1c Green, Rotary, Perf 11 (594). Unused (no gum), bright color (accompanying certificate notes stained but this has been removed), three wide margins, deep thin spot at right

FINE APPEARANCE. AN ATTRACTIVE UNUSED EXAMPLE OF THE ONE-CENT ROTARY PERF 11 ISSUE, SCOTT 594. ONE OF THE RAREST 20TH CENTURY STAMPS IN UNUSED CONDITION.

The 1c Green, Scott 594, is waste from a horizontal rotary printing used to make coils. At the beginning or end of a coil-stamp print run from the 170-subject rotary plates, some leading or trailing paper was produced that was too short for rolling into 500-stamp rolls. In 1919 the Bureau devised a plan to salvage this waste by perforating and cutting the sheets into panes. They were put through the 11-gauge flat-plate perforator in use at the time, giving the sheets full perforations on all sides. The existence of Scott 594 was not reported until four months after the final sheets were delivered, and the 1c Rotary Perf 11 was soon recognized as one of the rarest United States stamps.

Our census of Scott 594 unused, based on the Levi and P.F. records, contains only 21 stamps. Of these, ten have no gum at all, and eight have only a small part of original gum (these were removed from postcards and envelopes). Of all unused stamps, only six are sound, including two with perforated initials of Crowell Publishing Co. of Springfield, Ohio. As an indication of rarity, the last time we offered an unused example was in our Golin sale in 1999.

With 1983 P.F. certificate

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