it was commenced by Robert Sherwin and completed by another at Port Louis, Mauritius. It is not known who printed the stamps.

Printing Format:

The ‘Post Paid’ plates became too worn for further use and were re-engraved for the ‘Sherwin’ issue. It was done so effectively that no feature of the ‘Post Paid’ engraving was afterwards discernible on the plates. The individual engraving almost exactly coincides with the position previously occupied by the ‘Post Paid’. Both the ‘Sherwin’ plates survive, although scored to prevent their further use, are in the Archives of the Royal Philatelic Society, London. Differences in the engraving enable every stamp to be identified as originating from one of the twelve positions on the plate.

Date of Issue: October, 1859.

Perforation: Imperforate.

Paper: Granular thin or thinnish paper (extremely delicate).

Impression: Only one state of impression is recognized.

Census

All Sherwin stamps are rare. In all forms I would guess less than 100, perhaps only about 80. We record the following :

Unused: 5 (including the separated pair)

Covers: 7 covers comprising 13 Sherwin stamps

Used: About 60-80, including 23 in the Kanai collection

Covers

Lot 20136 from our upcoming June 30th-July 2nd auction series, a unique cover with a 1859 Sherwin 2d dark blue in combination with Britannia 1858-62 (9d) dull magenta, sent to Nova Scotia

Of the seven recorded covers, most are pretty spectacular, comprising two with pairs plus two combination covers, one bearing another pair, and the other a delightfully coloured combination with the Britannia 9d dull magenta addressed to the extraordinary and unique destination of Nova Scotia. This cover is Lot 20136 in the coming Tatiana auction.

Lot 20135 in our June 30th-July 2nd auction series, the finest known Sherwin cover, with four examples, sent to France

But the ‘pièce de résistance’ is undoubtedly the cover to Bordeaux with no less than FOUR Sherwins. This is a quadruple franking. In all primitive issue covers such a franking is itself extremely rare. It was the noticeable missing gem from the Kanai collection and, in my opinion, the most important Mauritius cover after the Post Office issue.

Used

Image of the used block of four of the 1859 Sherwin 2d blue from the Kanai collection, which we sold in 1993 for CHF86’250.

Imagine a used block of four! That could only exist from a likely quadruple rate also. It was Lot 206 in the Kanai auction sale when it fetched 86,250 Swiss Francs. Kanai also had three pairs, all surprisingly vertical when one would think the obvious cut would be horizontal. One of those pairs helped him make up a complete plate reconstruction which was a remarkable feat given the scarcity of the stamps.

Lot 20129 in our June 30th-July 2nd auction series