10c Ultramarine, Special Delivery (E8). Mint N.H., brilliant color and proof-like impression on bright paper, mathematically perfect centering with Jumbo margins

EXTREMELY FINE GEM. THIS COLOSSAL MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLE OF THE 1911 SERIES SPECIAL DELIVERY STAMP, SCOTT E8, HAS BEEN AWARDED THE ULTIMATE GRADE OF GEM 100 JUMBO BY P.S.E. -- THIS STANDS ALONE AS THE HIGHEST GRADE AWARDED TO DATE.

The first "Messenger on Bicycle" Special Delivery design was the 1902 double-line watermarked Scott E6. In 1908 the "Helmut of Mercury" Special Delivery stamp was issued. However, the Messenger on Bicycle design was re-issued in 1911 from new plates with a single-line watermark, and the same basic design was issued continuously until the Motorcycle Delivery design replaced it in 1922.

Scott E8 is not particularly scarce (it has a Scott value of $240.00 in Mint N.H. condition), but to find an example such as this one defies the odds. At first glance it almost strikes one as a perforated small die proof. The P.S.E. Population Report statistics support this statement, as does a review of Power Search and older auction catalogs, which failed to find its equal

Ex Whitman. With 1992 P.F. and 2008 P.S.E. certificates (Gem 100 Jumbo; unpriced in SMQ above the grade of 98, SMQ $2,300.00 as 98). This is the only example to have achieved this pinnacle of grades. No other examples have been graded above 98J, of which there is one

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