One of just 80 examples of the 1909 8c stamp on bluish paper has seen top bids in Daniel F Kelleher Auctions' Flagship US, British and Worldwide Stamps and Postal History sale, held on September 9-10.
 The bluish paper came as a result of experiments with composite papers, which were never fully adopted |
The Connecticut auction house offered an impressive array of US stamps, with the 1909 8c selling at $21,240.
The stamp came to fruition following experiments with different types of paper, including composites of rag or cloth. All of the papers have a slightly blue tint, and are known to collectors as "bluish paper" stamps.
There were more than 3m stamps printed on the paper, though they only appeared for a short time and the composite material was never fully adopted. As such, all of the denominations are quite rare.
The main appeal of the 8c at auction was its fantastic centring, with the issue known to be mostly off centre.
 The stamps were issued to mark the Panama-Pacific Exposition |
The second highest bids of the sale were seen by a 1915 10c Panama-Pacific block of six, which boasted an "incredibly rare" full wide top selvedge.
Selling at $20,060, the pane is of the "perf 10" variety. At the time of issue, the post office was experimenting with different numbers of perforations on the stamps, and examples were printed with both 10 and 12 perforations. The "perf 10" examples are much rarer.
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