Cape of Good Hope: 1861, 4d. vermillion error of colour, in pair with 1d. vermillion, used.

The first stamps of the Cape of Good Hope were the famous triangular issue which appeared first in 1853. These were printed by two companies in London, but in addition a local provisional issue was made in Cape Town in 1861 to cope with a temporary shortage.

This local issue had a 1d in a range of colours red and a 4d in a range of colours blue. The printing plates were made up of a number of individual clichés or printing blocks, and one cliché from each value was in error put into the wrong printing plate.

This resulted in examples of both the 1d and 4d being printed in the wrong colour. The 4d error is shown here, in a pair with normal 1d - such pairs are rare .