The Nachod Gutters
In September of 2003, along with some other early Czechoslovak material, Knihtisk purchased two unidirectional green 5h Hradčany gutters. Their story appeared in two Czechoslovak Specialist articles, Forgery or Amazing Find? in the Nov/Dec 2002 issue and The Nachod Discovery in the May/Jun 2003. This last article, co-authored by Johan Sevenhuijsen, was translated into Czech and published in Zpravodaj společnost sběratelů knihtiskových vydaní čs. známek no. 59, 2004.
While these remarkable gutters were in transit by registered mail to Prague for a final round of certification in September 2003, someone stole them. They have never been recovered.
On June 2, 2008, a friend alerted Knihtisk to the presence of two lots on EBay containing six more Nachod gutters. Knihtisk purchased these lots immediately. An article describing this new find, The Nachos Gutters Redux, was published in English in the Jul/Aug 2008 Specialist. A similar article in Czech by Lubor Kunc has been readied for publication in the Czech Republic.
A group picture of all the Nachod material, less the stolen items, appears below. The top row are the items from the original discovery, the items in the lower two rows are from the new purchase. To the left are links to individual items.
