2016 Rarities of the World continued...

FINE-VERY FINE APPEARANCE. AN IMPORTANT 1851 ONE-CENT ISSUE MULTIPLE FROM THE TOP ROW OF PLATE ONE EARLY, COMPRISING THREE RARE TYPE Ib POSITIONS, INCLUDING 6R1E, ONE OF THE TWO BEST EXAMPLES OF TYPE Ib. THIS STRIP CONTAINS THE LARGEST NUMBER OF TYPE Ib POSITIONS KNOWN IN A SINGLE USED MULTIPLE.

Type Ib was produced only as an imperforate stamp. Six positions on Plate 1 Early furnished stamps qualifying as Type Ib -- Positions 3-6R and 8-9R -- distinguished by the complete design at top and nearly complete design at bottom. When first entered on the plate, these six positions (as well as 7R1E) had the complete design at top and bottom. However, unlike 7R, small portions of the bottoms were ironed out when the entries were made below them. Positions 6R and 8R had less of the bottom erased than the other Type Ib positions, and for this reason they are more desirable examples of the type. Although Positions 3-6R1E could form a strip of four, no such multiple has been recorded in used condition. Only the original-gum block from Positions 4-9/14-15R1E (Wagshal Census 5-UNC-002) contains a larger number of Type Ib positions than this strip.

With 2013 P.F. certificate. Scott Retail as pair and single. (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE GEM. THIS POSITION IS THE ONLY TYPE II STAMP ON PLATE ONE EARLY WITH THE DESIGN COMPLETE AT TOP. THIS IS WITHOUT QUESTION THE FINEST EXAMPLE OF POSITION 10R1E IN EXISTENCE.

The legendary top row of the right pane of Plate One Early yields the only Type I stamp (Position 7), six Type Ib stamps (Positions 3-6 and 8-9) and three Type II stamps (Positions 1-2 and 10). These were the first positions entered onto the plate (Position 10, offered here, was the very first entered). All were originally entered as Type I positions showing the completed design using a transfer roll that was not used for any other positions. Positions 1 and 2 were poorly executed and erased. The original transfers of Positions 3-10 were kept, but small portions of the designs were burnished away at the bottoms of seven of the eight positions, turning six into Type Ib and one into Type II stamps. Only one escaped the burnishing tool, which gives us Type I (Position 7R1E). The remaining positions on the plate were entered using a transfer roll with the design incomplete at top. Only these few positions from the top row of the right pane of Plate One Early have the design complete at top, and Position 10R1E is the only Type II on this plate to display this characteristic.

Ex Geary. With 1998 P.F. and 2009 P.S.E. certificates (Superb 98 Jumbo; SMQ does not price Position 10R1E separately) (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE. A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF THE 1851 IMPERFORATE ONE-CENT TYPE Ia, ONE OF THE RARITIES FURNISHED BY PLATE FOUR, WITH CORNER SHEET MARGINS.

Stamps printed from Plate 4 were issued in April, May and briefly in June 1857 before perforations were introduced. The relatively small number of imperforate Plate 4 stamps issued during this period explains the rarity and desirability of any of the imperforate stamp types produced from this plate (Ia, Ic, II, III and IIIa). The extremely rare Type Ia, showing the full design at bottom, was furnished only by 18 of the 200 subjects on Plate 4 (the remaining two bottom-row positions were sub-type Ic).

Ex Merlin. "W.H.C." backstamp (Colson). With 1992 P.F. and 2008 P.S.E. certificates (XF 90 Jumbo; SMQ $33,000.00). Only four have graded higher and one other shares this grade. (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE GEM. A SUPERB MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLE OF THE 3-CENT 1851 ORANGE BROWN. A REMARKABLE CLASSIC STAMP IN ABSOLUTELY PERFECT CONDITION, WHICH HAS EARNED IT THE P.S.E. GRADE OF XF-SUPERB 95.

The three or four examples of the 3c Orange Brown in Extremely Fine Gem Mint Never-Hinged condition come from blocks that were divided into singles in recent years. This single comes from the block of twelve formerly in the Piller and Zoellner collections.

Ex Piller, Zoellner (as part of a block), Silver Lake and Whitman. 1979 and 2004 P.F. certificates (one as Deep Orange Brown) no longer accompany. P.S.E. encapsulated (XF-Superb 95; unpriced in SMQ in Mint N.H. condition). This is the only graded Mint N.H. example of either Scott 10 or 10A. Scott Retail as hinged $3,250.00 (Image)

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VERY FINE. A REMARKABLE FIRST DAY COVER WITH BOTH OF THE JULY 1, 1851, RATES -- PREPAID 3-CENTS BY STAMP AND FORWARDED WITH 5-CENTS POSTAGE DUE. THIS IS ALSO THE ONLY RECORDED 3-CENT 1851 FIRST DAY OF ISSUE COVER FROM GENEVA, NEW YORK.

