$2.00 Orange Red & Black (523). Mint N.H., brilliant color, perfectly centered with unusually wide margins

EXTREMELY FINE GEM. A SUPERB MINT NEVER-HINGED EXAMPLE OF THE $2.00 ORANGE RED & BLACK 1918 FRANKLIN ISSUE, GRADED GEM 100 JUMBO BY P.S.E. -- THE HIGHEST GRADE POSSIBLE AND THE ONLY EXAMPLE TO ACHIEVE IT.

The $2.00 and $5.00 1918 Issue are the first bi-colored dollar-denominated postage stamps issued by the United States. Both were released just three months after the famous 1918 24c Inverted Jenny, but the early printings were issued in small quantities, since stocks of the 1902 $2.00 and $5.00 1917 issue were still on hand.

According to Johl, the $2.00 Orange Red & Black was a color error on the part of the Bureau of Engraving & Printing. The official description and order for the bi-color stamps specified "Red and Black" for the $2.00. When subsequent printings appeared in 1920 and philatelists brought the matter to the attention of the Bureau, they were told "this stamp has always been this color" (Johl, p. 306). From studies of Bureau and Post Office records, it is clear that the originally intended color was not issued until November 1920 (Scott 547), and that the earlier Orange Red stamps were mistakes. The quantity issued has been variously estimated at between 47,000 and 68,000.

1983 P.F. certificate 123384 stating "It is Genuine" no longer accompanies. With 2014 P.F. certificate (Superb 98 Jumbo). With 2017 P.S.E. certificate (Gem 100 Jumbo; unpriced in this grade, SMQ $17,500.00 as 100). This is the highest grade possible and the only to achieve it. The P.F. is notoriously stingy with higher grades. This issue is also extremely difficult to obtain in any grade over a 98 -- P.S.E. has issued only three (one each at 98J, 100 and 100J). We have never offered the 100.

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