ArtHitParade
ArtHitParade on Twitter
  • Home
    • Contact
  • Calendar
  • Top 10
    • Origin
    • From 600 BCE to CE
    • Years 1 to 1000
    • Years 1000 to 1300
    • 14th Century
    • 15th Century >
      • Years 1400-1429
      • Years 1430-1459
      • Years 1460-1479
      • Years 1480-1499
    • 16th Century >
      • Years 1500-1519
      • Decade 1520-1529
      • Decade 1530-1539
      • Years 1540-1569
      • Years 1570-1599
    • 17th Century >
      • Decade 1600-1609
      • Decade 1610-1619
      • Decade 1620-1629
      • Decade 1630-1639
      • Decade 1640-1649
      • Decade 1650-1659
      • Years 1660-1679
      • Years 1680-1699
    • 18th Century >
      • Decade 1700-1709
      • Decade 1710-1719
      • Decade 1720-1729
      • Decade 1730-1739
      • Decade 1740-1749
      • Decade 1750-1759
      • Decade 1760-1769
      • Decade 1770-1779 >
        • 1776
      • Decade 1780-1789
      • Decade 1790-1799 >
        • 1792
    • 19th Century >
      • Decade 1800-1809
      • Decade 1810-1819
      • Decade 1820-1829
      • Decade 1830-1839
      • Decade 1840-1849
      • Decade 1850-1859
      • Decade 1860-1869
      • Decade 1870-1879
      • Decade 1880-1889 >
        • 1887
        • 1888
        • 1889
      • Decade 1890-1899 >
        • 1890
        • 1892
        • 1895
        • 1896
    • 20th Century >
      • Decade 1900-1909 >
        • 1902
        • 1903
        • 1904
        • 1905
        • 1907
        • 1908
        • 1909
      • Decade 1910-1919 >
        • 1911
        • 1912
        • 1913
        • 1914
        • 1915
        • 1916
        • 1917
        • 1918
        • 1919
      • Decade 1920-1929 >
        • 1920
        • 1921
        • 1923
        • 1924
        • 1925
        • 1926
        • 1927
        • 1928
        • 1929
      • Decade 1930-1939 >
        • 1930
        • 1931
        • 1932
        • 1933
        • 1934
        • 1935
        • 1936
        • 1937
        • 1938
        • 1939
      • Decade 1940-1949 >
        • 1941
        • 1942
        • 1945
        • 1946
        • 1947
        • 1948
        • 1949
      • Decade 1950-1959 >
        • 1950
        • 1951
        • 1952
        • 1953
        • 1954
        • 1955
        • 1956
        • 1957
        • 1958
        • 1959
      • Decade 1960-1969 >
        • 1960
        • 1961
        • 1962
        • 1963
        • 1964
        • 1965
        • 1966
        • 1967
        • 1968
        • 1969
      • Decade 1970-1979 >
        • 1970
        • 1971
        • 1972
        • 1974
        • 1975
        • 1976
        • 1977
        • 1978
        • 1979
      • Decade 1980-1989 >
        • 1980
        • 1981
        • 1982
        • 1983
        • 1984
        • 1985
        • 1986
        • 1987
        • 1988
        • 1989
      • Decade 1990-1999 >
        • 1990
        • 1991
        • 1992
        • 1993
        • 1994
        • 1995
        • 1996
        • 1997
        • 1998
        • 1999
    • 21st Century >
      • Decade 2000-2009 >
        • 2000
        • 2001
        • 2002
        • 2003
        • 2004
        • 2006
        • 2007
        • 2008
      • Decade 2010-2019 >
        • 2017
      • 2020 to now >
        • 2021
  • Current Art
  • Renaissance
  • Painting
    • Ancient Painting >
      • Rembrandt
      • Oil on Copper
    • 18th Century Painting
  • Ancient Drawing
  • Art on Paper
  • Sculpture
    • Bust
    • Ancient Sculpture >
      • Roman Sculpture
    • Italian Sculpture
    • French Sculpture
    • Sculpture by Painters
  • Women Artists
    • Ancient Art by Women
    • Current Art by Women
    • O'Keeffe
    • Martin
    • Mitchell
    • Yayoi Kusama
  • Furniture
