Part II - LOCALS A - G continued...
SPECIAL NOTE: Lot Numbers with an "A" preceding them will be offered in three special sessions. Please refer to the Arrangement of the Sale web page for the schedule.
| Lot | Lot Description | ||
| A | 968 |
 City Dispatch, St. Louis Mo.,
2c Black on Blue (42L1). Large margins showing frameline of adjoining
stamp below, manuscript initials ("TD" or "TC"), pencil cancel, small
scissors-cut in bottom left margin, slight creasingEXTREMELY FINE. ONE OF TWO RECORDED EXAMPLES OF THE ST. LOUIS CITY DISPATCH 2-CENT STAMP. THIS LOCAL POST BEGAN IN FEBRUARY 1851, IN TIME FOR VALENTINE'S DAY, AND PROBABLY CEASED TO EXIST SOON THEREAFTER. A MAJOR PHILATELIC RARITY. The advertisement in the St. Louis Daily Morning Union specifies February 10, 1851, as the inception date of the "St. Louis City Dispatch" and names "S. F. Denny" as the proprietor. Other advertisements name "S. T. Denny" and "T. J. Denny" as the proprietor. The confusion in contemporary newspapers is compounded by the peculiar second initial found on both examples of the stamp. It is a stylized letter, possibly a "C" or "D" or "J". At the same time Denny started his St. Louis City Dispatch, William J. Clark and Charles F. Hall launched their own penny post, hoping to take some share of the Valentine market in 1851 (see lot 980). Clark & Hall covers are dated from February 27 through July 30, 1851, indicating that the post lasted at least five months. There is not enough material to determine the duration of Denny's post. The stamp offered here was discovered in a small locals collection purchased by Henry R. Harmer. It was the first example of 42L1 to surface since the discovery copy on a Valentine cover was acquired by C. H. Mekeel in 1903 and sold to Ferrary for $2,435 (a considerable sum in 1903). The Harmer stamp was offered in a Harmer, Rooke auction in 1957 and sold to John R. Boker Jr., who also acquired the Valentine cover from Warren H. Colson. For many years the world's supply of 42L1 remained in the Boker collection. In the early 1970's, the cover was placed privately in a European collection, while the stamp appeared in the 1973 Robson Lowe sale of Boker's off-cover Carriers and Locals. It realized Sfr. 5,500, but for no apparent reason the current Scott value is $1,750, about half of the auction realization nearly 27 years ago. This is an extraordinary opportunity to acquire one of the world's rarest stamps, of which only one other copy is known, on cover, and which is unlikely to become available in the foreseeable future. Ex Boker. With 1957 P.F. certificate. (Image) |
E. 20,000-30,000 |