Siegel’s December 16-19 Auction of United States Stamps

The mid-December Siegel auction entitled “Important and Superb United States Stamps” was really worth observing. I did not bid myself, having just purchased a very expensive collection.  However, I was really interested in seeing what would happen with the stamp on the cover of the auction catalogue. It was a very rare Scott 85D, the 10c green “Z” grill shown below.

                                                                         

The “Z” grills are some of the rarest of US stamps and 85D is no exception. The Siegel census reports that only 6 exist. One is in the New York Public Library collection and the whereabouts of 1 is unknown so possibly only 4 are available to collectors. All 6 known copies are illustrated in the Siegel auction catalogue and of the 6, I would judge this to be 3rd best. There are two lightly struck very fines that have superior centering and are sound, this one being fine. The Scott catalogue values the 85D at $225,000 with the value in italics, indicating that there is not a lot of sales data. The one in the Siegel auction realized twice that number….$550,000. Wow!

A couple of comments on grills. The “Z” is actually very easy to identify. The most common grills are asymmetric pyramids with the long axis vertical. In the “Z” grill the long axis is horizontal. I see a fair number of fake grills. They are fairly easy to spot with a 10X loupe. The pyramid shape should be clearly visible. Most fakes are square or round and lack the pyramid shape. Also, always be suspicious if the stamp is of exceptional quality. Grilling weakened the paper and so many grilled issues have a variety of faults, with thins in the grills being very common.

Clearly the 85D sale made the auction a huge sucess for Siegel. How did other issues fair in this period of economic concern? Below I show a few lots selected at random.

         

Scott 84, a Blackjack with D grill. Graded 70 by PSE, which for this issue is a very high grade with only 3 grading higher. Sold for $2000 against a Scott of $4500….a pretty low realization.

Scott 71, a stamp rarely found with the perforations clear of the design and graded by PSE as a 90 extra-fine and completely sound. Sold for $325 against a Scott of $200.

Exceptionally well centered Scott 90 with a nice strike of the California cogwheel cancel. Only graded as a 90 by PSE, probably because the PSE grading system downgrades for cancels that impact the design. However this is a beautiful stamp and sold for $2500 against a catalogue value of $600.

Scott 285, a gem stamp grading as 98, the highest grade awarded to a 285. This stamp sold for $3000 against a Scott of $80. Though this seems like a very high price, the Stamp Market Quarterly values a 98 at $3450 so this is over 10% below the most current SMQ. In the last few years, 98’s have been routinely exceeding the SMQ values so this might be considered a low realization…except that the population report indicates that there are 11 know 98’s. So the fairly high population report seems to have prevented this from a higher realization.

Shown above is a MNH 292 in the grade of fine with a catalogue value of $3900. It sold for $900.

The 292 shown above graded 95 extra-fine superb MNH. There are only 5 that have achieved this grade and none grade higher. It sold for $47,500!!! Clearly the market for highly graded stamps is doing okay even during this period of economic turmoil.

Comments on Las Vegas Stamp Show and this week’s Linns

Last weekend I attended a Stamp and Coin Show in Las Vegas put on by Bick International. First time I had been in Las Vegas in maybe twenty years. When last there the MGM Grand was the big hotel and the Excaliber (where we stayed) was brand new.  Now the MGM Grand looks tiny next to the Bellagio. The show had 5 stamp dealers and 15-20 coin dealers. The majority of the foot traffic was coin buyers, as is usually the case with hybrid shows. Since this was my first trip to Las Vegas, I had modest goals…break even and acquire a few new customers for my web site. I felt like this was accomplished. Interestingly an unusually high percentage of sales (about 30%) was from my bargain box (steeply discounted stamps with small faults). Las Vegas is pretty exhausting with the constant noise and the foot traffic at my booth was a little light, so at times, I got a little bored. But all in all, I enjoyed the show. I really like Isreal Bick the show promoter and enjoyed meeting new collectors. One collector brought in his collection (in a Scott US Specialized) the second day and it was without doubt one of the finest I have every seen. Besides having an extremely high degree of completion, the collector had done two things that really added to the overall appearance. First, a lot of the used classics had very attractive color cancels. Second, he had sprinkled in a few nice blocks and covers. A really beautiful collection.

Just got a new copy of Linn’s. In scanning the ads I noted the large ad from Mystic for a set of 7 of the Flag over City regular issue. I have never paid much attention to this set so went to my Scott’s and was pretty surprised at the complexity. In addition to the base set of 7 there are a lot of minor numbers, including two types of 3281, large and small dates for 3280 and 3281 and an array of different booklet formats for 3278. I was very surprised to see that a plate block of 4 of 3277 catalogues $47.50. I continue to maintain that the difficulties in collecting and identifying all the varieties of modern regular issues will result in some real rarities in the future.

Matthew Bennett’s Dec 4 Auction of US and Worldwide Stamps

Matthew Bennett International held a US and Worldwide auction on Dec. 4. Following is a discussion of how the 10 rarest items performed.

