A European Connoisseur's Collection of U.S. Classic Issues continued...

EXTREMELY FINE. THIS BEAUTIFUL AND RARE USE OF THE 1851 ONE-CENT TYPE III FROM POSITION 99R2 ON COVER IS SURPASSED ONLY BY THE SHEET-MARGIN EXAMPLE ON THE FAMOUS ISHIKAWA COVER. THIS COVER RANKS AMONG THE MOST OUTSTANDING ONE-CENT 1851 ISSUE ITEMS.

Plate 2 was made in late 1855, and consisted of 198 positions that are Type II, one position that is Type III (99R2) and one Type IIIA (100R2). The Type III from Plate 2 is considered by philatelists to be truly exceptional, because it shows the widest breaks in the top and bottom lines of any Type III. These breaks are the defining type characteristics, and the width of the breaks in 99R2 give it a very distinctive appearance. How these breaks came about is an interesting story in 1851-56 Issue plate manufacture. It was originally told by Ashbrook and Neinken, and more recently updated by Richard Celler and Elliot Omiya ("The Toppan Carpenter Plates and the Guide Reliefing Method," The 1851 Issue of United States Stamps: A Sesquicentennial Retrospective, U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, 2006).

Guide dots were used by siderographers to precisely align the subjects on the plate when each position was entered from the transfer roll. On Plate 2, Positions 79R and 89R were properly transferred using their guide dots. However, the guide dot to the southeast of Position 88R, which was used to align the single B Relief for Position 99R2, was grossly out of line. The misplaced dot was accidentally used, and the bed of the press was moved too far, resulting in the bottom part of the A Relief being transferred into the bottom part of Position 89 (and in the margin below this position) by mistake. The original misplaced entry of Position 99R2 was burnished out, but apparently no attempt was made to erase the parts of the A Relief transferred into the bottom of Position 89R2.

When the fresh entry was made in Position 99R, a full transfer of the design was not possible without running into Position 89R. The position was therefore short transferred at top. The bottom, which also appears incomplete, was either short transferred or possibly burnished out. The effect of these problems entering 99R2 was a design with the top and bottom severely cropped, thus producing the finest example of Type III found on any plate.

For his entire collecting life, the late Raymond Vogel searched for this 99R2 cover, based on a picture of it in one of the Robert S. Emerson auctions. It had last appeared in a 1960's H. R. Harmer sale, but Ray was never able to determine its whereabouts. With the emergence of the European Connoisseur's collection, we now have the answer. Ray always regarded it as one of the two finest 99R2 covers, comparable to the huge sheet-margin example on cover, ex Ishikawa, which is now one of the highlights of the Gordon Eubanks exhibit collection of 1851-56 Issues.

Ex Emerson and Jessup. With 2015 P.F. certificate. (Image)

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