5c Brick Red (27). Original gum, brilliant color in the true Brick Red shade, single toned perf tip at bottom left and tiny picked-out inclusion at top not mentioned on accompanying certificate

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. AN EXTREMELY RARE ORIGINAL-GUM EXAMPLE OF THE 1857 5-CENT BRICK RED SHADE -- IN OUR OPINION, THE BRICK RED IS ONE OF THE RAREST STAMPS OF THE CLASSIC PERIOD IN SOUND CONDITION WITH ORIGINAL GUM.

To verify our intuition about the rarity of original-gum Brick Red stamps, we surveyed dozens of classic United States sale catalogues. We found approximately twenty stamps with original gum, allowing for duplicate offerings and excluding the one known original-gum block. Of the stamps we counted, about half had perfs touching two sides or were deeply cut into on one side. Almost two-thirds had stains or small faults. The example offered here is in better condition than most.

With 1992 P.S.E. certificate

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