Three new stamps were created for use starting on July 1, 1851, after a change in the postal rates -- 1c, 3c and 12c. The basic rates became 1c for newspapers, circulars and drop letters (with an escalation for distance up until 1852), 3c for domestic letters sent up to 3,000 miles, and 6c for letters sent over 3,000 miles. The rate for sending collect, without prepayment, became 5c for up to 3,000 miles and 10c for distances over 3,000 miles. The 1847 Issue was demonetized after July 1, 1851, when the new rates went into effect.

In his census in the 1851 Sesquicentennial book, Wilson Hulme recorded a total of 43 covers used on July 1, 1851, which is the first day they were valid for postage. The example offered here is desirable for a number of reasons, including the clear yeardate on the contents, plus the display of two different rates which had become effective on July 1.

Ex Burleigh. Illustrated in Sesquicentennial book on p. 126. With 1989 P.F. certificate (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE GEM. A SUPERB MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLE OF THE 1851 3-CENT DULL RED, WHICH HAS BEEN GRADED SUPERB 98 BY P.S.E.

Although the 3c 1851 is by no means a rare stamp, there are very few examples in Mint Never-Hinged condition. The last four-margined example we offered was in 2004.

With 2011 P.S.E. certificate (Superb 98; unpriced in SMQ as Mint N.H., SMQ $2,550.00 as hinged). One other shares this grade and two have graded higher. Scott Retail as hinged $275.00 (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE GEM. A STUNNING MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLE OF THE 1851 3-CENT TYPE II, WHICH HAS BEEN GRADED SUPERB 98 BY P.S.E.

With 2008 P.S.E. certificate (Superb 98; unpriced in SMQ as Mint N.H., SMQ $2,450.00 as hinged). Only two have graded higher (both 98J) and this is the only example to achieve this grade. Scott Retail as hinged $275.00 (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE GEM. A BEAUTIFUL ORIGINAL-GUM EXAMPLE OF THE 1851 3-CENT TYPE II.

With 2010 P.S.E. certificate (OGph, Superb 98 Jumbo; SMQ $3,750.00). Only four have graded higher and this is the only example to achieve this grade. (Image)

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VERY FINE. A RARE AND SPECTACULAR BARNABAS BATES "CHEAP INLAND AND OCEAN POSTAGE" PROPAGANDA COVER.

Barnabas Bates (1785-1853) was born in England and came to the United States as a child. He became a Baptist preacher in Rhode Island, where he was also for some time collector of the port of Bristol under President Adams. He became a Unitarian and established in New York in 1825 a weekly paper called the Christian Inquirer. During the Jackson administration he received an appointment in the New York post office and was for some time acting postmaster. He became an advocate for cheap land and ocean postage and lived to see the 3c domestic rate introduced in 1851.

Ex Grunin. With 2010 P.F. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE. A BEAUTIFUL AND RARE EXAMPLE OF J. VALENTINE'S OCEAN PENNY POST PROPAGANDA ENVELOPE USED FROM AUSTRALIA TO ENGLAND, WITH ONE OF THE VICTORIA STAMPS AFFIXED OVER THE ALLEGORICAL FIGURE OF PEACE AT LEFT -- ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE AS THIS WAS CARRIED ON THE CLIPPER SHIP MARCO POLO ON THE FIRST TRIP BACK TO LIVERPOOL.

The Marco Polo, built as a cargo ship, was launched near St. John in New Brunswick in April 1851. In June 1852 the Marco Polo was bought by James Baines of Liverpool for the Black Ball Line of Australian packets.

Accompanied by another example of the Ocean Penny Postage cover, State 5a, addressed to Hobart Town in Van Diemen's Land with manuscript "pr Derwent 5/6/52" and carried privately. The two covers, one from and one to Australia, make an outstanding exhibition pair. First ex Haas and Risvold, and with 1974 and 2010 B.P.A. certificates. (Image)

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FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE USE OF THE 12-CENT 1851 BISECT WITH TWO FULL STAMPS FOR THE 30-CENT RATE. WE ARE AWARE OF ONLY ONE OTHER SIMILAR FRANKING.

This cover was carried from San Francisco on the PMSC Northerner, departing Aug. 1, 1853 and arriving Panama Aug. 17. After the trip across the isthmus, it was carried from Aspinwall by the USMSC Georgia on Aug. 19, arriving New York Aug. 29. From New York it was carried on the Collins Line steamer Baltic, departing Sep. 3 and arriving Liverpool Sep. 14.

One other cover, used from San Francisco to Liverpool, has an identical franking (ex Caspary). (Image)

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