Description:

1919 (Nov 12) England-Australia #27b Ross Smith vignette with full margins, very well centred and unmounted with just light traces of hinging in margins only, an exceptional example of this iconic item, Cat $20,000 for mounted mint. [Eustis states "Mint copies of the stamp with selvedge all round are among the greatest rarities in Australian philately ... about 25 mint copies are held in museums ... about 50 specimens with complete selvedge exist in private collections"; of the 576 issued, 364 were attached to letters carried cancelled on arrival in Melbourne on 26 Feb 1920, 125 were destroyed and of the 87 remaining about 10 had the selvedge removed in anticipation of being affixed to envelopes]