Planned and produced by the Format International Security Printers but never issued. Not released until after the sale of the printers archive.

This gutter pair is one of five $4 and $5 values I obtained in my acquisitions of the Bileski estate. I have never seen them offered by other sellers in this form in several decades. Do more exist? It is possible. Due to what I obtained though, I doubt it.

The few pieces I did obtain show that Mr. Bileski for the most part apparently broke full panes and separated a major portion of them into the single stamp sets. This is due to the apparent extensive damage to the press sheets in the way they were stored in the archive. All were folded for storage and appears that much was "wrinkled", dented, torn ect.

Several gutter pairs, blocks and other pieces from the press sheets I have show this damage. This is why large pieces and gutters are not readily available on the market.

THIS combination gutter pair is one of the best of the four I have. It is folded along the perforations between the $5 value and the gutter. Still a beautiful and extremely rare example showing the positioning of the values on the press sheet. There were two press sheets with four of the values on each. This proven by the one huge cross gutter block I obtained.

Today, I am offering seven lots of these combo gutters. There is one combo that I do not have. Were they all destroyed or separated? Perhaps someone has the answer. Perhaps we will never know. It is the case with many items that were found in the printers archive. We are extremely lucky that Mr. Bileski documented much of what he acquired before he passed on.

His documentation on this series is "vague" though.

According to Kasimir Bileski, he obtained all that existed of this set back in the 1995 Final Sale of the Format International Security Printers Archive. According to the document he wrote 182 sets were possible. At that time apparently Scott and Stanley Gibbons were not noting the existence of them. The number coincides with the Robson Lowe inventory list he provided to Mr. Bileski during the sale of the archive.

In my research on them, I obtained a good portion of the gutters and combinations Mr. Bileski created from the 16 press sheets found in the archive. 182 sets plus 18 sets = 200 sets would be on 16 press sheets.  I also obtained a complete pane set of the issue. The panes look to be machine cut but were probably cut by Mr. Bileski (Using a large paper cutter) due to damage caused by folding of the press sheets along the gutters. Those panes would eliminate two of the press sheets from the equation.

I have watched this over several decades now and have rarely seen even single stamps offered in the complete set. Only a single value or a few offered.

The gutter pair imaged is the gutter pair you get! Mint and never hinged. As stated, it is folded along the perforations between the $5 value and the gutter. Also noting a light "scratch" mark on the gutter. The Bileski document does not come with it.