Sale 1244 — The Arthur S. Przybyl Collection of United States, Confederate States and Hawaii
Sale Date — Tuesday-Wednesday, 9-10 November, 2021
Category — Postmasters' Provisionals
St. Louis, Missouri, 10c Black on Bluish Pelure (11X8). Type III, Position 6, three extra large margins, bottom margin also large to full at right, sharp impression, without pen cancellation, cancelled solely by a blue circular datestamp at lower right, a couple trivial tiny flaws and a small repair in the area of the numeral "1"EXTREMELY FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE LARGE-MARGINED EXAMPLE OF THE 10-CENT ST. LOUIS POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL ON PELURE PAPER, WITHOUT PEN CANCELLATION AND CANCELLED SOLELY BY A BLUE HANDSTAMP. THE STAMPS ON PELURE PAPER ARE THE RAREST OF THE ST. LOUIS "BEARS".
A survey of our Levi records and auction catalogues produced a total of approximately 35 examples of the 10c Pelure off and on cover. The vast majority of these stamps have serious faults or margins cutting into the design. This stamp, with its huge margins, light handstamped cancel and virtually invisible flaws, is one of the finest known. Since St. Louis never used blue ink in this period, this stamp must have been left uncancelled at St. Louis and was unintentionally struck with a blue circular datestamp at another post office, possibly on a forwarded letter.
With 1956 and 2019 P.F. certificates. Scott value is for normally pen-cancelled stamp off cover (footnote states: "Values for used off-cover stamps are for pen-cancelled copies. Handstamp cancelled copies sell for much more.")
