1c Green, Rotary, Perf 11 (594). Part original gum, s.e. at top, thinned and faint crease

FINE APPEARANCE. AN EXTREMELY RARE ORIGINAL-GUM EXAMPLE OF THE ONE-CENT ROTARY PERF 11 ISSUE, SCOTT 594. THIS IS 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 unused examples of Scott 594, based on the Levi and P.F. records and available at our website at http://www.siegelauctions.com/dynamic/census/594/594.pdf , contains only 18 stamps. Of these only 11 have any gum, and three of those have perforated initials of Crowell Publishing Co. of Springfield, Ohio, which some collectors regard as equivalent to a cancel.

Census No. 594-OG-11. With 1959 P.F. certificate. Acquired by the current owner in a 1976 Kelleher sale.

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