EXTREMELY FINE. ONE OF THE FINEST 50-CENT 1894 BUREAU PLATE STRIPS OF THREE KNOWN. PARTICULARLY RARE IN MINT NEVER-HINGED CONDITION.
The 1894 Issue was the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's first effort at regular stamp production, and they experienced difficulty in applying perforations. This problem, coupled with the fact that only small quantities of high values were printed before watermarked paper was introduced (only 175,000 of the 50c), accounts for the rarity of 50c and dollar-value 1894 Unwatermarked Bureau stamps in choice condition. Plate number multiples are exponentially rarer, and this is perhaps the finest 50c 1894 we have handled. Using Power Search, we located one other Mint N.H. strip, a bottom position with similar centering.
VERY FINE. A SCARCE MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLE OF THE 1894 $1.00 TYPE II UNWATERMARKED BUREAU ISSUE.
We have offered just over a dozen Mint N.H. examples in the past 19 years.
Ex Hoffman. With 2004 P.F. certificate
FINE-VERY FINE. A RARE AND DESIRABLE 50-CENT 1895 BUREAU ISSUE IMPRINT AND PLATE NUMBER BLOCK OF SIX.
Top position imprint and plate number blocks of the high-value 1895 Bureau Issue are exceedingly scarce.
EXTREMELY FINE GEM. A SUPERB USED EXAMPLE OF THE 1895 $5.00 WATERMARKED BUREAU ISSUE IN THE FINEST CONDITION ATTAINABLE.
Ex Hoffner, Dr. Hinrichs and Dauer. With 1997 P.S.E. and 2006 P.F. certificates (XF-Superb 95)