3c Red, F. Grill, Imperforate Horizontally (94c). Block of four with part selvage at left, original gum, bright shade, detailed impression, wide margins at top and bottom

EXTREMELY FINE. AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE BLOCK OF THE 1868 3-CENT F GRILL WHICH IS IMPERFORATE HORIZONTALLY. THIS IS THE FIRST EXAMPLE OF THIS VARIETY, EITHER AS A PAIR OR BLOCK, THAT WE HAVE OFFERED SINCE KEEPING COMPUTERIZED RECORDS. A GREAT RARITY OF THE ISSUE.

We are unsure of how many examples of the 3c F Grill Imperforate Horizontally error exist, but a review of our own auctions with Power Search produced none. We also looked in major name sales which contained varieties and/or multiples such as Sinkler, Col. Green, Caspary, Eno, Lilly, Klein, Ishikawa, Floyd and a half-dozen others. We found only one -- in the first Hind sale -- which was also a block, but the description was not detailed enough for us to determine whether this is the same item. The only other example we located is a pair in the Miller Collection at the New York Public Library. Clearly the elusiveness of past auction offerings of Scott 94c indicate that it could be one of the rarest of all classic U.S. varieties.

With 2004 P.S.E. certificate

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