Sale 1185 — 2018 Rarities of the World
Sale Date — Wednesday, 27 June, 2018
Category — Air Post, Back-of-Book Issues
50c Parcel Post (Q10). Mint N.H. right plate no. 6427 and "FIFTY" at bottom block of eight with wide selvage, radiant color and crisp impression, choice centering, small and light pencil notation on back of selvage at bottomVERY FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE MINT NEVER-HINGED PLATE NUMBER AND "FIFTY" BLOCK OF EIGHT OF THE 50-CENT PARCEL POST ISSUE. A BEAUTIFUL PLATE BLOCK.
The Parcel Post issues were printed from plates of 180 which consisted of four panes of 45. According to Johl, the uniform color of the twelve denominations led to confusion on the part of postal clerks, who complained that they were forced to examine the stamps in detail to ensure they had the correct values. In response, on January 27, 1913, large capital letters were added to the margins near each plate number. At top and bottom the imprint is in the selvage next to the plate number on all denominations; on the sides it is separated by a stamp with blank selvage for some (depending on the length of the imprint).
The plate block offered here comes from the top right pane. A block of six is sufficient to qualify as a plate block for the 50c value, in contrast to the 25c offered in the previous lot, which requires a plate block of eight from the side in order to capture the full imprint. The two extra stamps at the top of this plate block beautifully balance out the appearance by placing the plate number in the more traditional middle position.
Ex Wampler, where this was described as one of the great plate block rarities of the 20th Century. Scott Retail as plate block of six plus two singles
