Lot 73
o
1851, 3¢ orange brown, type I & II (10-11), comprising the five plates used to produce the 1851 orange brown shades, Scott #10, namely plates 1E, 1I, 2E, 0 and 5E, plus all eight plates that yielded the myriad of 1852-57 shades classified as Scott #11: plates 1L, 2L, 3, 4, 5L, 6, 7 and 8.
The completion of the plating is a remarkable accomplishment in itself, but the most intriguing aspect of this particular plating is that it is done on Dr. Carroll Chase's original plating sheets, each of which displays either a left or right pane of 100 with Chase's notes on particular positions in the margins (all but plate 3, which is mounted on photocopies of Chase's pages).
Of the 1,000 stamps used to reconstruct the five plates of orange browns, approximately 280 are actually Dr. Chase's copies, as photographed by Chase on these very pages. Likewise, of the 1,600 examples from the other eight plates, 275 are Chase's originals. In addition, the owner has upgraded 62 positions of Chases #10s and 48 positions of his #11s, mounting these duplicates beneath Chase's copies. So in all there are 1,062 of the 1851 shades and 1,648 of the 1852-57 shades.
Finally, condition is mostly Fine to Very Fine with a large percentage of sound, four margin examples including many of the premium positions. All-in-all, this monumental achievement by the owner represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the current or would-be student of the 3¢ 1851-57 imperforates. The Scott value given does not take into account the many premium positions or possible better shades present.
The owner has placed a red dot below the Chase copies (see illustration at left). The negatives from Chase's photographs were given to the Smithsonian Institution.
Scott $171,752 +++
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| Realized $29,000 |