    • Chairs and Seats
    • Colonial Furniture
    • Ancient French Furniture
    • 18th Century Furniture
    • Modern Furniture >
      • Art Deco
    • Modern Tables
  • Prints
    • Ancient Prints
    • Modern Prints
  • Photo
    • Old Photos >
      • Travel Photos
      • Early French Photo
    • Photos 1900s 1910s
    • Photos 1920s 1930s
    • Photos 1970s 1980s
    • Sherman
    • Gursky
  • The Man
  • The Woman
  • Children
  • Man and Woman
  • Groups
  • Self Portrait
    • Self Portrait 2nd page
  • Nude
  • Abstract Art
    • Abstract Art - 2nd page
  • Landscape
    • Midi
    • Alps
    • Mountains in China
  • Cities
    • Venice
    • Paris
    • Los Angeles
  • Flowers
    • Bouquet
  • Animals
    • Bird
    • Cats
    • Horse
  • Dragon
  • Tabletop
  • Early Still Life
  • Music and Dance in Art
    • Music in Old Painting
  • Sport in Art
  • Orientalism
    • Orientalism 1830-1900
  • France
    • Louis XV and XVI
    • Revolution and Empire
    • Louis XVIII to 2nd Empire
    • Ancient French Painting
    • Degas
    • Cézanne
    • Monet >
      • Monet before 1878
      • From Vétheuil to Giverny
      • London and Venice
      • Bassin aux Nymphéas
    • Renoir
    • Gauguin
    • Seurat and Signac
    • Lautrec
    • Matisse
    • Klein
    • Lalanne
    • Post War French Art
  • Italy
    • Ancient Italy >
      • Italian Painting 1280-1700
    • Canaletto
    • Modigliani
    • Fontana
  • Swiss Painting
    • Hodler
  • Giacometti
    • Giacometti 1947-53
    • Femme Debout
  • Bacon
    • Bacon before 1963
    • Bacon 1963-70
    • Later Bacons
    • Head Triptych
  • UK - 2nd page
    • Ancient England
    • George I to III
    • George IV to Victoria
    • British Royals
    • Turner >
      • Watercolor by Turner
    • Freud >
      • Early Freud
    • Hockney
    • Doig
    • Hirst
    • Banksy
  • Germany
    • Ancient Germany >
      • Cranach
    • Richter >
      • Richter before 1983
    • Germany - 2nd page
  • Van Gogh
  • Mondrian
  • De Kooning
  • Old Flanders and Belgium
    • Flemish Art >
      • Rubens
    • Magritte >
      • Early Magritte
    • Belgium 2nd page
  • Picasso
    • Picasso before 1907
    • Picasso 1907-1931
    • 1932 Picasso
    • Picasso later 1930s
    • Picasso 1940-1960
    • Picasso in Mougins
    • Prints by Picasso
  • Miro
  • Spain 2nd page
    • Ancient Spain
    • Gris
  • Klimt
  • Schiele
  • USA
    • US Independence
    • Development of USA
    • US Civil War
    • Wild West
    • US Painting before 1940
    • Rockwell
    • Calder
    • Rothko >
      • Early Rothko
      • Rothko 1957-70
    • Still
    • Pollock
    • Lichtenstein >
      • Lichtenstein after 1965
    • Warhol >
      • USA by Warhol
      • Celebrities by Warhol
      • Later Warhols
      • Prints by Warhol
    • Twombly
    • Prince
    • Koons
    • Wool
    • Basquiat
    • USA 2nd page
  • Central and South Americas
    • Mexico
  • China
    • Archaic China >
      • Ritual Bronzes
    • Northern Song
    • Southern Song and Yuan
    • Early Ming
    • Later Ming
    • Early Qing
    • Qianlong
    • Modern China >
      • Zhang Daqian
      • Fu Baoshi
      • Sanyu >
        • Sanyu before 1950
      • Zao Wou-Ki
    • New Chinese Painting
    • Chinese Porcelain >
      • Song to Yuan Porcelain
      • Ming Porcelain
      • Qing Porcelain
    • Chinese Art
    • Chinese Calligraphy
    • Chinese Furniture
    • Imperial Seal
    • Jadeite
  • India
    • Gaitonde
    • Modern India
  • Persia
    • Safavid Carpets
  • Yoshitomo Nara
  • Russia
    • Russia 1700-1900
    • Kandinsky
  • Eastern Europe
    • Chagall
  • Northern Europe
    • Prints by Munch
  • Egypt
  • Tropical Africa
    • Congo