Lot 1695. A stunning mint never hinged top plate of 6 of 239, the 30c Colombian. The description called this perhaps the finest in existence and I would not argue. All 6 stamps were extremely well centered. Against a Scott of $14,500, this plate realized $27,000, nearly twice catalogue. If this block went to a dealer, it may well get broken into singles for grading.

Lot 1827. Lot 1827 was a block of 30 of 511a. 511 is the 11c green from the 1917 Washington Franklin series which is perforated 11.  511a is the rare compound perf. stamp that has perf 10 on either the top of the bottom.  This block realized $32,500 against an estimate of $20,000-30,000. A rare and unique show piece that sold at a very nice price.

Lot 1348. A #7 with OG graded Gem 100. A huge stamp with nearly 1/3 of the adjacent top stamp showing and a part of the adjacent stamp on the left and bottom showing. This magnificent stamp did not sell. I don’t know what it was reserved at but a #7 as a 98 is valued at $9800 in the SMQ. A reasonable guess is 2 to 3 times that for a Gem 100  so $20-30000 was probably the estimate. However, there are a lot of highly graded 7’s out there including 3 Gem 100’s which probably hurt the sales price.

Lot 1662.  A 165 30c gray black with full OG  graded 90J. 165’s in high grades are very uncommon. The PSE report only has 3 OG stamps graded, 2 95’s and this stamp at 90J.  This stamp realized $15000 against a Scott of $3500, a great price.

Lot 1013. A 9X1 5c black on bluish provisional on cover to Switzerland. Matthew Bennett describes this as one of only 3 known provisionals on cover to Switzerland. The cover had some interesting markings but to me it lacked eye appeal. The estimate was $12-15,000 and it did not clear the open.

Lot 1453. An irregular block of 10 of 25 with full OG. A very rare piece but not of exceptional quality with small faults and most stamps very poorly centered even for a 26 (which are notoriously small margined). The block had a huge number of blind perforations which would have made it difficult for a dealer to separate for a nice single. Scott for the block was a big number, $34,000, but it realized $7250.

Lot 1551. Scott 105, the 5c brown from the 1875 re-issue. A beautiful example of an extremely scarce stamp. Scott indicates only 672 were printed. Scott is $3500. The stamp did not clear the open.

Lot 1001. U10 10c entire with Steamboatpictorial packetboat handstamp. The handstamp is quite spectacular, being essentially a perfect strike. Overall though, I thought the cover lacked great eye appeal. Matthew Bennett had an estimate of $10-15,000 and the stamp did not clear the open.

Lot 1523. 85B, the Blackjack with “Z” grill in a used block of 4. 85B is the most common of the “Z” grills with 500,000 printed. A used block of 4 is very rare and  MB states that it is the only known. Individual stamps were rather poorly centered as is typical for a Blackjack. The estimate was $10-15,000 and the lot sold at $7,000.

Lot 1524. 85C, the 3c rose with “Z” grill. There were only 100,000 of this stamp printed. It is generally found in poor condition (not uncommon for any of the grills). This one is sound and very fine, a nice stamp. Against a Scott of $3750, this stamp sold for $6750. Nice to see an ungraded rarity getting a strong bid.

In general, the results don’t seem extremely strong. Of the 10 rarest items in the auction, 4 did not clear and one cleared well below estimate. The balance seemed reasonably in line with what might be expected.  Next up, a review of the last Siegel auction.

The Parcel Post Stamp

Recently I completed breaking a parcel post set from a pretty advanced collection. I have always liked this set so did a little research. The parcel post stamps were issued to meet the need for sending small packages (less than 4 ounces) by a method less expensive than first class. Designs are grouped in 3 sets of 4, the first being representative of postal workers, the second mail transportation and the last the agricultural and manufacturing aspects of the country. The stamps were printed on plates of 180, divided into 4 sheets of 45 each with plate numbers appearing twice on each sheet of 45. 

Postal workers apparently had problems distinguishing the denomination because of the uniform red color so the denomination is printed on the margin.  The first issues appeared in Nov. of 1912. The stamp was not popular with postal workers. By making the sheet size 45, it was harder to count and the uniformity of color made it hard to recognize. A re-design was proposed in 1913 but never undertaken. It was decided that regular stamps should be good enough.  However the stamp continued to be shipped to the post offices until 1922  when the printed supply was exhausted and no more were printed.

Collecting these stamps is not very difficult. A used set will cost aroung $200, mint hinged around $1200 and mint never hinged around $2800. In the highest grades, the stamps become very expensive with a MNH Q12 in the grade of 95 extra-fine superb going for around $5000.  Covers are not very common and often attractive and interesting.  Plate blocks can get very rare. The PB6 of the Q12 costs $18,000 and is very rarely sold.

