Sale 1147 — The Don David Price Collection of the U.S. 1918 24c Jenny Air Post Issue
Sale Date — Tuesday, 28 February, 2017
Category — Grounded Plane Used and Cover
24c Carmine Rose & Blue, 1918 Air Post, Grounded Plane Variety (C3 var). Wide margins and well-centered, wheels of the plane well into "Cents" and also shifted forward with the wing just touching the Carmine frame (nearly a Fast Plane variety as well), bold "Toledo Ohio" double-oval cancel, light corner creases at bottom rightVERY FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE USED EXAMPLE THE 1918 24-CENT FIRST AIR POST ISSUE GROUNDED PLANE.
Research by Joe Kirker and Don David Price found five or fewer used examples of the Grounded Plane off cover, including this single, another single offered in the following lot and the pair offered in lot 17.
24c Carmine Rose & Blue, 1918 Air Post, Grounded and Slow Plane Variety (C3 var). From the top row of the sheet with natural s.e. at top, choice centering, wheels of the plane well into "Cents" and the vignette also shifted significantly rearward with the wing and tail into the Carmine frame and the background shading into the unprinted margin, a Grounded and Slow Plane variety, circular datestamp cancel, light diagonal crease and small shallow thin spotVERY FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE USED EXAMPLE THE 1918 24-CENT FIRST AIR POST ISSUE SHOWING BOTH A GROUNDED AND SLOW PLANE.
Research by Joe Kirker and Don David Price found five or fewer used examples of the Grounded Plane off cover, including this single, another single offered in the previous lot and the pair offered in lot 17.
24c Carmine Rose & Blue, 1918 Air Post, Grounded Plane Variety (C3 var). Horizontal pair, attractive margins and centering, neat strikes of “(An)acortes) Wash.” double-oval cancel, both stamps with clear vignette shifts, the right stamp’s wheels a bit lower than the left, faults including light creases, tiny edge tears on left stamp and reperfed at bottom — none of these flaws are obvious or affect the pair’s appearanceVERY FINE APPEARANCE. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED USED MULTIPLE OF THE 1918 24-CENT AIR POST ISSUE GROUNDED PLANE. ONE OF THE GREAT RARITIES OF AIR POST COLLECTING.
Research by Joe Kirker and Don David Price found five or fewer used examples of the Grounded Plane off cover, including this pair and the two singles offered in lots 15 and 16. Kirker's updated census of covers bearing the Grounded Plane stands at 15 examples, including one offered in lot 18.
With 2009 P.F. certificate
24c Carmine Rose & Blue, 1918 Air Post, Grounded Plane Variety (C3 var). Strong Grounded Plane variety with the wheels of the plane shifted to the midpoint of "Cents", tied by "City Hall Sta. N.Y. Jul. 1, 7-AM 1924" machine cancel on Nassau Stamp Co. corner card cover to Elko Nev., purple "Via Air Mail" rectangular handstamp, additional New York duplex on back of July 1, Elko receiving backstamp of July 2EXTREMELY FINE. A FRESH AND EXCEEDINGLY RARE EXAMPLE OF THE 1918 24-CENT AIR POST GROUNDED PLANE VARIETY ON COVER.
According to a 1956 article by Henry M. Goodkind in Aero Philatelist Annals and additional research by Joe Kirker (most recently in the 2014 Air Post Journal), one sheet containing examples of the Grounded Plane variety was acquired by J. Klemann of the Nassau Stamp Company. As there was little demand for the variety, he decided to use some on covers for the July 1, 1924 first transcontinental night flight from New York to San Francisco, with stops in between. It is not known how many he used, but he posted the covers to six cities in western states on the route.
Joe Kirker's census, first published in 2005 and updated in 2014, records only 15 examples on cover, all from the Klemann mailing. The cities Kirker lists are as follows: two to Rawlins Wyoming, three to Rock Springs Wyoming, three to Salt Lake City Utah, three to Elko Nevada (including the cover offered here), three to Reno Nevada and one to San Francisco.
With 2003 P.F. certificate