    • Gabon
    • Mask
  • Tribal Oceania
    • Easter Island
  • Australia
    • Colonial Australia
  • Islam
  • Buddhism
    • Early Buddhist Sculpture
    • Tibet and Nepal
  • Judaica
  • Christianity
    • Madonna and Child
  • Cars
    • Birth of Automobile
    • Cars of the 1910s
    • Cars of the 1920s
    • Cars of the 1930s >
      • Cars 1930-33
      • Cars 1934-35
      • Cars 1936-37
      • Cars 1938-39
    • Post War Cars
    • Cars of the 1950s >
      • Cars 1953-54
      • Cars 1955
      • Cars 1956-57
      • Cars 1958-59
    • Cars of the 1960s >
      • Cars 1960-61
      • Cars 1962-63
      • Cars 1964-65
      • Cars 1966-67
    • Cars 1970s 1980s
    • Supercars
    • Hypercars
    • Ferrari >
      • Early Ferrari
      • From LWB to GTO >
        • California Spider
      • Big Five
    • Alfa Romeo
    • Mercedes-Benz
    • Porsche
    • British Cars >
      • Aston Martin
      • Jaguar
      • McLaren
    • Bugatti
    • French Cars
    • Duesenberg
    • Ford and Shelby
    • Cars in Movies
    • Cars - 2nd page
  • Motorcycles
  • Jewels
    • White Diamond
    • Pink Diamond
    • Blue Diamond
    • African Diamonds
    • Jewels - 2nd page
    • Cartier
  • Silverware
    • Old Silverware
  • Coin
    • Antique Coins
    • Coins 1000-1775
    • Coins 1776-92
    • Coins 1793-99
    • Coins 1800-49
    • Coins 1850-69
    • Coins 1870-99
    • 20th century Coins
    • US Gold Coins
    • Dollars and Eagles >
      • Silver Dollar
    • British Coins
    • Japanese Coins
    • Chinese Coins
  • Paper Currency
  • Medal and Decoration
  • Time Pieces
    • Clocks >
      • Old Clocks
    • Mechanical Craft ca 1800 >
      • Jaquet-Droz and Followers
    • Modern Watches
    • New Watches >
      • OnlyWatch
    • Patek Philippe >
      • Patek Philippe before 1950
      • World Time
      • Perpetual Calendar
    • Rolex
    • Watches 2nd page
    • English Time Pieces
    • French Time Pieces
  • Glass and Crystal
    • Glass before 1900
    • Tiffany Studios
  • From Terracotta to Porcelain
    • Meissen
  • Textiles
  • Garment
  • Fashion
  • Books
    • Incunabula
    • 16th Century Books
    • 17th Century Books
    • Fine Books 1700-1850
  • Literature
    • Literature in English
    • Literature in French
  • Poems and Lyrics
  • Autograph
  • Manuscript
    • Illuminated Christian Manuscript
  • Religious Texts
  • Political Writing
  • Comic Books
  • Illustration Art
    • Tintin
  • Travel
  • Space
    • Apollo 11
  • Maps
    • Ancient Maps
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Musical Instrument
    • Stradivarius
    • Violin 2nd page
    • Guitar
    • Musical Instrument 2nd page
  • Pop Music
    • The Beatles
  • Poster
  • Sport
    • Sport Equipment
    • Sport Uniform
    • Sport Document
    • Sport Rewards and Medals
    • T206 Wagner
    • Sport Images before 1940
    • Sport Cards 1940-92
    • Topps Mantle
    • Modern Sport Cards
    • Baseball >
      • Baseball Bat
      • Babe Ruth
      • Lou Gehrig
    • Basketball >
      • Jordan
    • Ice Hockey
    • Sport 2nd page
    • Olympic Games
  • Origins of Sports
  • Historical Arms
    • Blade and Armour
    • Colt 1836-62
    • Later Colts
    • Winchester
    • Firearms - 2nd page
  • Toys
  • Doll
  • Games
  • Stamps
    • World Stamps
    • US Stamps
    • Inverted Jenny
  • Inventions
  • Optical Instrument
  • Sciences
    • Ancient Science
    • Sciences 1600-1800
    • Sciences from 1800
    • Astronomy
    • Physics
    • Medicine
  • Dinosaur
  • Computing
  • Nobel Medals
  • Whisky
    • Whisky 2nd page
  • Wine
  • Plus
    • Plus 17C
    • Plus 1880s
    • Plus 1910s
    • Plus 1962-64 Warhol
    • Plus Basquiat

