Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, Inc.

EXTREMELY FINE. THE FAMOUS AND UNIQUE PAIR OF THE RARE GREEN BALTIMORE CARRIER STAMP. ONE OF TWO RECORDED USED MULTIPLES OF ANY BALTIMORE CARRIER ISSUE AND A SIGNIFICANT EXAMPLE OF THE 2-CENT RATE PREPAID BY STAMPS.

Denwood N. Kelly describes this pair in his Collectors Club Philatelist series (Vol. 51, No. 3, p. 157): "The only piece known to the writer that offers definite evidence that such a two cent fee [for delivery from the post office] was occasionally prepaid is the pair of one cent green stamps (Scott 1LB4) used on a small piece of cover, pencil cancelled... This rare pair, formerly in the Frank A. Hollowbush collection, was sold to a professional in 1946 by a Baltimorean who claimed to have torn it off a letter as he was destroying some family correspondence... the supposition is that the pair of stamps was used by some person temporarily out of the city who mailed a letter home and used the stamps to prepay its delivery by carrier when it arrived in Baltimore, having taken the stamps with him for the purpose. There is also the good possibility that the pair paid a special two cent rate for a bulk mailing of a magazine or other printed matter... This is one of only two examples on record of used multiples of Baltimore carrier stamps."

Ex Hollowbush and Boker. Although 1999 Scott value is $2,000.00, prospective bidders should be aware that this pair was acquired by Mr. Golden in the 1973 Robson Lowe sale of material from the Boker collection (where it realized Sfr. 750), thus, for 26 years there has been no actual sale to establish current Scott value (Image)