5c Blue, Bluish (361). Top imprint and plate no. 4930 block of six, two stamps are Mint N.H. (positions 1 and 4), rich color on deeply blued paper, interesting small streak of printer's ink straddling positions 5 and 6, tiny nick at top right of selvage is utterly trivial

VERY FINE. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED PLATE BLOCK OF THE 1909 5-CENT ON BLUISH PAPER IN PRIVATE HANDS. ONE OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING PLATE BLOCKS OF 20TH CENTURY UNITED STATES PHILATELY.

Four different plates were used to print the 5c Bluish Paper on the Hoe & Company four-plate press: 4928, 4929, 4930 and 4931. Plate number examples are recorded for all but plate 4929, listed below.

Plate 4928: top-margin block of four with plate number only, Col. Green sale, Part 18, Fifield, Jan. 24-30, 1945, lot 266 -- since divided into singles;

Plate 4930: plate block of six with full top-margin imprint, ex Todd, offered here;

Plate 4931: left-margin imprint and plate number strip of three, Col. Green sale, Part 17, Harmer Rooke, Nov. 13-18, 1944, lot 147 -- since divided into singles -- and pane of 100 UR reported by Boggs to be in the Post Office Department files.

Apart from the pane in the Post Office Department files, the location of which is currently unknown, this is the only recorded complete imprint and plate number block of six.

While other Bluish Paper multiples were offered in the series of Colonel Green auctions, this was not. Presumably it was acquired by W. Parsons Todd from one of the original dispersals, circa 1910-14, and owned by him for more than 60 years, which explains its extraordinary freshness.

Ex Todd. Each stamp with light blue “E” backstamp, probably applied by Economist Stamp Company. With 2017 P.F. certificate

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