Lot 8
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1851, 1¢ blue, type I (5), position 7R1E, bright and fresh with wide side margins and a neat, centrally struck grid cancel; top and bottom well clear to just barely touching at upper and lower right, tiny natural paper flaw at bottom; a choice Very Fine example of this classic rarity. SMQ $165,000.
Scott $75,000 for Fine
ONE OF THE FINEST KNOWN EXAMPLES OF THIS RARE STAMP, COMPLETELY SOUND AND WITH ITS TYPE CHARACTERISTICS PLAINLY VISIBLE.
Expertization: 2006 PF and 2007 PSE Certificates, the latter graded VF 80.
The origin of the various types of the 1¢ 1851 arose from the last-minute discovery that the engraved design for the stamp was simply a bit too tall to fit onto the standard printing plate then being used by Toppan, Carpenter. Consequently, the plate maker had to erase a bit of the top, the bottom or both from each subject on the plate in order to make enough room for all 200 subjects. It was these erasures that created the types we know today. A solitary position, 7R1E, escaped the erasing process. Hence it became the only one, of a total of 1,000 positions on the five plates used to print the imperforate 1¢ 1851 stamps, to retain its entire design as originally envisioned.
Perfectionists among us who insist on only sound, fully four-margin used singles may never own a Scott #5. A survey of the Wagshal census reveals that no such example exists. Every used off-cover single listed is either touching on at least one point or has a fault, or, most often, suffers from both conditions.
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| Realized $60,000 |
