We were fortunate to acquire the thirty-cent card proof sheet that was offered in the Robert A. Siegel Auctions, Inc., 2001 Rarities of the World sale. What makes this sheet so special is that it was produced by the American Bank Note Co. using the plate that they had prepared in the 1880's to produce the 30-cent large bank note stamps (Scott no. 190). It is our hope that this sheet will now become the listing copy for 190P4.

This sheet was most recently part of the Falk Finkelburg collection. It has long been thought that either card or india plate proofs for the first series of large bank note issues may exist with American imprints. In the 1999 Finkelburg Sale we acquired imprint plate number blocks on india paper for the three-cent (Scott no. 184) and the 30-cent (Scott no. 190) each bearing an American Bank Note Co. imprint. These to items will also serve as listing copies.

Up until now the only way to tell if a card or india proof comes from an American plate is to have an imprint piece. We plan to cut up the 30-cent sheet so it can reside in as many plate proof collections as possible. However, once the sheet is broken provenance would be a problem. In order to solve that problem we have inscribed the plate position number on the back of each proof. In addition we have added our mark (JEL) to the back of each proof. This will insure that you have a genuine 190P4. The sheet will be broken into two imprint plate number blocks of 14 ($2,000.00 each). There will be two corner blocks ($500.00 each), three side sheet margin blocks ($450.00 each), one top and one bottom sheet margin singles ($125.00 each) and the balance will be blocks of four ($400.00 each) and singles ($100.00). They are now being offered on a first come first served basis. No other 30-cent American card proof sheet is known to exist.