United States Stamps continued...

EXTREMELY FINE. AN UNUSUALLY CHOICE AND WIDE-MARGINED EXAMPLE OF THE 6-CENT 1879 AMERICAN BANK NOTE ISSUE WITH ORIGINAL GUM.

With 1986 P.F. certificate (Image)

EXTREMELY FINE. A SUPERB JUMBO EXAMPLE OF THE 10-CENT AMERICAN BANK NOTE PRINTING WITHOUT SECRET MARK.

Various theories have been proposed to account for the existence of the 10c American printing without secret mark. According to Brookman, American acquired the plates and transfer rolls, with secret marks, when they acquired Continental Bank Note Company. In this transaction they also acquired the dies from National Bank Note Company. One theory to explain the existence of 10c multiples containing stamps with and without secret marks is that some positions on the plate were re-entered using the old National transfer roll.

With 1978 P.F. certificate (Image)

EXTREMELY FINE GEM. AN EXTRAORDINARY MINT NEVER-HINGED 30-CENT 1879 AMERICAN BANK NOTE ISSUE. THIS ISSUE IS RARELY OBTAINABLE IN CHOICE NEVER-HINGED CONDITION.

The 30c 1879 American Bank Note Company issue is surprisingly difficult to obtain in choice Mint N.H. condition. It is surprising because the 15c (Scott 189) is readily available. However, a survey of our photo records and auction library revealed the scarcity of well-centered 30c blocks from which singles could be harvested. The blocks in the Green sales were off center. Caspary had a well-centered hinged block of four, and Lilly had a block of nine with problems. The Moody block of six was well-centered, but appears to have had hinge remnants on all stamps. The Todd collection had two blocks, including one with a Mint N.H. pair at bottom (this has probably been broken, furnishing at least two Mint N.H. stamps). The Close collection had a well-centered block of four (with reinforcing) and a large plate block. The Siegel firm's three major Bank Note Issue sales (Braus, Hirschfield, Wunderlich) contained blocks, but all were either off center or had hinge remnants. A well-centered block of four appeared in our 1982 Rarities sale, but it was hinged. The stamp offered here comes from a block containing two Mint N.H. stamps at bottom.

For the collector who desires only Mint Never-Hinged stamps, this offering is significant. As a guide to relative value, we recently offered a Mint N.H. example of this stamp from the Fox collection, which realized $11,000 hammer.

With 1982 P.F. certificate for the block and 1999 P.F. certificate for this single. Scott Retail as hinged (Image)