$5.00 State, Specimen Ovpt. (O69S). Without gum as issued, bright color, detailed impression, choice centering

VERY FINE. A PHENOMENAL EXAMPLE OF THE $5.00 STATE DEPARTMENT SPECIAL PRINTING WITH AN IMPECCABLE PROVENANCE. THIS EXAMPLE WAS PART OF THE SET PURCHASED FROM THE THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE BY PAUL LIETZOW OF GERMANY, AND WAS BOUGHT BY ROBERT LEWENTHAL IN 1953. ONLY TWELVE WERE SOLD AND OUR CENSUS CONTAINS ONLY SIX AVAILABLE TO COLLECTORS. THIS IS ALSO THE ONLY SOUND EXAMPLE.

Paul Lietzow was a German collector/dealer who displayed his collection in one of the first philatelic exhibitions in Germany. The first was held in April 1870 and featured one person's collection. Lietzow exhibited his collection in July 1877 in Berlin for the benefit of wounded soldiers. His collection at the time comprised 6,200 stamps housed in six large volumes, quite an achievement for the time. In 1880 and 1882 he published handbooks on philately, one of which was a precursor to the Scott Catalogue. The idea of exhibitions and handbooks was to increase the appeal of stamp collecting, which was widely seen as suitable only for schoolboys and not worthy of serious pursuit.

Lietzow was an enthusiastic purchaser of high-denomination stamps through the Special Printing program. He is the only purchaser of the $36.00 (two), $48.00 and $60.00 Newspaper Special Printings, and also purchased two each of the $9.00 and $12.00 values. The Combs book notes the Lietzow set of dollar-value State departments was purchased by Lewenthal from a German dealer in 1953. They were offered as single lots and then as a set in the 1978 Simmy's auction of the Lewenthal collection, where they were acquired by Leonard Sheriff. They were offered individually in the 1993 Siegel Sheriff sale, where they were dispersed to different buyers.

Although the Scott U.S. Specialized Catalogue states that twelve $5.00 State “Specimen” stamps were sold, the description for the Markovits example states that eight are recorded, presumably based on Markovits’s research. Our own census, which incorporates The Philatelic Foundation’s records, is available at https://siegelauctions.com/census/us/scott/O69S . It contains only seven examples, including one in the Miller collection owned by The New York Public Library, leaving six available to collectors.

Census no. O69S-UNC-01. Ex Lietzow, Lewenthal, Sheriff and Inman. Illustrated on p. 29 of U.S. Departmental Specimen Stamps by W. V. Combs. With 1993 P.F. certificate

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