Sale 1202 — The James Depew Collection of Superb U.S. Coils and 20th Century Imperforate Issues
Sale Date — Wednesday, 22 May, 2019
Category — 1923-29 Rotary Press Coils (Scott 597-599A)
2c Carmine, Joint Line Pair, Ty. I, II (599-599A). Mint N.H. joint line pair, left stamp Type II, right stamp Type I, rich color, beautiful centeringEXTREMELY FINE GEM. A RARE BEAUTIFULLY CENTERED MINT NEVER-HINGED JOINT LINE PAIR OF THE 2-CENT ROTARY PRESS COIL, COMBINING TYPES I AND II.
According to the Armstrong book, the Type I, Scott 599, was produced starting in 1923. In 1929 the Bureau experimented with a new method of making plates. It became necessary to retouch the die, most notably in the hair, creating Type II (Scott 599A and 634A). Combination joint line pairs exist because two plates of 170 subjects were used at one time and for a short period one plate of each type was used on the press simultaneously.
The existence of the new die wasn't discovered until 1932, almost three years after it was produced. On July 6, 1932, the postage rate for first class mail was changed from 2c to 3c, and demand dropped sharply for 2c stamps. The existence of combination joint line pairs was not discovered until the early 1940's, making them especially scarce.
With 1995 P.F. and 2008 P.S.E. certificates (XF 90; SMQ $2,500.00). The P.S.E. Population Report does not list the combination joint line pair so we do not know the population figures; it is unpriced in SMQ as 95, so it is likely none exist at that higher grade.