Stamps

See also : World stamps  US stamps  Inverted Jenny  British Royals  Central and South Americas 
Chronology : 1840-1849  1850-1859
See List of most expensive stamps in Wikipedia.

Intro

The invention of the postage stamp is a direct consequence of the development of commercial and industrial England, but it brought such a social progress that its use was rapidly adopted worldwide.

The mail delivery, paid by the recipient, was long and expensive. A postal reform was desired to eradicate the corruption. Robert Wallace, the Whig member of parliament for Greenock, started the Uniform Penny Post campaign. advocating a monopoly of the government for the postage  with a uniform rate whatever the distance within the Kingdom.

In 1837 the social reformer Rowland Hill appreciated that having it paid by the sender was sufficient to significantly increase the volume of mail and reduce the price. He was able to convince the committee presided by Wallace to accept the incredibly low price of one penny, payable by the prior purchase of gummed stamps or special envelopes. The post office had now in charge to ink the stamp on the cover to prevent it from being reused by the recipient.

The basic postage rate was reduced to 4 pence in December 1839 and to 1 penny in February 1840, canceling privileges and fraud before a stamp was available. The first postage stamp in the world was the one penny black with the figure of Queen Victoria in profile to the left, released on May 6, 1840 through a printing of 20 rows of 12 columns per plate.

This achievement marks the transition of the postage between an application for trade and the global purpose accessible to all individuals, triggering the improvement of the circulation of informations and ideas worldwide. Its impact on our current civilization is major.
​

1843-1844 Olho de Boi
2008 SOLD for $ 2.2M by Robert A. Siegel​

The British invented in 1840 the prepayment of mail by the sender with postage stamps. On August 1, 1843, Brazil was the first other country to release stamps for national use. It had been preceded by local issues in New York City and Zurich.

Brazil issued three denominations : 30 and 60 reis for general purpose and 90 reis for international mail. The large numeral value well centered in an oval made them nicknamed  Olho de boi (bull's eye) after the funny effect of a side by side pair. The very simple design has no other inscription or picture.

These stamps were printed in Rio de Janeiro on a British engraving press confiscated by the authorities. The first two plates had 54 positions made of six columns in three sections of three rows each, one section for each denomination. It was not so clever to mix the three values in the same batch and specific plates were soon added.

