Sale 1028 — The Natalee Grace Collection of Used U.S. Stamps, Part Three: 1902 and Later Issues
Sale Date — Thursday, 20 September, 2012
Category — 1917-19 Perf 11 Unwatermarked Issue (Scott 498-518b)
3c Dark Violet, Ty. II, Perf 10 at Bottom (502e). Block of three, both bottom stamps Perf 10 at bottom, rich color, bold cancels, bottom left stamp single pulled perf partly masked by placement of cancel, the same stamp also has a light diagonal crease, the right error is completely soundVERY FINE AND CHOICE. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED MULTIPLE OF THIS PERF 10 RARITY, WHICH IS ALSO ONE OF THE RAREST OF ALL PERF 10 ON ONE SIDE VARIETIES. ONLY SIX SINGLES AND THIS PAIR HAVE BEEN CERTIFIED AS GENUINE. THESE ARE ALSO THE ONLY EXAMPLES IN EXISTENCE WITH A HANDSTAMPED (OR MACHINE) CANCELLATION. NONE IS KNOWN UNUSED.
At a certain point during production one of the perforating wheels became defective. In the course of repairs part of one perforation wheel was inadvertently changed from Perf 11 to Perf 10. Based on the physical evidence of surviving copies, this was the nineteenth row of pins on the wheel.
Many examples of the Perf 10 on One Side rarities show transitional perfs from 10 to 11 or from 11 to 10. This is because the out-of-gauge perforation pins would frequently cross the span of more than one stamp, depending on where the wheel contacted the sheet.
The Perf 10 on One Side varieties span both the 1917 Washington-Franklin and 1922-23 Issues. It is interesting to note that, apart from the 2c, there is no duplication of denomination between the issues. This would seem to indicate that the improperly repaired wheel was in use for only a short period of time, as there was little overlap in production of the issues. Based on dates of issue of the basic stamps, this probably occurred early in 1923.
Our census of this issue, shown below and available at our website at http://siegelauctions.com/dynamic/census/502e/502e.pdf , contains six singles and the multiple offered here. All of the singles are precancelled; the multiple offered here contains the only regularly cancelled copies.
Census No. 502e-CAN-PR-01. Ex Zoellner. With 1990 P.F. certificate. Scott Retail as two singles.
