2008 Rarities of the World continued...

FINE. A RARE SOUND EXAMPLE OF THE 10-CENT 1922 PERF 10 AT TOP OR BOTTOM VARIETY. ONLY ELEVEN SINGLES AND TWO PAIRS ARE KNOWN TO US.

Of the examples contained in our records, only five singles and one pair are sound. With 2008 P.F. certificate (Image)

THE INCOMPARABLE IMPERFORATE BLOCK OF TWELVE WITH PLATE NUMBER 14870. THE PLATE NUMBER TELLS US THAT THIS WAS FROM A SHEET WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN PERFORATED, BUT WHICH WAS REPORTEDLY FOUND IN AN OTHERWISE NORMAL PACKAGE OF STAMPS BEFORE THE IMPERFORATE SHEETS WERE ISSUED.

According to Johl (p. 84), one pane of 100 imperforate stamps from plate 14870 was found in a usual post office package of 100 sheets of regularly perforated stamps. The sheet had been "blue pencilled" at the Bureau but had still gotten out. The stamps were issued imperforate at a later date, but this plate number was not used to print those stamps. The only way to distinguish the earlier imperforate error from the normal imperforate issue is by the plate number, which is what makes this piece so important. There are three such plate blocks known. (Image)

FINE. A RARE SOUND EXAMPLE OF THE 2-CENT HARDING ROTARY PERF 11, WHICH IS ONE OF THE RAREST OF ALL 20TH CENTURY ISSUES.

Our census of the 2c Harding Rotary Perf 11 (as published in our Zoellner sale catalogue and updated at our website at www.siegelauctions.com/enc/census/613/613.htm) records 43 used singles (one faintly cancelled, if at all), one used pair and the recently-discovered used strip of three. Of the singles, approximately 30 are sound.

The 2c Harding Rotary Perf 11 stamp was discovered in 1938 by Leslie Lewis of the New York firm, Stanley Gibbons Inc. Gary Griffith presents his hypothesis in United States Stamps 1922-26 that rotary-printed sheets of 400 were first reduced to panes of 100 and then fed through the 11-gauge perforate machine normally used for flat plate sheets. This method distinguishes sheet-waste stamps -- Scott 544, 596 and 613 -- from the coil-waste stamps and explains the existence of a straight-edge on Scott 613.

Census No. 613-CAN-19. Ex Mielstrup. With 1955 P.F. certificate (Image)

VERY FINE AND CHOICE EXAMPLE OF THE 1927 ONE-CENT PERF 11 X 10-1/2 WHICH IS IMPERFORATE BETWEEN.

For some reason, every other pair of this scarce variety we have ever offered either has had faults or is off-center. This should be considered a condition rarity. (Image)

VERY FINE AND CHOICE PLATE BLOCK OF THE 3-CENT WISCONSIN TERCENTENARY ISSUE WHICH IS IMPERFORATE VERTICALLY.

With 2000 P.S.E. certificate. Scott Retail as plate no. block of six with no premium for the side four stamps. (Image)