Siegel’s Auction “The W. Wilson Hulme II Collection”

The upcoming Siegel auction of William Hulme’s collection is loaded with material very rarely seen. Mr. Hulme collected stamps to document the advent of perforations. The perforation was invented in England and first appeared in 1854 on Scott #8, a fairly common 1p red brown issue. In the US offical perforations first appeared in 1857. The perforations were applied to the previous imperforated stamps without re-designing space between the stamps to allow for the perforation holes. Thus the 1857-61 series (Scott 18-39) have virtually no margins.

Prior to the advent of officially perforated stamps, there where a number of attempts by postmasters to apply a perforation or roulette. Roulettes differ from perforations in that a roulette is a slit while a perforation is a hole. There also recorded varieties of sawtooth perforations that are just that. Not round or slited but sawtooth. Most known examples are on Scott 10-11, the workhorse stamp of that period though they are also known on the 1c Franklin.

The Siegel auction is loaded with singles and covers, many of which are one of just a few known. The estimates are surprisingly low. For example, lot 196 features a cover from Hartford Conn. with an 11A with Sawtooth perforations. It is a particularily attractive cover and is the only known cover with the sawtooth perforations originating from this post office. It is estimated at $2000-3000.  I will be very surprised if this does not go for a much higher number and will write up something on the results of this auction in mid-Dec.

A Review of the new PSE Stamp Album

Welcome to my stamp blog! My first post! I hope you will find this blog site interesting and informative. For my first post, I am going to write a review of the new and highly innovative stamp album just released by Professional Stamp Experts (PSE). PSE is best known as the developers of a stamp grading system which provides a numerical grade between 10 and 100 to a stamp based on centering and soundness…a fairly complicated subject that will be discussed in future posts. For now though, visit their web site at www.psestamp.com for a lot of detailed information on how this works.

PSE’s new album is entitled “United States Postage Stamps by Design Type. The First Century 1847-1947″. The concept for the album is very different from the traditional standard US album based on the Scott catalog. Take for example the stamp shown below.

                                                                

Scott #7 Used

 

This stamp is Scott catalog #7 used. In a typical Scott numbering system there is #5, 5A, 6, 6B, 7, 8, 8A and 9 all looking just like the number 7 pictured above. The variations between these different numbers is very subtle and hard for even the most expert to distinguish. In fact many of these issues where printed on the same plate. The variation in cost, however, is not subtle. A #5 will cost $85,000 in very fine used condition while a #9 in very fine used condition will cost around $130. If you wanted to only collect mint stamps, you will really be in trouble since you will probably never see a mint #5 and if you do it will cost $225,000 in very fine condition.

In PSE’s new album, the stamps are catalogued by design type. In the PSE album, Scott numbers 5-9 are compressed to USD 3 (United States Design 3), since they all have essentially the same design. So a collector could purchase just a Scott #9 and never purchase the much more expensive varieties. 

The PSE album only includes stamps that are unique with respect to design, color or denomination. It does not include coils, perforate and imperforate varieties, souvenir sheets, special printings, secrete marks, paper varieties, watermark varieties, grills or printing varieties. Take for example, the 90c Perry. There are 4 listed Scott numbers. These are #144 carmine grilled, #155 hard paper carmine, #166 hard paper rose carmine and #191 soft paper carmine, all compressed to USD 46 in the design numbering system. There is however a unique USD number for Scott 218. Scott 218 is the same basic design as the carmine varieties but in the not so subtle shade of purple and thus is assigned a unique number USD 58. It is interesting to note that by the time you have completed a collection up to USD 58 you have acquired 160 less stamps than if you had used the Scott numbering system (USD 58 corresponds to Scott number 218).  One other note. A collector using this album will not likely be purchasing coils or grills. These are areas that are commonly faked!

Besides the innovative numbering system, this album is really well done. The pages have an attractive boarder and the paper is of the highest quality. Each stamp is provided with information including shade, year of issue, quantity of issue and the most common postal usage. For example, USD 13 (Scott 37) is described as the 1860 24c Gray Washington, used on letters to Great Britain with quantity issued estimated at 736,000. It took a lot of research to assemble all this information, particularly the quantity issued. Finally, I really love the layouts. Take the 1907 Jamestown Commemorative set of 3. In a typical Scott album, this set is a row of three on a page that usually includes the Louisiana Purchase set and the 1909 commemorative issues. In the PSE album, the Jamestown set is laid out on a single page, which makes for a much more attractive and less cluttered display. The album is a real bargain for the quality, retailing at a basic price of $35.00.

When I first heard of the concept of design numbering I have to admit I was skeptical. My skepticism was based on the fact that one of the things that attracts me to stamps is the hunt for the rare Scott varieties. I enjoy sorting stamps by paper varieties, grills etc. But after seeing this album and thinking about the issues involved for many collector, I have decided I really like this concept and will fully embrace it. In the near future, I will include USD numbers along with Scott numbers and will modify my stock to emphasize the least espensive Scott number that corresponds to a USD number.