6c Columbian (235). Mint N.H. full top imprint, plate no. 104 and letter "Z" block of eight, choice centering and bright color, pristine gum without bends or skips

EXTREMELY FINE. AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE CENTERED FULL TOP PLATE BLOCK OF THE 6-CENT COLUMBIAN ISSUE WITH PRISTINE MINT NEVER-HINGED GUM. THIS IS THE FINEST WE HAVE OFFERED IN AT LEAST 20 YEARS.

A review using Power Search revealed a startling fact. Among all the plate blocks we have offered of this issue since 1993, only two other Mint N.H. examples were from the top position (one of those has narrow selvage). The hinged population shows a similar heavy skew toward bottom plate blocks. The 6c is one of the Columbian denominations that comes with either top or bottom selvage, so one would expect to find more top plate blocks than we have seen. However, as we have explained when offering full panes of 50 or dollar value plate blocks (see Sale 1200, lot 154), the way the Columbians were perforated offered no guarantees that there would be equal numbers of top and bottom selvage panes. In fact, there are no 50c or $4.00 with top selvage at all and we suspect that for the same reason, the 6c was produced with far fewer top selvage panes than bottom selvage panes. This fresh Mint N.H. top plate block is a true rarity.

With 2021 P.S.A.G. certificate (85 ogNH).

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