Sale 1028 — The Natalee Grace Collection of Used U.S. Stamps, Part Three: 1902 and Later Issues
Sale Date — Thursday, 20 September, 2012
Category — 1922-25 Coil and Sheet Waste Issues (Scott 594-596)
1c Green, Rotary, Perf 11 (596). Light wavy-line machine cancel, deep shade, remarkably well-centered for this difficult rotary sheet waste stamp with perfs clear all around, insignificant corner perf crease at top right which does not detract from its appearance in any wayVERY FINE. ONE OF THE FINEST OF THE THIRTEEN RECORDED EXAMPLES OF SCOTT 596 AND ONE OF ONLY FIVE EXAMPLES WITHOUT A PRECANCEL. ONE OF THE GREAT RARITIES OF 20TH CENTURY UNITED STATES PHILATELY.
The discovery of the stamp that would eventually become Scott 596, was announced in an article in the Bureau Specialist by Max Johl, who in the same article announced the discovery of a 1c Washington design (Scott 544). A third rotary press rarity, the 2c Harding (Scott 613), would not be discovered for another two years. Scott 596 is a slightly taller design than both the flat plate printing and the rotary coil waste printing, or Scott 594, due to the direction it was rolled around the rotary press printing cylinder. The "tall stamp" was considered to be a variety of Scott 594, the "wide" Rotary Perf 11; it was given its own Scott number in 1963.
All three issues (Scott 544, 596 and 613) were rotary sheet waste perforated 11 in both directions on the flat plate perforating machine. It is unclear whether they were produced at the same time. Production quality and quantity was very low, due to the rotary press stamps' natural tendency to curl, and the use of the flat plate perforator for the slightly different-sized rotary printing.
Our census of Scott 596, illustrated below and available at our website at http://www.siegelauctions.com/dynamic/census/596/596.pdf , records thirteen used stamps. None is recorded unused. Only five of the thirteen have regular cancels. Of the non-precancelled stamps, two have major faults and one has poor centering. The stamp offered here and one other (Census No. 596-CAN-01) are the only two well-centered non-precancelled examples in existence.
Census No. 596-CAN-02. Ex Clifford Cole and Zoellner. With 1966 P.F. certificate.
