The Spinks Shreves Mar. 24-25 sale is billed as a collectors sale intended to appeal to a wide range of buyers. I did not participate because this auction house charges 20% to the buyer which is higher than most. However, I always check out the results from their sale. This auction included the sale of the stamp below.
The stamp is Scott #75 red brown. #75 was issued in 1862 and the earliest known use is Jan. 2 of that year. Approximately 1M were issued primarily for use with a 10c stamp to pay the 15c rate to France. #75 is of course identical in design to Scott #76 shown below.
The 76 shown above, which appeared in the same auction, clearly lacks the reddish component in the 75. #76 was issued a year after #75 in 1863 in a quantity of 6.5M and was also used primarily with a 10c stamp to pay the 15c rate to France.
The description of the #75 was as follows:
“an extraordinary mint example, featuring the finest centering we have ever seen on a mint copy of this notoriously difficult stamp, deep luxuriant color and an especially intense impression, disturbed o.g., extremely fine”
The #75 also came with 2 certificates, an 02 Philatelic Foundation (PF) certificate and a 2010 PSE certificate grading the stamp as 90 extra-fine with disturbed original gum (DOG). The grade of 90 is the only and highest grade given to date for this always tight stamp so the final price realized of $2200 against a Stamp Market Quarterly(SMQ) price of $11,500 is quite surprising. I checked the Scott Value Supplement and it prices a 75 at $11,000 with “unused OG” at a grade of 90 so there is nothing unusual about the SMQ price. So this stamp realized less than 25% of the value guides. Usually when a stamp is bidding at such a low fraction dealers will step in and bid the price up to a more reasonable fraction.
There are two conclusions one could draw. Either the DOG was pretty bad compared to previously hinged or the market for the really rare and expensive stamps is still weak (or maybe both).
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