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3c Deep Violet, Orangeburg Coil (389). Pair, original gum, left stamp Mint N.H., right stamp h.r., deep rich color and proof-like impression, right stamp has trivial small thin spotFINE-VERY FINE. AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE PAIR CONTAINING THE ONLY KNOWN MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLE OF THE 3-CENT ORANGEBURG COIL, SCOTT 389. ONLY FOUR UNUSED SINGLES AND FIVE UNUSED PAIRS ARE AVAILABLE TO COLLECTORS. ONE OF THE GREATEST RARITIES OF 20TH CENTURY UNITED STATES PHILATELY.
The Orangeburg coil was made by the Post Office Department in 1911, specifically for use by the Bell Pharmaceutical Company. The 3c coil stamps were used to send samples of their products to physicians. Due to the quantity of mail, they were put through the first-class cancelling machine at Orangeburg, New York. The Orangeburg coil stamps' use on mail containing product samples and the fact that philatelists were generally unaware of their production account for their rarity.
Our census of unused Scott 389, available at https://siegelauctions.com/census/us/scott/389 , contains six pairs and four singles. An uncertified unused pair with paste-up at left is in the The New York Public Library's Benjamin K. Miller collection (on extended loan to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum) and will never be available to collectors. Of the five pairs available to collectors, one is a paste-up, one has perfs touching at left and three are centered similarly to the pair offered here.
The pair offered here contains the only Mint N.H. example of this rarity. It was originally the right-hand pair in a strip of five with 389-OG-PR-05 and 389-OG-07 in our census, all of which have similar centering..
The Scott Catalogue specifically refers to the left stamp in this pair: "There is only one mint, never-hinged example recorded".
Census no. 389-OG-PR-06. Ex Whitman. With 1997 P.F. certificate. Scott value as singles (the Mint N.H. single catalogues $240,000.00)
