30c Orange, A. Grill (81). Perforations complete on all four sides, bright shade, bold quartered cork cancel and trace of circular datestamp at left, small (and utterly insignificant) stain at bottom, essentially sound

VERY FINE. ONE OF EIGHT RECORDED EXAMPLES OF THE 30-CENT 1867 ALL-OVER GRILL, OF WHICH ONLY SEVEN ARE AVAILABLE TO COLLECTORS AND ONLY TWO ARE SOUND. AN OUTSTANDING RARITY OF CLASSIC UNITED STATES PHILATELY.

There are eight 30c A Grill stamps recorded in our census, available at our website at https://siegelauctions.com/census/us/scott/81 . All are centered to upper right and cancelled by a quartered cork (at least two types). One of the eight is in the Miller collection owned by The New York Public Library. It was stolen and recovered, but those responsible for finding a buyer for the stolen stamp added ink to the face to change its appearance. Excluding the NYPL copy, there are seven 30c A Grill stamps available to collectors. Five of the available stamps have missing or pulled perforations and/or margin defects. The small stain at bottom of the stamp offered here is very minor and should not be considered a "fault" in the technical sense of the term. This stamp is for all purposes sound and thus of even greater rarity and value.

Census no. 81-CAN-02. Ex Schilling and from our 1975 and 2015 Rarities of the World sales (one owner between 1975 and 2015). With 1969 and 2015 P.F. certificates. The footnote in Scott Catalogue notes that "All are more or less faulty and/or off center. Values are for off-center examples with small perforation faults".

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