$12.00 Blue Green, 1875 Special Printing (PR52). Without gum as issued, deep rich color on fresh paper, proof-like impression

FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE EXAMPLE OF THE $12.00 1875 CONTINENTAL NEWSPAPER SPECIAL PRINTING. ONLY FIVE WERE SOLD AND THIS IS ONE OF ONLY TWO EXAMPLES CERTIFIED BY THE PHILATELIC FOUNDATION.

Official records of the Special Printings indicate that 500 of the $12.00 Newspaper were received in 1875. On July 16, 1884, 495 were still on hand. Only five copies were sold in a nine-year period, including two to Paul Lietzow, a 19th century German collector and dealer who made significant purchases of Special Printings when they were available from the Third Assistant Postmaster General’s office. Lietzow was the buyer of the only recorded example of the $24.00 Newspaper Special Printing, which realized $430,000 hammer in our 2014 Rarities of the World sale. He also bought two of the $9.00 Newspaper Special Printing, of which only one is recorded -- it brought $310,000 hammer in our 2016 Inman sale.

Our census of Scott PR52, available at https://siegelauctions.com/census/us/scott/PR52 , contains two recorded examples that originally formed a pair -- this the left stamp. It is possible that both of these stamps were sold to Lietzow. Two of the other three $12.00 Special Printings were invoiced to David H. Anthony and Stanley Gibbons (London).

Census no. PR52-UNC-01. With 1990 P.S.E. certificate. With 1970, 2003 and 2016 P.F. certificates.

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