The World's Fair Collection of The 1893 Columbian Issue continued...

FINE APPEARANCE. THE LARGEST RECORDED MULTIPLE OF THE $2.00 COLUMBIAN ISSUE. A REMARKABLE MULTIPLE REPRESENTING $50.00 OF POSTAGE.

Large multiples of dollar-value Columbians are extremely rare. The largest recorded unused multiples are as follows: $1.00, sheet of 100; $2.00, the block of 22 offered here (followed by an original-gum block of 20); $3.00, imprint and plate number block of six, assuming the block of eight in 1969 Rarities sale has been broken up; $4.00, imprint and plate number block of ten; and $5.00, the block of fourteen offered in this sale.

Multiples of the dollar-value Columbians represented a sizable investment at the time. For example, in 1893 the average annual salary of a pressman in the government printing office was $1,002, or $19.27 per week, so this multiple represents almost three week's salary for the person who printed it.

Ex Rosenthal (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

VERY FINE. A RARE ORIGINAL-GUM BLOCK OF EIGHT OF THE $4.00 COLUMBIAN. LARGE MULTIPLES OF THIS ISSUE ARE RARE -- THIS IS THE SECOND LARGEST RECORDED.

The largest recorded unused multiple of the $4.00 Columbian is the unique imprint and plate number block of ten (ex Crocker and still intact). Multiples larger than four stamps are rare. The block offered here was part of the remarkable find of Columbian sheets and blocks offered by Harmer's of London on November 30, 1954. The find, comprising 10,422 unused stamps, was offered as a single lot. This and two other multiples originally formed a block of 20.

Scott Retail as two blocks of four (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

VERY FINE. A RARE USED BLOCK OF FOUR OF THE $4.00 COLUMBIAN.

According to Linn's U.S. Stamp Facts, the largest used multiple is a block of four.

With 1988 P.F. certificate (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com

VERY FINE-EXTREMELY FINE. THE LARGEST RECORDED MULTIPLE OF THE $5.00 COLUMBIAN. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION ITEMS IN EXISTENCE.

This multiple was part of a remarkable find of Columbian sheets and blocks offered by Harmer's of London on November 30, 1954. The find, comprising 10,422 unused stamps, was offered as a single lot. The block offered here was stuck to a block of twelve of the $2.00. It was last offered at auction in our 1983 Rarities sale, where it realized $47,500 hammer.

The $70.00 in postage represented by this block is equal to $1,766.44 in today's money. This represents almost a month's worth of wages for a pressman employed by the Government Printing Office, who made on average $1,002 per year. (source: Monthly Labor Review).

Ex Rosenthal. Illustrated in Brookman, Vol. 3, p. 88. With 1991 P.F. certificate (number 250,000). (Image)

Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com