1c Blue, Type III, Position 99R2 (8). Huge margins all around including an enormous bottom sheet margin, deep shade and sharp impression shows the wide breaks in outer lines at top and bottom--these are the defining characteristics of Type III, and no other position on any plate has wider breaks, making 99R2 the finest example of its kind--tied by red "Paid/U.S. Mail/City Delivery/1 Aug. 3” one-cent integral-rate New York City carrier datestamp on cover to East Broadway address, the stamp is a superb Gem and the cover is immaculate

EXTREMELY FINE GEM EXAMPLE OF THE ONE-CENT 1851 IMPERFORATE, SCOTT 8, FROM POSITION 99R2. THIS MAGNIFICENT COVER--RENOWNED IN CLASSIC UNITED STATES PHILATELY AS THE "NEWBURY 99R2” COVER--IS AN EXTRAORDINARY COMBINATION OF QUALITY AND RARITY. STANLEY B. ASHBROOK, THE EMINENT PHILATELIC SCHOLAR, LAUDED THIS COVER AS "HIGH IN THE LIST OF THE FINEST OF U.S. COVERS KNOWN.”

Plate 2 was made in late 1855, and consists of 198 stamps that are Type II, one position that is Type III (99R2) and one that can be Type II or Type IIIa (100R2). To summarize the Ashbrook and Neinken books: Guide dots were used to correctly lay out the spacing for the plate. Positions 79 and 89 were transferred perfectly using their guide dots. However, the guide dot to the south-east of Position 88R2, which was used to align the single B Relief for Position 99R2, was placed far out of line. The misplaced dot was accidentally used and the bed of the press was moved too far, resulting in the bottom part of the A Relief being transferred into the bottom part of Position 89 (and in the margin below this position) by mistake. The original entry of Position 99R was out of place and so it was erased or burnished out, but seemingly no attempt was made to erase the parts of the A Relief transferred into the bottom of Position 89R. When the fresh entry was made in Position 99R a full transfer of the design was not possible without running into the error in Position 89R. The position was therefore short transferred at top, and apparently also at bottom, creating the finest example of Type III found on any plate (see pp. 183-184 of Neinken book).

Stanley B. Ashbrook referred to this cover in his 1938 book as the "Superb 99R2 Newbury Cover” and described it in glowing terms: "This is the finest cover I have ever seen showing use of this rare stamp. This copy of the 99R2 is an early printing, a marvelous engraving, a beautiful deep blue color. In addition the stamp has the full sheet margin at bottom with a boardwalk around the other three sides. And to top all, it is neatly tied by a brilliant red ‘New York Carrier’ marking. It certainly is a cover that leaves nothing to be desired. It ranks high in the list of the finest U.S. covers known.”

The only earlier mention of this cover we have located is in the catalogue entry for Saul Newbury’s exhibit in the 1934 national philatelic exhibition in New York City. We have been unable to find Newbury’s source for the cover or any sale record before his ownership.

Newbury exhibited his namesake 99R2 cover again at the May 1940 Centenary Exhibition held at the Collectors Club of New York to commemorate Great Britain’s first issue. The cover was also one of the cornerstones of Newbury’s exhibit which captured the Grand Award at the 1947 CIPEX show. Newbury died three years later, in 1950. His collections were kept by his son, Michael, until 1961, when the Siegel firm held the first of a series of auctions. In the Newbury sale held on October 23-24, 1963, the Weills acquired the cover for their secret client, Benjamin D. Phillips, for $5,750. At that point Phillips became the new owner of the Newbury 7R1E and 99R2 covers.

The Weills bought the entire Phillips collection in 1968 for $4.07 million. The cover appeared in Siegel Rarities sales in 1969 and 1972, and then sold to Ryohei Ishikawa, who formed several important collections, including the 1c 1851-57s. Ishikawa included the Newbury 99R2 cover in his triple Grand Prix 1847-1869 exhibit. At the October 1993 Christie’s Robson Lowe auction of the Ishikawa collection, the cover sold to Andrew Levitt as agent for John R. Boker, Jr., who assembled a select group of classic imperforate U.S. items. Boker later traded this group for Mr. Eubanks’s Waterbury fancy cancellations.

Illustrated in Stanley B. Ashbrook, The United States One Cent Stamp of 1851-1857, Vol. I (p. 204) and Neinken revision (p.185).

Ex Saul Newbury, Benjamin D. Phillips, Ryohei Ishikawa and John R. Boker, Jr., and from our 1969 and 1972 Rarities sales. Backstamped "R.H.W. Co.” (Weill).

With 2021 P.F. certificate.

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