Lot 293
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 PF Certificate.
Provenance: Seybold, Atwood, Weill Bros., Skinner, "Aristocrat"
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 example offered here — Bessemer was where the initial discovery of the 1¢ Invert was made. Featured on the front cover of the "Aristocrat" Collection catalogue, Matthew Bennett International Sale 316, May 22, 2007.
2. August 24, 1901 Oakland, California to Paris, France bearing a 1¢ Invert and a normal 4¢ paying the 5¢ rate
3. January 9, 1903, St. Louis philatelic usage with normal 1¢ mailed long after the invert had been 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.
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| Realized $100,000 |
