2c Copper Red, Plate Proof on Card (286P4). Deep rich color, large even margins including frameline of adjoining stamp at left

EXTREMELY FINE GEM. THE 2-CENT AND $2.00 TRANS-MISSISSIPPI ARE THE ONLY TWO DENOMINATIONS OF THE SET KNOWN AS PLATE PROOFS. AN EXTREMELY RARE CLASSIC PROOF.

Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) plate proofs of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Issue (or of any BEP commemorative issue) should not be confused with the more readily available 1893 Columbian plate proofs, which were printed by a private bank note company. The Trans-Mississippi plate proofs are great rarities. In fact, of the nine denominations, only the 2c and $2.00 Trans-Mississippi are found in plate proof form outside government archives--both are on card (no India paper proofs are known). We do not know of any other BEP commemorative plate proofs in private hands.

The only source of the $2.00 Trans-Mississippi plate proofs is a vertical block of six with imprint and plate number, sold in Part 17 of the Colonel Green sales (Harmer, Rooke & Co., 11/13-18/1944). The plate block of four from this multiple was offered in our 2019 sale of multiples from the William H. Gross Collection (Sale 1200, lot 174). The 2c Trans-Mississippi plate proof is equally rare--we have located only six singles and no multiples. At one point the vignettes for the 2c and $2.00 were switched, so perhaps this is the reason why plate proofs of these two denominations were released.

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