The production tun was terminated at the end of 1843. Bull's eyes are rare because the inclinados aka snake's eyes superseded the straight numerals a few months later.

A se-tenant vertical strip of bull's eyes was first documented in 1897. This uncut strip had been canceled by postmarks in 1844. It is made of two 30 reis and one 60 reis, including the line separating the two upper panels. It has been named the Pack Strip after a former owner and also the Xiphopagus Triplet, from a word designating tied twins in teratology.

The Pack Strip was sold for $ 2.2M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Robert A. Siegel on June 5, 2008, lot 17. The image is shared by Wikipedia.

Only one other block of se-tenant bull's eyes of different values is known, but it is defective.
The Xiphopagus Triplet - Pack Strip stamps of Brazil used 1844

1847 Mauritius

​1
​The Invitation Cover
2021 SOLD for € 8.1M before fees by Gärtner

In 1847 Mauritius is the seventh territory to issue pre-paid postage stamps. Two denominations are prepared. The first impression is made with a unique copper plate on which a single figure of each value has been engraved. The inks are different, red orange for the penny and dark blue for the 2 pence and each copy is individually printed. The plaque was sold for € 1.23M by David Feldman on December 1, 2016.

The stamps are inscribed POST OFFICE on the left edge, which corresponds to the marks previously used by this post, and also to the first US stamps issued in the same year. 

​
The issue of 500 stamps of each denomination is ready just in time to be used for an invitation to a costume ball at Government House. The postal rate is 1 penny for a delivery in Port Louis and 2 pence for the rest of the island.

This first release is unique. A few months later, new plaques are prepared for multiple printing. The two editions differ in the text, which becomes POST PAID.

One of four surviving covers mailed for the invitation to the ball was sold for € 8.1M before fees by Gärtner on June 26, 2021, lot 1. It is illustrated with also the Bordeaux cover on the post sale release shared by Barnebys. It had been sold for CHF 1.4M before fees by David Feldman on November 3, 1993, lot 452.

​This cover was circulated with the One Penny stamp. The recipient, "H. Adam Esq Junr", was locally best known : no address has been written. He remembered fifty years later having attended the ball.

The stamp is clean with clear margins. The mark PAID cancels the stamp and a mark PENNY POST is on the top left side of the cover. The reverse is stamped by the Mauritius Post Office at a date, September 27, 1847, which is the 7th day of the issue. Its provenance is unbroken from its first addressee to now. It was once in the collection of King Carol of Romania.

An #envelope flanked by a rare #stamp has been auctioned for a #record sum in Germany.

It hails from 1847 #Mauritius:

— Barnebys.co.uk (@Barnebysuk) July 11, 2021
World Stamps
British Royals
Decade 1840-1849

​2
The Bordeaux Cover
1993 SOLD for CHF 6.1M by David Feldman (worth US $ 4.1M at that time)

The POST OFFICE version of the Mauritius stamps is extremely rare. Four lots were sold by David Feldman on November 3, 1993 : two unused stamps and two covers.

The only known unused copy of the 1 penny was sold for CHF 1.4M before fees. One of the four unused copies of the 2 pence was sold for CHF 1.5M before fees. A cover mailed for the invitation to the ball was sold for CHF 1.4M before fees.

A cover sent from Port Louis to a wine merchant in Bordeaux has been stamped at the overseas rate and includes a copy of both denominations. Discovered in 1902 by a schoolboy who was consulting the recipient's archives, it is kept with its letter. It was sold for CHF 5M before fees, CHF 6.1M including premium, lot 155.

The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Bordeaux Cover

3
Two Pence
1993 SOLD for CHF 1.5M before fees by David Feldman

In the same sale as the Bordeaux cover on November 3, 1993, David Feldman sold at lot 2 for CHF 1.5M before fees one of the four unused copies of the 2 pence.

Also in the same sale, Feldman 
sold at lot 1 for CHF 1.4M before fees the only remaining unused copy of the 1 penny. Another example had disappeared in World War II.

