The Scarsdale Collection, Part Four - Washington-Franklin Issues continued...

EXTREMELY FINE GEM. THIS IS PROBABLY THE FINEST EXAMPLE OF THE 2-CENT TYPE Ia IMPERFORATE IN EXISTENCE. AN OUTSTANDING RARITY AND ONE OF THE RAREST STAMPS OF TWENTIETH CENTURY UNITED STATES PHILATELY.

Scott 482A, like its slightly more famous predecessor, Scott 314A, was issued imperforate by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and sold to the Schermack Company for use in its patented stamp-affixing machines. The Schermack "Sealer and Stamper" machine typically applied stamps one at a time, and, in most cases, the hyphen-hole perfs on one side would be cut off. Unlike Scott 314A, the release of imperforate sheets printed from the experimental Type Ia plates escaped the notice of contemporary collectors, and, therefore, has a very small survival rate.

Our census of Scott 482A (published in our Zoellner sale and available at www.siegelauctions.com/enc/census/482A/482A.htm) records one pair (ex Zoellner), three covers, one unused single and 34 used singles for a total of 40 stamps.

Schermack Type III stamps are often cut into the design by the oblong perforations or miscut with one side of the perforated margin missing. This problem for collectors, which meant very little to contemporary users of the stamps, resulted from two consecutive events. First, the sheets were perforated with the Schermack holes, creating an opportunity for misalignment between the stamps. Second, when the strip of stamps was fed through the Schermack affixing machine, the cutting blade did not always align with the space between stamps. The stamp offered here is remarkable because the Schermack perforations just touch the design, and it was cut with margins well clear of the design and with Schermack perforations intact.

Census No. 482A-CAN-20. Ex Twigg-Smith. With 1989 and 2001 P.F. certificates (Image)

EXTREMELY FINE. A BEAUTIFUL MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLE OF THE 5-CENT IMPERFORATE ERROR IN A BLOCK OF 40. AN IMPRESSIVE MULTIPLE.

During the course of production of the normal 2c plate No. 7942, three positions were noted to be defective. The plate was returned to the siderographer, who burnished out the three positions and mistakenly re-entered them using a transfer roll for the 5c stamp. The error passed unnoticed and the sheets were issued to the public Perf 10, Imperforate and Perf 11 (Scott 467, 485 and 505). The imperforate is by far the rarest of the three.

With 1998 P.F. certificate (Image)