The Richard Drews Collection of U.S. 1861-1868 Issues continued...

FINE APPEARING EXAMPLE OF THE RARE ATHERTON SHIFT, THE MOST PRONOUNCED OF THE BLACK JACK DOUBLE TRANSFERS. ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE WITH THE WIDE TOP MARGIN, WHICH COMPLETELY SHOWS THE VARIETY.

According to the Allen book, the Atherton shift got its name from Stanley Ashbrook, who first discovered it in the summer of 1923 in the collection of J. P. Atherton. Concerning this double transfer, Mr. Ashbrook wrote: "Here we have one of the most remarkable double transfers on U. S. stamps that I have ever seen. I have for years classed the One Cent 1851, Type II, 89R2, as the No. 1 among remarkable examples of this variety and in my opinion this 2c Black Jack could well rank as No. 2. Perhaps some would even rank it equal to the 1c..." He stated further that it was his opinion, supported by other authorities whom he had consulted, that the variety must surely have come from an early or first condition of one of the plates, and that later it had been burnished out and a fresh entry made. The fact that every line in the Atherton Shift "is razor sharp" led him to conclude that the plate from which it came was very new.

With 1995 P.F. certificate (Image)

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FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE EXAMPLE OF THE FAMOUS BLACK JACK PRESTON SHIFT. VERY FEW ARE KNOWN, AND THIS EXAMPLE IN A PLATED MULTIPLE IS THE FINEST AND MOST IMPORTANT.

Little has been written about the Preston Shift -- a search of the Chronicle database turned up nothing. The best source is the Allen Black Jack book (p. 125), which states the "shift" was originally noted by Marvin Preston of Ferndale, Michigan. In a letter to J. David Baker, columnist for Stamps, Preston explained: "I was amazed, while perusing a dealer's stock in 1951, to discover this outstanding major double transfer."

In 1953 Stanley B. Ashbrook wrote "This is a double transfer of the 'Black Jack' which is very rare in my opinion. It is the only copy that I have ever been able to find and is evidently much scarcer variety than the well-known 'Atherton Shift.' I communicated with a number of the leading students of this stamp thru-out the country and none of them had ever seen a copy of this variety. The following were consulted: H. P. Atherton, Anthony Russo, the late Ignatz Reiner, W. H. Kiefaber and Maurice Cole, author of a book on the stamp. These as well as a number of prominent dealers. It does seem strange that none of the above had ever seen a duplicate of this stamp."

The Allen collection contained the discovery single, which was perforated on all sides and with perfs strongly cutting into the design at top. The cover offered in our recent sale of the Faust Collection was also in the Allen collection but went unrecognized as the Preston Shift. None were offered in the Rorke sale. Richard Drews showed a used single with straight edge at left in a talk at the Collectors Club in 2010 (offered in the following lot). Barbara Fosdyke-Ray owned a used single with perfs strongly cutting into the design at bottom and straight edge at left.

The multiple offered here, with sheet margin and wide interpane margin, is the finest we have encountered and is especially desirable since it identifies the position of the Preston Shift on the plate. (Image)

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FINE. A RARE USED EXAMPLE OF THE 2-CENT BLACK JACK WITH THE PRESTON SHIFT. VERY GEW ARE KNOWN.

Little has been written about the Preston Shift -- a search of the Chronicle database turned up nothing. The best source is the Allen Black Jack book (p. 125), which states the "shift" was originally noted by Marvin Preston of Ferndale, Michigan. In a letter to J. David Baker, columnist for Stamps, Preston explained: "I was amazed, while perusing a dealer's stock in 1951, to discover this outstanding major double transfer."

In 1953 Stanley B. Ashbrook wrote "This is a double transfer of the 'Black Jack' which is very rare in my opinion. It is the only copy that I have ever been able to find and is evidently much scarcer variety than the well-known 'Atherton Shift.' I communicated with a number of the leading students of this stamp thru-out the country and none of them had ever seen a copy of this variety. The following were consulted: H. P. Atherton, Anthony Russo, the late Ignatz Reiner, W. H. Kiefaber and Maurice Cole, author of a book on the stamp. These as well as a number of prominent dealers. It does seem strange that none of the above had ever seen a duplicate of this stamp."

The Allen collection contained the discovery single, which was perforated on all sides and with perfs strongly cutting into the design at top. The cover offered in our recent sale of the Faust Collection was also in the Allen collection but went unrecognized as the Preston Shift. None were offered in the Dr. Rorke sale. Barbara Fosdyke-Ray owned a used single with perfs strongly cutting into the design at bottom and straight edge at left. We offered an original-gum block of four containing the variety in our 2016 Rarities of the World sale, which is offered in the previous lot.

This is the only used example off cover we have offered since keeping computerized records (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE ORIGINAL-GUM BLOCK OF FOUR OF THE 15-CENT LINCOLN 1866 ISSUE.

This is the first block of any size we have offered since our 2004 Rarities sale, when we offered the largest known multiple, a block of twelve. This is the first block of four we have offered since 1997.

Ex Lozier and Sinkler. With 1987 P.F. certificate (Image)

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