1852 The Cover from Hawaii
2013 SOLD for $ 2.25M by Robert A. Siegel

The invention of the stamp greatly facilitated the communication with the most remote regions. In Hawaii, the missionaries wished to send mails to their families. In 1851, the government of the archipelago issued its first stamps.

Three values ​​are released, corresponding to the three postage rates: 2 cents for a newspaper, 5 cents for a letter to the Western United States and 13 cents to the East. Printed on thin paper, these fragile stamps poorly survived.

These 13 cents enabled to pay 5 cents for the sending country, 2 cents to the boat and 6 cents to the destination country. They were paid to the post office of Hawaii which ensured the sharing of the fee.

In 1905, somewhere in the United States, a worker cleans a factory disused for about 35 years. The previous owners had not checked the incineration of their archives. The worker discovered in a stove, almost intact, one of the wonders of the history of philately: the Dawson cover.

Shipped from Hawaii to New York on October 4, 1852, the Dawson cover did not use the stamp of 13 cents but a combination from the two involved countries : 2 cents and 5 cents of Hawaii and two stamps of 3 cents each of the United States. This is the only known copy with this mixed postage.

It was sold for $ 2.1 million including premium by Robert A. Siegel in New York in November 1995. It is now estimated $ 2M, for sale by the same auction house on June 25.

POST SALE COMMENT

Sold for $ 1.95M before fees, this prestigious piece of philately remained in the region of its lower estimate.

The file is shared by Wikimedia :
Dawson Cover

1856 British Guiana One Cent Magenta
2014 SOLD for $ 9.5M by Sotheby's

The invention of the postage stamp in England in 1840 is a revolution in communications. Hitherto limited to shipment operations, the Post Office of British Guiana is one of the first in South America to use stamps and to develop a local delivery, through the diligence of Edward Dalton, a colonial postmaster unwilling to wait for official authorizations.

The first stamps issued by the British Guiana in 1850 are made in black ink by woodcut printing on papers of various colors depending on the face value. The work is done by the printer of the local newspaper. They are so rudimentary that each sold stamp is authenticated by the handwritten initials of the postmaster or of one of his clerks.

These first stamps of 4, 8 and 12 cents are not rare because they have attracted the interest of collectors from the 1870s. These circular or roughly octagonal stamps are nicknamed the cottonreels. An additional cottonreel of 2 cents was issued in 1851. This low value only applied for the local mail inside Georgetown and this variety is extremely rare.

In 1852 the government takes control of operations. Stamps for British Guiana are now lithographed in England. In September 1855, it is a disaster. British agents had misunderstood the order and printed a quantity of stamps ten times lower than needed. Faced with the shortage, Dalton released in 1856 a new series of locally printed British Guiana stamps, with the same rudimentary process as in 1850.

The 4 cents stamp of 1856 to be used for mail is printed on colored paper in four variants, magenta, carmine, blue and double sided blue.

The 1 cent for the postage of newspapers is a lower denomination that had no reason to be kept by users. Only one survived. In poor condition, almost indecipherable, it is magenta in the same shade as one of the 4 cent variants. Collected in 1873 by a schoolboy in the archives of his uncle, it was formally authenticated by an expert in 1891.

This 1 cent magenta 29 x 26 mm British Guiana stamp is the only British variety that escapes the royal collection.  Its reverse bears eight marks of prominent owners. Sold for $ 935K by Siegel in 1980, it was already at that time the most expensive stamp in the world. 

It was sold twice by Sotheby's : for $ 9.5M on June 17, 2014 and for $ 8.3M on June 8, 2021, lot 3. The image is shared by Wikimedia. Please watch a video shared in 2008 by psychediva.

