Martin's City Post, Charleston
S.C., 2c Black on Bluish (4LB16). Type B with distinctive straight bar
at bottom of "2" and numerous misaligned pearls in border, unused (no gum),
full to large margins, very slight thin spotsEXTREMELY FINE APPEARANCE. ONLY FOUR EXAMPLES OF MARTIN'S CARRIER STAMP ARE RECORDED, OF WHICH ONE IS SOUND. THIS SUPERB-APPEARING STAMP REALIZED $1,500 IN THE 1957 CASPARY SALE.
According to Faber's account (Pat Paragraphs, 1981 Reprint, pp. 247-248), Joseph G. Martin took over from E. J. Kingman after Kingman retired in March 1858. Martin served until retirement in 1861, but the extreme rarity of the stamps bearing his name suggests that they were not widely used. They were probably printed in 1858. We record just four stamps, all unused, listed as follows (different types are identified with letters): 1) Type A, tiny thin, ex Caspary, Lilly, Boker, Golden (realized $7,000), 2) Type B, slight thins, ex Ferrary, Caspary, the stamp offered here, 3) Type C, margins cut in, slight faults, ex Caspary, Middendorf, and 4) Type D, sound, ex Hessel, Golden (realized $7,000).this stamp is the finest extant.
Ex Ferrary and Caspary. (Image)