2002 Rarities of the World continued...

VERY FINE. A NEWLY-DISCOVERED COPY OF THIS GREAT RARITY.

Our updated records of Scott 554d contain only six singles, a block of four (with two 554d's) and two covers.

With 2002 P.F. certificate (Image)

VERY FINE AND CHOICE. TO OUR KNOWLEDGE, THIS NEW FIND IS THE ONLY EXAMPLE OF THE RARE SCOTT 557c ON COVER.

The last off-cover example to appear at auction realized $10,500 hammer in our Twigg-Smith sale. With 2002 P.F. certificate (Image)

VERY FINE AND EXTREMELY RARE PAIR OF THE 10-CENT 1922 PERF 10 AT TOP VARIETY. ONLY SIX SINGLES AND THREE PAIRS ARE KNOWN TO US.

Originally hinged on small piece of paper with typed "U.S. 1922 Flat Press. Pair perf 11 three sides and between and perf 10 at top, discovered last summer (1947) among bundled stamps sorting for shipment abroad."

With 2001 P.S.E. certificate. (Image)

VERY FINE AND CHOICE EXAMPLE OF SCOTT 594. ONE OF THE RAREST TWENTIETH CENTURY STAMPS IN SOUND AND CENTERED CONDITION.

The 1c Green, Scott 594, is waste from a horizontal rotary printing used to make coils. At the beginning or end of a coil-stamp print run from the 170-subject rotary plates, some leading or trailing paper was produced that was too short for rolling into 500-stamp rolls. In 1919 the Bureau devised a plan to salvage this waste by perforating and cutting the sheets into panes. They were put through the 11-gauge flat-plate perforator in use at the time, giving the sheets full perforations on all sides. In 1923 coil waste from the new 1c and 2c rotary production was turned into stamps later classified as Scott 578-579 and 594-595. These were the last of the coil-waste issues. The existence of Scott 594 was not reported until four months after the final sheets were delivered, and the 1c Rotary Perf 11 was soon recognized as one of the rarest United States stamps.

There are today fewer than 100 confirmed examples of Scott 594. The first major find of this stamp was made in 1934 by Ernest E. Fairbanks, who retrieved nine pairs (18 stamps, one or two damaged) on nine separate covers that were returned by the post office years earlier from a bulk mailing. All were postmarked at New York City on October 4, 1924. The nine Fairbanks covers were cut down into pieces, and today there are perhaps five or six of these pieces intact.

With 2001 P.F. certificate (Image)

EXTREMELY FINE. A SUPERB MINT NEVER-HINGED PLATE BLOCK OF THE 2-CENT PERF 11 ROTARY PRESS COIL WASTE ISSUE, SCOTT 595.

With 2001 P.S.E. certificate (Image)

VERY FINE AND CHOICE SOUND COPY OF SCOTT 596. AMONG THE FINEST OF THE THIRTEEN RECORDED EXAMPLES, OF WHICH ONLY EIGHT ARE SOUND. ONE OF THE GREAT RARITIES OF 20TH CENTURY UNITED STATES PHILATELY.

The Rotary Perf 11 rarities (Scott 544, 594, 596 and 613) were created during an attempt by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to salvage waste from the end of the paper during rotary press printings. The rotary press, first used for printing coil stamps in 1915, was a new printing method designed for rapid production. Rather than print stamps on a flat plate one sheet at a time, the rotary press was fitted with a cylindrical plate that continually applied impressions to long rolls of paper.

Rotary press stamps have dimensions that differ slightly from their flat plate counterparts, due to the curvature of the cylinder. If the plate is wrapped around the cylinder from top to bottom (endwise) then the design is slightly longer, if wrapped around from side to side (sidewise) then the design is slightly wider.

At the beginning or end of rotary press printings, there was some leading or trailing paper that was too short for either rolling into coil rolls, or for perforating for 400-subject plates. In 1919, the Bureau devised a plan to salvage this waste by perforating and cutting the sheets into panes. These were put through the flat-plate perforating machine in use at the time, giving the stamps full perforations on all sides.

Scott 596 is waste from a vertical rotary press printing used to make sheet stamps -- a fact proven by the existence of precancelled copies such as the example offered here.

Our updated census of Scott 596 published in our Zoellner sale (and available at our web site at: http://siegelauctions.com/enc/census/596/596.htm) records thirteen used stamps. Of these, eight are precancelled at Kansas City Mo. There are no known unused examples.

Census No. 596-CAN-13. This example of Scott 596 was not known to us at the time of the Zoellner sale and is being offered to the market for the first time. Illustrated and described in the December 1962 issue of The Precancel Forum. With 1962 Precancel Stamp Society certificate. (Image)

EXTREMELY FINE AND CHOICE. A PRISTINE EXAMPLE OF THIS POPULAR MODERN ERROR.

Popularly called the "C.I.A. Invert", a single pane of 100 stamps was purchased at a the McLean Va. Post Office by employees of the C.I.A., for use on mail from the agency. They noticed the error, pooled together funds to buy a replacement sheet and kept the pane for themselves. When it was discovered who had purchased the stamps, a scandal ensued over who actually owned the stamps. Of the pane of 100, only 93 sound examples reached collectors. (Image)