Sale 968B — The Alan B. Whitman Collection, Part Three: 1902-34 Issues, B-O-B
Sale Date — Tuesday-Friday, 22-25 September, 2009
Category — Rotary Press Perforated 11 Rarities (Scott 594, 596 and 613)
2c Harding, Rotary, Perf 11 (613). Well-centered with unusually wide margins for this rotary waste issue, sharp impression, unobtrusive machine cancelFRESH AND VERY FINE. A RARE SOUND EXAMPLE OF THE 2-CENT HARDING ROTARY PERF 11. ONE OF ONLY A FEW SOUND EXAMPLES WHERE THE PERFORATIONS DO NOT TOUCH THE DESIGN.
Our updated census of the 2c Harding Rotary Perf 11 (available at http://siegelauctions.com/enc/census/613.pdf) records 43 used singles (one faintly cancelled, if at all), one used pair and a newly-discovered used strip of three. Of the singles, approximately 30 are sound, but of these only six rate a grade of Very Fine or Extremely Fine. The stamp offered here is one of the few choice sound examples.
The 2c Harding Rotary Perf 11 stamp was discovered in 1938 by Leslie Lewis of the New York firm, Stanley Gibbons Inc. Gary Griffith presents his hypothesis in United States Stamps 1922-26 that rotary-printed sheets of 400 were first reduced to panes of 100 and then fed through the 11-gauge perforating machine normally used for flat plate sheets. This method distinguishes sheet-waste stamps -- Scott 544, 596 and 613 -- from the coil-waste stamps and explains the existence of a straight-edge on Scott 613.
Census No. 613-CAN-09. With 1945 A.P.S., 1983 and 1996 P.F. certificates.