In June 2014 the other lots from the DuPont collection of British Guiana stamps were sold by David Feldman. The top results before fees were € 160K for a 4 cents from 1850-1851 on a cover, € 190K for a 2 cents from 1851 and € 240K for a blue 4 cents on a cover from 1856.
British Guiana 1856 1c magenta stamp

✉️The British Guiana One-Cent Magenta is thought to be the sole survivor of its kind, created during a stamp shortage in the 1850s and now expected to fetch up to $15 million when it’s auctioned by @Sothebys pic.twitter.com/I57OQ34zkr

— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) April 29, 2021
Central and South Americas
Decade 1850-1859

1857 The Only 3-Skilling Yellow
1996 SOLD for CHF 2.9M including premium by David Feldman
narrated in 2010 before a private auction sale (see below)

Children love stamps, as it is well known. In 1885, a German boy gets his grandmother's permission to take off stamps from old covers to make money. The dealer to whom he presented his booty is amazed: a 3 Skilling Swedish stamp has a wrong color!

No other copy will never be found, making this stamp the rarest and most desired piece on the philately market. Its story is told on the Treskilling Yellow page of Wikipedia, where it is illustrated. It was canceled in 1857.

It is a mistake and not a fake. This sample has all the characteristics of an 8 Skilling stamp, yellow, unless it bears the engraving of the 3 Skilling, which is green for all other known copies. The hypothesis to keep is that one of 100 clichés of a printing block of 8 Skilling was damaged, and the operator has inadvertently changed it by a 3 Skilling cliché. Nobody went aware of the error, and there is no way of knowing how many wrong copies were produced.

It was sold in 1996 2.9 MCHF including premium by David Feldman.

A scoop of the Telegraph has just announced its forthcoming sale without giving details, and it took me a few navigation tips to find the source: the 3 Skilling Yellow comes on May 22 in Geneva at private auction by David Feldman, with a specific catalog. You are now part of the happy few: here is the link to the catalog shared by the auction house.

David Feldman has done a quick calculation. Reduced to its weight, this small artefact of 26.75 milligrams is valued $ 70 billion per kilogram! Who says better?

POST SALE COMMENT

The Treskilling was sold for over $ 2.3 million to a group of buyers who required that the exact amount was not disclosed . I remind that it was a private auction.

Shared by Wikimedia :
Gul tre skilling banco

​1868 Z Grill 15 c
​2019 SOLD for $ 1.6M by Cherrystone

The grilled stamps were a regular variant used by the US Postage from 1867 to 1870. The purpose was to indent the stamp to discourage the washing out of the cancellation ink. The types of grills are identified by letters which are not related to their pattern of points.

The first tests are carried out with the A Grill in 1867. They are promising, but the A Grill covers the entire surface of the stamp, which reduces the production yield due to an excessive mechanical stress.

Released in January 1868, the Z Grill had the only design with horizontal ridges. It was obsoleted in mid February. It is not uncommon for some stamp values ​​but is very rare for 1 cent, 10 cents and 15 cents, certainly for reasons of production sequence. 

2 units of the 15 cents Z Grill are known. One of them was sold by Cherrystone on July 12, 2019 for $ 1.6M from an estimate of $ 750K, lot 72.
US Stamps

1918 Inverted Jenny

1
​Plate Block
​2021 SOLD for $ 4.9M by Sotheby's

For being more appealing and less inviting to counterfeiting, bicolored stamps were issued in the United States. Their printing in two runs was a source of error by reversing the figures.

May 15, 1918 is a historic date for the civil aviation : the first regular airmail service is inaugurated in Washington DC by President Wilson. It connects New York to Washington and return, with a change of plane in Philadelphia.

Mail shipping was set at 24c and the two-color stamp was available since the day before. The blue center features the biplane model selected for this service, a Jenny, nickname for the Curtiss JN-4. The preparation of the stamp was made in a hurry. The die for printing the plane had been completed only six days earlier. The engraver added in the picture the serial number of the aircraft scheduled for the official inaugural flight, 38262.

