Description:

71zz Smooth Paper 1d red vertical "pair" with characteristic slightly trimmed perfs at right and an unmistakable COIL JOIN between the units + LMult Wmk ½d green tied to commercial cover to Samoa by Sydney machine cancellation, Samoa censor h/s in violet. An exciting new discovery. This is the first such coil pair we have recorded on cover, making this one of the most important KGV frankings we have handled.

The ACSC records that KGV coils were produced from sheet stock, and that undoubtedly genuine examples - including four attached to coil starters - exist. However, they are neither listed nor priced because of the potential for easily creating fakes. Usage on cover or piece is the best evidence that coil stamps of this period are genuine. A 1920 cover with a single 1d red coil stamp with the join still attached sold at a Melbourne auction of 27.8.2011 for $3220. It was noted there as "...the first proving item..." The cover offered here, bearing as it does a "complete pair" with the join, is a far more desirable item.