Lot 299
 
1901, 4¢ Pan-American, center inverted (296a), block of four, beautifully centered with rich color, slightly disturbed original gum, though much less so than normally found, some reinforced and rejoined perforations, small tear lower left stamp, otherwise Very Fine to Extremely Fine.
Scott $400,000
CERTAINLY ONE THE FINEST OF ONLY ABOUT A HALF DOZEN BLOCKS BELIEVED TO EXIST.
Expertization: photocopy of 1968 PF Certificate.
Provenance: Col. Green, Y. Souren, Lilly, Zoellner
The 4¢ Pan-American invert, unlike the 1¢ and 2¢ was printed intentionally and was never intended for release to the public. While up to 100 examples were distributed unofficially, many of these were overprinted "Specimen". Another group of about 100 were later traded to philatelists for other stamps needed for the collection of the National Museum. This second group came from a sheet that had been stuck down to a backing sheet by the Post Office Department when they decided to make it part of their archives. This is why the large majority of non-Specimen overprints have disturbed gum. There are probably fewer than ten mint examples with the perforations clearing the design, that still maintain their full undisturbed original gum, making these examples the rarest of all the 20th century inverts in similar quality
The Scott Catalogue value for the 4¢ Invert, like that of the 2¢ is for "examples with full original gum that is slightly disturbed.
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