2c Harding, Rotary, Perf 11 (613). Horizontal strip of three comprising Positions 56-58 from the upper right pane of 100 of Plate 14867, choice centering with perforations completely clear of all three designs, deep shade, neat duplex cancel leaves outer stamps barely cancelled, lightly cleaned (shows only under ultraviolet light), single short perf at top of Position 58 mentioned on accompanying P.S.E. certificate, but not on P.F. certificate

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. THIS IS THE UNIQUE STRIP OF THREE OF THE 2-CENT HARDING ROTARY PERF 11, WHICH IS THE LARGEST KNOWN MULTIPLE. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT 20TH CENTURY MULTIPLES EXTANT, WHICH WAS DISCOVERED IN THE LAST TEN YEARS.

Warren G. Harding, the 29th President, died in San Francisco on August 2, 1923, during a cross-country "Voyage of Understanding". Several people suggested a Harding memorial stamp, printed in black, and it was rushed into production. The first flat plate Perf 11 stamps (Scott 610) were issued on September 1, 1923, in his home town of Marion, Ohio, followed less than two weeks later by the rotary press Perf 10 stamps (Scott 612) on September 12.

The 2c Harding Rotary Perf 11 stamp -- combining the rotary press printing with the perforation gauge used for the flat plate printing -- was discovered in 1938 by Leslie Lewis of the New York firm, Stanley Gibbons Inc. Gary Griffith presents his hypothesis in United States Stamps 1922-26 that rotary-printed sheets of 400 were first reduced to panes of 100 and then fed through the 11-gauge perforating machine normally used for flat plate sheets. This method explains the existence of a straight-edge on Scott 613. 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.

For the first approximately 70 years that this issue was known, the largest multiples recorded were two pairs, one of which has been broken into two singles. The discovery of this strip by a Harding specialist created a sensation in the philatelic press before it was first auctioned by Matthew Bennett in 2007. In the process of expertizing the strip, the discoverer went to the National Postal Museum to study the eight proof sheets (3,200 stamps) pulled from the plates that were used for the rotary press printings. On the fifth sheet, the matching plating marks were discovered, proving that this multiple came from Positions 56-58 in the upper right pane of Plate 14867 -- a plate that was used only for rotary press printings.

Our updated census of the 2c Harding Rotary Perf 11, available at our website at http://www.siegelauctions.com/dynamic/census/613/613.pdf , records 43 used singles (one faintly cancelled, if at all), one used pair and this unique used strip of three.

Census No. 613-CAN-STR-01. With 2007 P.F. and P.S.E. certificates (the latter transposing two digits of the plate number)

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