1c Blue, Ty. I (5). Position 7R1E, large margins to barely in at bottom and showing significant parts of the bottom plumes, lovely bright Plate 1 Early shade, dark blue grid cancel, tiny corner crease in top right corner margin is an utterly trivial flaw in this beautiful and essentially sound stamp

VERY FINE AND CHOICE. POSITION 7R1E IS THE ONLY ONE OF THE 1,000 POSITIONS USED TO PRINT IMPERFORATE ONE-CENT STAMPS THAT SHOWS THE COMPLETE DESIGN. AN ATTRACTIVE EXAMPLE WITH A FANTASTIC PROVENANCE.

The 1c 1851 Franklin, a workhorse postage stamp from 1851 through 1861, was printed from 200-subject steel plates numbered 1 through 12 (Plate 6 was never used, and Plate 1 exists in Early and Late states). Only Plates 1 through 4 were used to print stamps that were issued imperforate. The original 1c 1851 die design has an elaborate ornamental border on all four sides. Several factors affected the designs entered on the plates, which in turn produced variations in the printed stamps. Stanley B. Ashbrook developed the system used to classify design types, based on the premise that Type I should be a printed version that comes closest to the original die design. The completeness of the ornamentation at top and bottom is a requirement for Type I. For imperforate stamps, Ashbrook found only one position among the 1,000 subjects that met this requirement--Position 7R1E--which is why Scott 5, a Type I imperforate stamp, is so rare. Type Ib, Scott 5A, has slightly less ornamentation and was also printed from Plate 1 Early (imperforate only).

The census compiled by Jerome S. Wagshal, available at https://siegelauctions.com/census/us/scott/5 , contains at least 98 unduplicated records of Scott 5. There are probably no more than ten examples existing outside of the Wagshal census population. Therefore, the 1c 1851 Type I is the rarest of all United States stamps issued regularly prior to the 1868 Grills.

Census no. 5-CAN-27. Ex Grunin, Sheriff, Chanin and Koppersmith. With 1971 and 2002 P.F. certificates.

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