2c-$60.00 1875 Special Printing, Imperforate (PR33 var-PR56 var). Without gum as issued, large margins all around, intense shades, 2c two small thin spots, 4c and 6c each with small thin spot, $3.00 small corner crease, $24.00 faint ironed out vertical crease

VERY FINE-EXTREMELY FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE SET OF IMPERFORATE STAMPS OF THE 1875 NEWSPAPER SPECIAL PRINTING, WHICH WERE CUT FROM THE ORIGINAL STRIPS OF FIVE FROM THE EARL OF CRAWFORD COLLECTION. IT IS LIKELY THAT ONLY FIVE COMPLETE IMPERFORATE SETS EXIST. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AND SPECTACULAR SETS OF UNITED STATES SPECIAL PRINTINGS, REPRINTS OR RE-ISSUES.

All known genuine examples of the imperforate Newspapers & Periodicals 1875 Special Printing stamps come from the set of strips of five sold to James Ludovic Lindsay, the 26th Earl of Crawford, one of the great collectors of stamps, essays, proofs and philatelic literature at the turn of the 20th Century. Lord Crawford died on January 31, 1914, and his estate executors eventually agreed to sell the entire United States collection for $60,000 to John A. Klemann of the Nassau Stamp Company. Klemann reported his acquisition of the Earl of Crawford’s collection in the November 1915 edition of The Philatelic Gazette. Among the spectacular array of items owned by Lord Crawford were strips of the 1875 1c-90c Continental Bank Note Company Special Printings with intact selvage (Scott 167-177), the set of Official Special Printing imperforate strips and the set of Newspapers & Periodicals 1875 Special Printing imperforate strips of five.

Klemann is almost certainly the person responsible for cutting up the Earl of Crawford strips, because the sets of Officials and Newspapers & Periodicals singles were sold to Benjamin K. Miller, who was an active collector from 1917 to 1924 (his collection was donated to The New York Public Library and is now on long-term loan to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum). Miller probably acquired the imperforate set directly from Nassau Stamp Company, one of his dealer sources.

Another complete set was described in an article by William E. Mooz (“Finding the Yellow Thumbprint,” The American Philatelist, November 1984). In that article, Mr. Mooz also pictured and described a part set of $1.92 to $60.00 values, which our firm sold in 2002 (Drucker collection, Sale 851, lot 604). Combining the three complete sets (Miller, Mooz and Golden) with the part set of dollar values, we can account for four of the five stamps in the original Earl of Crawford strips. The whereabouts of the fifth set of singles is unknown.

The perforated 1875 Special Printing, Scott PR33-PR56, is the rarest set of all Newspapers & Periodicals stamps with two of the only verifiably unique stamps in philately, which unfortunately have never been seen. Only one copy each of the $48.00 and $60.00 perforated Special Printing stamps were sold through the Special Printing program to Paul Lietzow of Germany, and they have never been identified (the Scott Catalogue lists them without values). The next four high values have Scott values of $250,000, $125,000, $500,000 and $250,000, respectively, for a total of $1,125,000. With a Scott value of $60,000 for the entire set and only five in existence, this imperforate set seems undervalued.

This set was acquired by the late David Golden in a February 13, 1967, H.R. Harmer auction. With 1940 American Board of Experts certificate signed by J. Klemann Jr. and J. Murray Bartels. Each with 1985 P.F. certificate. Listed as a footnote in Scott with a catalogue value of

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