The Grant Inman Collection, Part I: Newspapers and Periodicals continued...

VERY FINE. A RARE EXAMPLE OF THE $1.92 1875 CONTINENTAL NEWSPAPER SPECIAL PRINTING. ONLY 41 WERE SOLD.

The $1.92 value of the 1875 Continental Newspaper Special Printing marks the start of the rarities of the set. Each stamp through the $12.00 is represented in the Inman collection. We have offered only approximately half a dozen unduplicated examples of the $1.92 Special Printing since keeping computerized records.

With 1982 P.F. certificate (Image)

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A FINE AND SOUND EXAMPLE OF THE RARE $3.00 1875 CONTINENTAL NEWSPAPER SPECIAL PRINTING. ONLY 20 WERE SOLD, AND ONLY EIGHT HAVE BEEN CERTIFIED AS GENUINE. THIS IS THE FIRST WE HAVE OFFERED SINCE OUR 1990 RARITIES SALE.

According to sale records of the 1875 Newspaper Special Printings, 20 of the $3.00 were sold and delivered. On July 16, 1884, the Special Printings were withdrawn from sale, and the remaining supply was destroyed.

The online records of The Philatelic Foundation contain only eight copies certified as genuine. Of those, three have faults. This is the first example we have offered since our 1990 Rarities sale.

With 1990 P.F. certificate (Image)

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FRESH AND FINE. THE $6.00 1875 CONTINENTAL NEWSPAPER SPECIAL PRINTING IS ONE OF THE RAREST UNITED STATES STAMPS. ONLY FOURTEEN WERE SOLD, AND ONLY FIVE HAVE BEEN CERTIFIED AS GENUINE.

According to sale records of the 1875 Newspaper Special Printings, 14 of the $6.00 were sold and delivered. On July 16, 1884, the Special Printings were withdrawn from sale, and the remaining supply was destroyed.

Our records contain only five copies certified as genuine: four by The Philatelic Foundation and one certified by P.S.E. This is only the third we have offered since keeping computerized records.

Ex Engel, "Connoisseur" and and Weisman. With 1960 and 1992 P.F. certificates. With 1992 P.S.E. certificate (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE. THIS STAMP IS THE ONLY RECORDED EXAMPLE OF THE $9.00 1875 CONTINENTAL NEWSPAPER SPECIAL PRINTING. THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE INMAN NEWSPAPERS & PERIODICALS COLLECTION AND ONE OF THE RAREST OF ALL UNITED STATES STAMPS.

Official records of the Special Printings indicate that a total of 500 of the $9.00 stamps were received in 1875. On July 16, 1884, 496 were still on hand. Only four copies were sold in a nine-year period, including two to German collector/dealer Paul Lietzow, who was also the buyer of the only recorded example of the $24.00, which realized $430,000 hammer in our 2014 Rarities of the World sale. The other two buyers of $9.00 Special Printings were David H. Anthony and Stanley Gibbons (London). This is the only example known to have survived from the original four that were sold.

Ex "Troy", Lutwak and Drucker. With 1982 and 2002 P.F. certificates. (Image)

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FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE EXAMPLE OF THE $12.00 1875 CONTINENTAL NEWSPAPER SPECIAL PRINTING. ONLY FIVE WERE SOLD AND THIS IS ONE OF ONLY TWO EXAMPLES CERTIFIED BY THE PHILATELIC FOUNDATION.

Official records of the Special Printings indicate that a total of 500 of the $12.00 stamps were received in 1875. On July 16, 1884, 495 were still on hand. Only five copies were sold in a nine-year period, including two to German collector/dealer Paul Lietzow, who was also the buyer of the only recorded example of the $24.00, which realized $430,000 hammer in our 2014 Rarities of the World sale, and two of the $9.00 (the only recorded example is offered in the previous lot). Two of the other three $12.00 Special Printings were sold to David H. Anthony and Stanley Gibbons (London). This and the other recorded example of the $12.00 originally formed a pair, this the left stamp.

With 1990 P.S.E. certificate. With 1970 P.F. and 2003 P.F. certificates. (Image)

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VERY FINE-EXTREMELY FINE. A RARE SET OF THE IMPERFORATE DOLLAR VALUES OF THE CONTINENTAL 1875 NEWSPAPER SPECIAL PRINTING, WHICH WERE CUT FROM THE ORIGINAL STRIPS OF FIVE FROM THE EARL OF CRAWFORD COLLECTION.

All known genuine examples of the imperforate Newspapers & Periodicals 1875 Special Printing stamps come from the set of strips of five sold to James Ludovic Lindsay, the 26th Earl of Crawford, one of the great collectors of stamps, essays, proofs and philatelic literature at the turn of the 20th Century. Lord Crawford died on January 31, 1914, and his estate executors eventually agreed to sell the entire United States collection for $60,000 to John A. Klemann of the Nassau Stamp Company. Klemann reported his acquisition of the Earl of Crawford’s collection in the November 1915 edition of The Philatelic Gazette. Among the spectacular array of items owned by Lord Crawford were strips of the 1875 1c-90c Continental Bank Note Company Special Printings with intact selvage (Scott 167-177), the set of Official Special Printing imperforate strips and the set of Newspapers & Periodicals 1875 Special Printing imperforate strips of five.

Klemann is almost certainly the person responsible for cutting up the Earl of Crawford strips, because sets of Officials and Newspapers & Periodicals singles were sold to Benjamin K. Miller, who was an active collector from 1917 to 1924 (his collection was donated to The New York Public Library and is now on long-term loan to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum). Miller probably acquired the imperforate set directly from Nassau Stamp Company, one of his dealer sources.

A complete set from the 2c value was recently offered in our 2016 Rarities of the World sale (from the David Golden collection). Another complete set was described in an article by William E. Mooz (Finding the Yellow Thumbprint,” The American Philatelist, November 1984). In that article, Mr. Mooz also pictured and described this part set, consisting of the $1.92 to $60.00 values. Combining the three complete sets (Miller, Mooz and Golden) with this part set of dollar values, we can account for four of the five dollar value stamps in the original Earl of Crawford strips. The whereabouts of the fifth set of singles is unknown.

The perforated 1875 Special Printing, Scott PR33-PR56, is the rarest set of all Newspapers & Periodicals stamps with two of the only verifiably unique stamps in philately, which unfortunately have never been seen. Only one copy each of the $48.00 and $60.00 perforated Special Printing stamps were sold through the Special Printing program to Paul Lietzow of Germany, and they have never been identified (the Scott Catalogue lists them without values). The next four high values have Scott values of $250,000, $125,000, $500,000 and $250,000, respectively, for a total of $1,125,000. With a Scott value of $60,000 for a complete set and only five in existence, this imperforate set of dollar values seems undervalued.

Ex Drucker. Each signed Sloane and with 1982 P.F. certificate. Listed as a footnote in Scott with a catalogue value of $60,000.00 for the full set ($2,500.00 each if the value is allocated equally across all denominations, but of course the dollar denominations are always more desirable). Scott Retail at $2,500.00 each (Image)

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