Sale 1148 — The Barry K. Schwartz Collection of The U.S. 1909 Bluish Paper Issue
Sale Date — Tuesday, 28 February, 2017
Category — Four-Cent Orange Brown (Scott 360)
4c Orange Brown, Bluish (360). Block of four, rich color, well-centered, particularly the top pair, very freshVERY FINE AND CHOICE. AN EXTREMELY RARE BLOCK OF THE 1909 4-CENT ON BLUISH PAPER. ONE OF THE RAREST OF ALL 20TH CENTURY MULTIPLES.
The June 1910 Third Assistant Postmaster General's report states that 4,400 (eleven sheets) of the 4c were printed on Bluish Paper. It is believed that none of the 4c and 8c Bluish Paper stamps were distributed to post offices, and that all of the examples in collectors' hands reached the market through the Travers-Steinmetz exchange and the 1914 National Museum trades to H. F. Colman (12 copies) and Nassau Stamp Company (65 copies).
To meet the demand for well-centered singles of the 4c Bluish Paper, blocks of this quality were broken, and this might well be the finest surviving block. Our Levi records contain images of a half-dozen blocks of four (none larger), but several of these have definitely been broken into singles since they were sold in the 1950s and 1960s.
Ex Lilly. With 1968 P.F. certificate issued to Raymond H. Weill after the Lilly sale, and also with 2017 P.F. certificate
