Sale 1028 — The Natalee Grace Collection of Used U.S. Stamps, Part Three: 1902 and Later Issues
Sale Date — Thursday, 20 September, 2012
Category — 1914-16 Rotary Press Issues (Scott 448-459)
2c Red, Ty. I, Coil (449). Joint line pair, radiant color, bold cancel dated either 1916 or 1918, exceptionally choice centering for this difficult issueEXTREMELY FINE. THIS IS THE ONLY CONFIRMED SOUND AND CENTERED USED JOINT LINE PAIR OF THE 2-CENT TYPE I VERTICAL COIL, SCOTT 449. ONE OF THE GREAT RARITIES OF UNITED STATES COIL COLLECTING.
The 2c Type I rotary plate was used very briefly to make vertical coils issued in late 1915. It was briefly used because the Type I plate was not very deeply engraved and the curvature of the rotary press yielded impressions lacking in some of the details. The Bureau noticed this immediately, and quickly replaced it with the Type III plate (according to Scott, the EDU for No. 449 is Oct. 29, 1915 and the EDU for Type III is Dec. 21, 1915).
Our census of Scott 449 used joint line pairs, available at our website at http://siegelauctions.com/dynamic/census/449/449.pdf , records a total of ten used joint line pairs and one in a strip of four. Of these six have faults. Of the five sound examples, two have not been seen in a long time and need to be examined to confirm soundness. The other two (Nos. 8 and 9) have perfs almost touching the design at top. This leaves the example offered here as the only confirmed sound and centered used joint line pair of this rarity.
Ex Anderson. With 1992 P.F. and 2007 P.S.E. certificates (VF-XF 85; SMQ $30,800.00). This is the only graded used joint line pair of this issue, which is unpriced in any higher grade. We were told at the time of grading that five points were taken off for the heavy cancel, but the use of a year-dated contemporary datestamp is, in our opinion, a positive attribute.
