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Volume XII - No. 6 - Whole No.
58
CONTENTS:
Beyond The Scott Catalogue
As I See It
The First Word
In this Issue
All of the postal history in this edition of the newsletter comes from a single balance lot of three-cent 1861 covers that was in the Wagshal sale. We still have over 100 covers to scan and eventually put up on our website. There are several mote 64 pinks and 64b rose-pinks, just fantastic, and all came back from the Philatelic Foundation with good certificates.
The fancy cancels come from an old friend. There are many scarce examples and all have nice strikes.
For each issue we try to select from stock a board and unusual range of essay and proof material. This issue is no different. There are some very nice multiples and a set of National india plate proof blocks that is being broken into four sets of singles. These proofs still retain the original card blotter backing. The die proof of the carmine two-cent Washington- Franklin (332P1) on colored paper is most unusual. It is hard enough to try and find a normal die proof of 331 let alone an experimental.
However my favorites are the two unique essays for the Hudson-Fulton issue. I tried to buy both of these in the Bianchi sale but only wound up with the frame. When years later I had a chance to once again compete for the composite I was determined not to come up empty. They are reunited again and will only be sold a s a pair. They provide the foundation for the next great Hudson-Fulton collection/
Finally there is a wonderful selection of Panama-Pacific small die proofs’.
Panama-Pacific small die proofs of 1915
On September 8, 1914 the Post Office Department ordered from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing a set of proof prints of all stamps issued by our government from 1847 to 1915. These were to be mounted for exhibition and the Panama-Pacific Exposition to be held in San Francisco, CA in 1915. The completed work was received by the Post Office on February 2, 1915. A second set of 413 examples was given to the Smithsonian. For most of the 413 examples at least six impressions were pulled. There is no record of what happened to the set that was sent to San Francisco. Of the four remaining sets, Clarence Brazer stated that they came out in 1932. Three of the sets were complete and the fourth almost so. In addition there were several dies for which more than six impressions pulled. This balance of die proofs which had been stored at the Bureau for almost 17 years became part of a trade with Hugh M. Southgate. He provided examples of inverts for the national collection and in turn was given the balance of the 1915 die proofs.
Where does the toning come from?
Most of the surviving Panama-Pacific die proofs are toned to some degree. The toning results from the manner they stored for those 17 years. They had been placed into envelopes which must have been made of high sulfur content paper (like a kraft envelope). Over the years there was a chemical reaction between the proofs and the envelope which created the toning. Those proofs right up next to the envelope received the darkest toning. Proofs that were partially covered by other proofs received toning only where they contacted the envelope. And some that were in between did not tone at all.
It has long been believed that between three and five examples of each reached public hands. Based on my experience I think four is a good number. However, there are issues where the number can be as high as 10 or more.
For the past 30 years these proofs rarely cam up at auction. This changed with the sale of the Finkelburg estate. We now know that he had a very large inventory of these proofs and they were parceled out over almost 10 years. A good number of these went in to the Liberman collection which was sold recently by Spink. The only other significant auction sale of these was by the Daniel F. Kelleher Company in the last 1970’s.
When you consider the population is four for most numbers these can be considered rare proofs. When I collected the one-cent 1861 issue it took me almost 20 years to locate one for that collection.
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