1c Blue, Ty. I (5). Position 7R1E, large to full margins including bit of Position 8R at right, beautifully showing the complete Type I design characteristics, pretty shade, cancelled by two strikes of large Boston "Paid" grid and by red Boston circular datestamp, vertical crease at left ending in a small paper break at top

EXTREMELY FINE APPEARANCE. POSITION 7R1E--THE SEVENTH STAMP IN THE RIGHT PANE OF PLATE ONE EARLY--IS THE ONLY ONE OF THE 1,000 POSITIONS USED TO PRINT IMPERFORATE ONE-CENT STAMPS THAT SHOWS THE COMPLETE DESIGN (TYPE I).

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.

This stamp was long ago part of an on-cover strip of three of Positions 6-8R1E (Harmer Rooke & Co. sale, 4/28/1965). Sometime after the 1965 Harmer Rooke auction it was removed from the cover and separated from the two Type Ib stamps. It appeared as this single in the 1973 Siegel sale of the Dr. Drew B. Meilstrup collection (Sale 431, lot 29).

Wagshal census no. 5-CAN-009. Ex Dr. Meilstrup and Amon G. Carter (Sale 636, lot 20). With 2011 P.F. certificate

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