Brattleboro Vt., 5c Black on Buff (5X1). Position 9 with bottom sheet margin and large even margins all around, guideline at right, light red pen mark at upper left -- found on all ten stamps from the original Chubbuck sheet -- deep shade and impression with every line of engraving in perfect clarity, completely sound

EXTREMELY FINE GEM. ONE OF THE THREE FINEST EXAMPLES OF THE BRATTLEBORO POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL STAMP, OF WHICH A TOTAL OF 32 ARE KNOWN OFF COVER, INCLUDING FIVE SOUND COPIES. THIS SUPERB STAMP COMES FROM THE ORIGINAL CHUBBUCK SHEET AND LAPHAM-COLSON-WALL RECONSTRUCTION.

Of the 32 off-cover Brattleboro stamps recorded by Philip T. Wall, five are sound. Only three of the five have four full margins (the framelines are touched on two others). These three sound four-margin stamps are as follows: 1) Position 5, tied by red "Paid" on piece, sold for $32,500 hammer in our 2000 Rarities sale; 2) Position 1, red "Paid", offered as part of the Lapham-Colson-Wall reconstruction, Christie's Oct. 12, 1989 sale, lot 628; and 3) Position 9, light red manuscript control mark, part of the Lapham-Colson-Wall reconstruction (Christie's Oct. 12, 1989) and offered here. In addition to the off-cover stamps recorded by Wall, there are six sound stamps still on covers. A total of 52 Brattleboro provisional stamps have been recorded by Wall (32 off cover and 20 stamps on 19 covers).

This stamp comes from the sheet retained by the printer, Thomas Chubbuck, who sold three stamps to collectors before selling the remaining block of seven to L. H. Bragg in September 1870. Bragg, in turn, sold the block to John W. Scott. The stamps from the Chubbuck block were eventually cut apart and sold to different collectors. In the 1920's Raymond W. Lapham, with the professional help of Warren H. Colson, reconstructed the Brattleboro plate positions, including some stamps from the Chubbuck sheet.

Ex Lapham, Colson, Gibson, Weill and Wall.

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