3c Dull Red, Ty. II, Unofficial Roulette (11A var). Position 89L3, with clear roulettes on all four sides, tied by bold strike of "New-York Jul. 23, 1853" year-dated circular datestamp on blue folded letter to New Orleans La., faint file folds well away from stamp

VERY FINE. A RARE EXAMPLE OF THE 3-CENT 1851 ISSUE WITH UNOFFICIAL ROULETTES, CANCELLED BY THE SCARCE 1853 YEAR-DATED NEW YORK CITY CIRCULAR DATESTAMP.

Wilson Hulme discussed the 3c stamps with private roulettes in an article in The 1851 Issue of United States Stamps: a Sesquicentennial Retrospective (pp. 138-165). The three discovery copies he recorded for New York all gauge approximately 16-18 and were used in 1857. This example has a rougher gauge of roulette -- called "pin perforated" by the P.F., and was used four years before the examples Hulme lists. It is possible that the separation was achieved by tearing the stamp against a printer's perforating rule.

With 2006 P.F. certificate

Image Magnifier / Download

Power Search for Comparables