2020 Rarities of the World continued...

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE GROUP OF LARGE DIE PROOFS OF THE HALF-CENT TO THE 50-CENT FOR THE 1922-25 ISSUE.

This set through the 50c is a strong start, and the dollar-value die proofs will finish the job. (Image)

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Get Market Data for [United States 551P1-570P1]

VERY FINE. THE ONLY SIGNED DIE PROOF OF THE $5.00 1922 ISSUE KNOWN TO US.

Accompanied by a letter dated March 1, signed by Harry S. New, stating that the set of die proofs prepared by his direction was presented to President Calvin Coolidge.

Ex Fekete. Scott value without postmaster general's signature (Image)

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Get Market Data for [United States 573P1]

EXTREMELY FINE. A RARE LARGE DIE PROOF OF THE $5.00 1922 HEAD OF FREEDOM ISSUE.

We know of five or six $5.00 1922 Issue large die proofs on India. (Image)

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VERY FINE. ONE OF ONLY FIVE COVERS WITH THE 1922 2-CENT PERF 10 AT TOP OR BOTTOM RECORDED IN OUR CENSUS. A GREAT 20TH CENTURY COVER RARITY.

Our census of Scott 554d, available at https://siegelauctions.com/census/us/scott/554d , lists approximately 22 used singles and stamps in precancelled blocks, five on separate covers and five unused examples (three contained in the unique plate block).

Census no. 554d-COV-23. With 2009 P.F. certificate (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE-VERY FINE. THIS REMARKABLE PAIR HAS RECENTLY BEEN IDENTIFIED AND CERTIFIED AS THE RARE ONE-CENT 1923 ROTARY COIL WASTE ISSUE, SCOTT 594. IT IS THE ONLY RECORDED VERTICAL PAIR AND CONTAINS ONE OF THE FINEST CENTERED SOUND EXAMPLES OF SCOTT 594.

The 1c Green, Scott 594, is waste from a horizontal rotary printing used to make coils. At the beginning or end of a coil-stamp print run from the 170-subject rotary plates, some leading or trailing paper was produced that was too short for rolling into 500-stamp rolls. In 1919 the Bureau devised a plan to salvage this waste by perforating and cutting the sheets into panes. They were put through the 11-gauge flat-plate perforator in use at the time, giving the sheets full perforations on all sides. In 1923 coil waste from the new 1c and 2c rotary production was turned into stamps later classified as Scott 578-579 and 594-595. These were the last of the coil-waste issues. The existence of Scott 594 was not reported until four months after the final sheets were delivered, and the 1c Rotary Perf 11 was soon recognized as one of the rarest United States stamps.

There are today approximately 100 confirmed examples of Scott 594. The first major find of this stamp was made in 1934 by Ernest E. Fairbanks, who retrieved nine pairs (18 stamps, one or two damaged) on nine separate covers that were returned by the post office years earlier from a bulk mailing. All were postmarked at New York City on October 4, 1924. The nine Fairbanks covers were cut down into pieces, and today there are perhaps five or six of these pieces intact. Our census of Scott 594 used is available at https://siegelauctions.com/census/US/Scott/594 . This pair is a new discovery and the latest addition to our census. It is the only recorded vertical pair of this 20th Century rarity. There may be three other intact pairs, all horizontal (one on cover).

Census no. 594-CAN-PR-06. With 2020 P.S.A.G. certificate. Scott footnote states that stamps are "valued with perforations just touching frameline on one side" -- both stamps in this pair have perfs well clear of design on all sides. (Image)

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VERY FINE AND RARE MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLE OF THE 4-CENT MESA VERDE IMPERFORATE BETWEEN ERROR.

Only 15 pairs have been recorded, and 6-9 have the Post Office paper adherence. This is only the second Mint N.H. pair we have offered since keeping computerized records.

With 1978 and 2017 P.F. certificates (Image)

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Get Market Data for [United States 743a]

EXTREMELY FINE. A RARE AND DESIRABLE MINT NEVER-HINGED PLATE BLOCK OF THE $5.00 PRESIDENTIAL ISSUE IN THE RED BROWN AND BLACK COLOR. THIS IS THE FIRST IN MINT NEVER-HINGED CONDITION WE HAVE OFFERED IN DECADES.

Roland E. Rustad states in his book The Prexies that only twelve plate blocks of this distinctive color error are recorded (p. 329). We have no reason to doubt that count but we have not seen anywhere close to that many. Before this Mint N.H. plate block, we have offered only a single no-gum plate block (four separate times) since 1989.

Accompanied by a lengthy April 18, 1950 letter (photostat) from Bureau of Engraving Director A. W. Hall to George B. Sloane (the discoverer of the error), explaining the testing that the Bureau performed on the stamps sent by him to determine that they are indeed the color error -- caused by an incorrect ink mixture containing a trace of black -- and not a chemically altered color (Image)

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Get Market Data for [United States Amsterdam-NY 1941]

VERY FINE. A HISTORIC COVER CARRIED FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO HONOLULU ON THE ANZAC CLIPPER ON DECEMBER 7, 1941 -- THE FLIGHT WAS FORTUITOUSLY DELAYED EACH OF THE PREVIOUS TWO DAYS AND FINALLY TOOK OFF ON THE MORNING OF THE PEARL HARBOR ATTACK, ARRIVING LATE ENOUGH TO BE DIVERTED TO HILO AS THE BOMBS FELL. THIS COVER WAS THEN SENT AROUND THE WORLD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION BEFORE BEING RETURNED AS UNDELIVERABLE DUE TO THE INVASION OF BRITISH MALAYA.

A series of articles by Ken Lawrence in various philatelic journals tells the story of the Anzac Clipper and the mails it carried. We quote from one of them: "The Boeing B-314A flying boat Anzac Clipper took off from San Francisco late on the afternoon of December 5 but experienced mechanical trouble 400 miles out and had to return for repairs. After being repaired, she had been rescheduled to leave at two o’clock in the afternoon on December 6, but departure had been postponed so the pilot, Captain Harry Lanier Turner, could attend his daughter’s first piano recital at Oakland. At eight o’clock the next morning Anzac Clipper was less than an hour away from Honolulu when her radio officer received a coded flash warning that Pearl Harbor was under Japanese air attack. The providentially late departure from San Francisco had delayed her approach just long enough to have kept the vulnerable aircraft out of harm’s way. Pan Am’s 'Plan A' secret instructions in the event of war rerouted Anzac Clipper to Hilo, 220 miles southeast of the combat zone."

Mail from the Anzac Clipper can be identified by the Honolulu censor backstamps (after the attacks the mail was forwarded from Hilo to Honolulu). Mail to destinations in Hawaii was delivered. Flights farther west ceased. Mail to Japanese-occupied places was returned to the senders. Mail to other places was rerouted for transatlantic transport to the destinations. The cover offered here was carried via Miami, Belgian Congo and Egypt to Calcutta where the "PASSED DHC/37" was applied. The letter was returned to New York, because of the Japanese invasion of British Malaya that started just hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Image)

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