Sale 316


 
Lot 163



1901, 1¢ Pan-American, center inverted (294a), rich color, nicely centered, tied by neat strike of "Bessemer Ala. Aug 2 1901" duplex c.d.s. on small cover addressed to Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Hendrick in Bessemer; stamp with a tiny completely unnoticeable repair at lower right, otherwise Very Fine.
Estimate 100,000 - 150,000

A WORLD CLASS INVERTED CENTER RARITY, THE EARLIEST OF ONLY THREE RECORDED COVERS BEARING THE ONE-CENT PAN-AMERICAN INVERT.

Expertization: 1999 P.F. Certificate.

Provenance: Seybold, Atwood, Skinner

Exhibited at the Collectors Club of New York as one of the ten most important items in U.S. Philately. The display was titled, "Aristocrats of Philately".

The three recorded covers are:
1. August 2, 1901, Bessemer, Alabama local use -- the location of the first discovery of the 1¢ Inverted Center. The example offered here.
2. August 24, 1901 Oakland, California to Paris, France bearing 1¢ Inverted Center and 4¢ normal used together for the 5¢ rate
3. January 9, 1903, St. Louis philatelic usage with normal 1¢ mailed long after the Inverted Center error was recognized.

According to the 1937 revised Johl-King book (p. 7), "The first known copies of this error were discovered at Bessemer, Alabama, by the Carrel Jewelry Company on some circulars just prior to mailing them. When they realized the find they had made they lost no time in removing the stamps from the circulars and thus saved them for Philately." It is not known if the Carrel Jewelry Company had purchased the entire sheet, or whether this stamp originates from another source within Bessemer.


 
Realized $160,000



Go to lot: