90c Blue (39). Reconstructed block of five consisting of horizontal strip of three and a horizontal pair, straddle-pane margin and centerline at right, cancelled by neat magenta wavy-line manuscript cancel, few flaws incl. right stamps with defective perfs, few small thin spots

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. THE CELEBRATED RECONSTRUCTED USED BLOCK OF FIVE OF THE 90-CENT 1860 ISSUE.

The 90c stamp was issued in 1860, along with the 24c and 30c values, all of which were needed to prepay high international letter rates established by various postal treaties. The basic 24c and 30c rates to England, France and Germany created a large volume of mail franked with those values. However, the 90c saw much more limited use, partly due to the rates in effect, but more because of the American Civil War. When supplies of current postage stamps were declared invalid in the South and ultimately demonetized by the Federal government, the 90c had been in use for only one year. For this reason, genuinely cancelled copies and covers bearing the 90c are extremely rare.

This reconstructed block has a fascinating history. The top strip of three was originally in the collection of Henry C. Needham where it was marked as "used from Shanghai", but on what basis we do not know. The strip then passed into the collection of Senator Ernest Ackerman, and in 1922 it was purchased by Stanley Ashbrook. In the summer of 1940, the bottom pair was discovered in the stock of noted dealer Philip Ward, who had owned it for some years after acquiring it from George Walcott. Ashbrook purchased the pair from Ward, and rejoined the two multiples.

Based on the start of the wavy-line manuscript cancel partway through the stamps and the straight edge at right, Ashbrook did not think that any other stamps were part of this multiple as used on the original package. If no other postage were present, this would have paid ten-times the 45c rate by British Mail via Marseilles. The block on piece offered in lot 1036 has a Hong Kong backstamp, which corroborates Ashbrook's theory about this block.

The strip ex Needham and Ackerman. The pair ex Walcott. The reconstructed block ex Ashbrook, Neinken and Ishikawa. With 1971 and 1993 P.F. certificates. Accompanied by Ashbrook's original album page as well as his explanation of its history. Scott Retail as singles

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