2007 Rarities of the World continued...

VERY FINE. A BEAUTIFULLY-CENTERED EXAMPLE OF THE SCARCE PERFORATED 1857 ONE-CENT TYPE IA.

Type Ia was produced by only 18 of the 20 bottom-row positions on Plate 4. Although Plate 4 was designed with sufficient space to accommodate perforations, the height of the top row and bottom row positions resulted in the perforations often cutting into the design at either top or bottom. This stamp has unusually choice margins with most of the bottom portion of the design intact. (Image)

VERY FINE APPEARING EXAMPLE OF THE 1857 ONE-CENT TYPE IA. THIS STAMP SHOULD BE CONSIDERED DESIRABLE, BECAUSE THE TYPE CHARACTERISTICS ARE INTACT.

Many completely sound copies of Scott 19 do not show the type characteristics as clearly as the example offered here, which has very minor faults.

With 2006 P.F. certificate (Image)

FINE APPEARING EXAMPLE OF THE PERFORATED 1857 ONE-CENT TYPE IA.

With 1999 A.P.S. certificate (Image)

EXTREMELY FINE GEM. A SUPERB ORIGINAL-GUM EXAMPLE OF THE PERFORATED 1857 ONE-CENT TYPE III STAMP. VERY FEW EXIST IN ANY TYPE OF ACCEPTABLE ORIGINAL-GUM CONDITION. THE INCREDIBLE CENTERING AND REMARKABLY FRESH ORIGINAL GUM MAKE THIS STAMP A PHENOMENAL CONDITION RARITY.

Ex Moody as part of a vertical block of six. With 1991 P.F. certificate. (Image)

EXTREMELY FINE. A BEAUTIFUL AND SCARCE UNUSED EXAMPLE OF THE PERFORATED 1857 ONE-CENT TYPE III.

For the collector to whom centering and soundness are more important than gum, this is the ideal example of the 1857 1c Type III.

With copy of 1986 P.F. certificate for vertical pair (Image)

VERY FINE AND CHOICE. AN EXTREMELY RARE MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLE OF THE 1857 3-CENT TYPE I PERFORATED. PROBABLY THE FINEST MINT NEVER-HINGED SINGLE EXTANT.

Until Toppan Carpenter made new 3c plates with wider spaces between stamps to accommodate the perforations, they simply perforated sheets printed from the earlier Type I plates, beginning in early 1857. Unlike its Type II counterpart, examples of 3c perforated Type I stamps are rare in original-gum condition. Furthermore, probably fewer than a dozen could be reliably certified as Mint Never-Hinged. Finally, we doubt that a finer Mint N.H. single exists, and certainly none has been offered at auction in recent years.

With 1974 P.F. certificate. P.S.E. encapsulated (VF 80). Unpriced as Mint N.H. in SMQ or Scott. Without any published values, we have estimated the value of this Mint N.H. rarity. (Image)

VERY FINE AND CHOICE. AN EXCEPTIONAL ORIGINAL-GUM EXAMPLE OF THE 3-CENT TYPE I 1857 PERFORATED ISSUE. A MARVELOUS STAMP IN TERMS OF GUM, COLOR, CENTERING AND PERFORATIONS.

With 2007 P.S.E. certificate (VF-XF 85, SMQ $4,950.00) (Image)

A REMARKABLE PLATING STUDY OF THE 1857 3-CENT TYPE I WITH RECUT INNER LINES.

This plating study was formed by the late K. G. Taira. Although non-specialists tend to lump all Scott No. 25's together, the stamps with recut inner lines (from Plates 2L, 3 and 5L) differ significantly from the stamps without recut inner lines. In fact, the Scott U.S. Specialized lists them under "Varieties of Recut Stamps" with a premium value of $300.00 per stamp (vs. $125.00 for an ordinary Scott 25).

A MONUMENTAL PLATING STUDY OF THE 1857 3-CENT TYPE I PERFORATED ISSUE.

This plating study was formed by the late K. G. Taira.

VERY FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE SOUND ORIGINAL-GUM EXAMPLE OF THE 1857 5-CENT BRICK RED SHADE -- IN OUR OPINION, THE BRICK RED IS ONE OF THE RAREST STAMPS OF THE CLASSIC PERIOD IN SOUND CONDITION WITH ORIGINAL GUM.

To verify our intuition about the rarity of original-gum Brick Red stamps, we surveyed dozens of classic United States sale catalogues. We found approximately twenty stamps with original gum, allowing for duplicate offerings and excluding the one known original-gum block. Of the stamps we counted, about half had perfs touching two sides or were deeply cut into on one side. Almost two-thirds had stains or small faults. The example offered here is a true condition rarity.

As a basis for valuing this sound stamp, consider that an original-gum example with small flaws realized $30,000 hammer (full Scott value plus 15%) in the recent Siegel sale of the Alan Geisler collection (Sale 929, lot 45).

Ex Golin and McKinney. With 1978 and 2002 P.F. certificates. (Image)

VERY FINE. A SCARCE STRIP OF THREE OF THE 5-CENT BRICK RED ON AN AMERICAN PACKET COVER TO FRANCE.

Ex Kapiloff. Signed Ashbrook. Scott Retail as strip of three off cover (Image)