Power Search™ Results
1 Selected Lot, Page 1 of 1
General/Issue
Date
This is the unique Bible Block of six--the largest of three recorded unused blocks of the 10¢ 1847 First General Issue--which has been acclaimed an icon of United States philately since its discovery in a bible more than a century agoDESCRIPTION
10¢ Black (2), Positions 71-73/81-83R--block of six (three by two) from the first three columns of the eighth and ninth rows of the right pane--original gum, mostly full to large margins except close or touching at left, deep shade on fresh bluish paper
PROVENANCE
* Discovered circa 1909-11 in a bible belonging to the Rives of Virginia; 5¢ 1847 block of six and adjoining 10¢ block of four found in the same bible; sold privately to Scott Stamp and Coin Co. before 1912
* Philadelphia Stamp Co., Sale 48, 6/28/1912, lot 3, sold to Henry C. Gibson, Sr. (bought from Gibson by Ward in 1942-47)
* Philip H. Ward, Jr. (bought from Gibson, estate sold to Weills in 1963)
* Benjamin D. Phillips (bought from Weills out of Ward estate, 1964; collection sold privately to Weills, 1968)
* Ryohei Ishikawa (bought privately from Weills, circa 1977), Christie’s Robson Lowe sale, 9/28-29/1993, lot 52, to William H. Gross
CENSUS, LITERATURE AND EXHIBITION REFERENCES
* Dr. Stanley M. Bierman, “Henry C. Gibson, Sr.: The Centennial Philatelist,” Chronicle 128, November 1985
* --“Philip H. Ward, Jr.: An Aristocrat of Philately,” Chronicle 124, November 1984
* Lester G. Brookman, United States Postage Stamps of the 19th Century, p. 60
* David Lidman, Treasury of Stamps, fig. 65, p. 52
* John N. Luff, The Postage Stamps of the United States, reprint, p. 49
* Jonathan W. Rose, Classic United States Imperforate Stamps, p. 19
* Philip H. Ward, Jr., Mekeel’s Weekly Stamp News, 1935, Vol. 69, p. 265
* --“United States Early Unused Blocks 1847-1869,” 1960 Congress Book, p. 51
* National Philatelic Museum, 1956, Vol. III, No. 1, pp. 106, 111
* New York International Philatelic Exhibition 1913 (Gibson)
* New York International Philatelic Exhibition 1926 (Gibson)
* Collectors Club of New York 2/24/1926 (Gibson; Elliott Perry talk)
* TIPEX 1936 (Ward)
* ANPHILEX 1971 “Aristocrats of Philately” (Weill)
* INTERPHIL 1976 “Aristocrats of Philately” (Weill)
* ANPHILEX 1996 Invited Exhibits (Gross)
* Collectors Club of New York “Aristocrats of United States Philately” exhibit, December 2000 (Gross)
* World Stamp Show 2016 Court of Honor (Gross)
CERTIFICATION
* The Philatelic Foundation (2018)
CONDITION NOTES
* Very Fine; light crease in left vertical pair
VIEW PDF OF HISTORY AND COMMENTARY at https://siegelauctions.com/2018/1188/14.pdf