After the inverted images in bicolored US stamps of 1869 and 1901, philatelists hoped that the inverted error would also affect that new bicolor issue. In the morning of that first day, May 14, the administration is informed that a full sheet with the upside-down plane has been sold to a customer in a post office of Washington DC.

The discoverer, William T. Robey, had rushed at the opening of the post office while one of his friends was doing the same in Philadelphia. Warned after the transaction when Robey was asking for another similar sheet, the employee had not been in position to prevent it.

In the afternoon of the same day, the sale to the public is suspended for two hours in Philadelphia, New York and Washington for an inspection of the stock and the scrap of the defective sheets. In order to standardize the shipment, the production process included a trimming of the top edge where both plate numbers, 8493 for the blue and 8492 for the carmine rose, had been printed. The error sheet was an exception where the blue plate reference was left untrimmed, on the opposite edge. 

We are still in the heroic time of aviation. The President is upset : he is wasting his precious time. 38262 takes off southward instead of going toward Philadelphia. The pilot tried to land in the countryside and bogged down in a swamp this plane carrying the first mailbag of the new service. Fortunately in the opposite travel on the same day the first north-south transfer is successful.


The reaction of the administration after the Inverted error discovery had been extremely rapid. For the following runs, the word TOP is added at the top edge of the sheet and is checked in a specific production control. On May 21, when the dealer Eugene Klein buys for $ 15,000 from Robey this Inverted Jenny sheet paid for $ 24 six days earlier, it already appears that the additional checks have been effective and that this example will remain unique.

A few hours later, Klein sells the complete sheet to the rich and eccentric collector Colonel Green. The unpleasant trimming had intentionally removed the top and right margins and damaged he perforations in their adjacent stamps. Green does not want to keep the whole. He will only accept the best positions for his collection and entrusts the sale of the rest to Klein. It is at this point that Klein numbers each stamp from 1 to 100 on the reverse of the sheet to record the original position of each stamp before dividing the sheet into singles and blocks.

The blue plate number is printed in the otherwise blank element below position 97. One of the elements kept by Green is a block of eight, 85-88 and 95-98, with its sheet margins, therefore including the  plate number.

The quality of the eight stamps was uneven. In 1944 a new owner removed individually the four stamps on the left, which had gum defects and thinning. This rework was judicious. The remaining block, consisting of positions 87, 88, 97, 98 plus the two sheet margins including the plate number below the 97, is extremely fine for the paper, colors, perforations, thickness, original gum and centering.

The unique Inverted Jenny plate block was sold for $ 1.1M by Christie's on October 12, 1989, for $ 2.97M by Robert A. Siegel on October 19, 2005 and for 
$ 4.9M by Sotheby's on June 8, 2021, lot 2.
​
The image is shared by Wikimedia.​
Inverted jenny400

Take a closer look at three pocket sized treasures from the collection of famed shoe designer & fashion entrepreneur Stuart Weitzman. On offer in a live sale on 8 June, the historic auction features the world's most rare & valuable coin & stamp specimens. https://t.co/M9FTbFdy2X pic.twitter.com/3kMSIUUYdE

— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 27, 2021
Inverted Jenny

2
Block of Four
​​2019 SOLD for $ 1.74 by Spink

In the 1940s the auctions of the Green deceased estate reveal his preferences in terms of the Onverted Jenny : a block of eight, three blocks of four, a vertical block of two and a few single stamps. Some stamps in bad condition appear in the same sales : these are the unsold stamps which had been returned at some point by Klein to Green.

After the Green sale, the block of eight is separated into a very fine block of four, retaining the inscribed bottom margin, plus four single stamps.

On September 27, 2019, Spink sold for $ 1.74M as Lot 1 one of the blocks of four from Green's selection, consisting of the central positions 45, 46, 55 and 56 of the original sheet. This block is in very fine condition with a small disturbing to the original gum which is common in the Green collection.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.