The Natalee Grace Collection of Used United States Stamps, Part One

EXTREMELY FINE GEM. AN OUTSTANDING CORNER-MARGIN COPY OF THE 5-CENT 1847 ISSUE. EXTREMELY RARE WITH SUCH LARGE SHEET MARGINS, ESPECIALLY IN SOUND CONDITION. THIS IS EASILY ONE OF THE FINEST USED EXAMPLES OF THE 5-CENT 1847 ISSUE IN EXISTENCE.

For a variety of reasons, very few examples of the 5c 1847 Issue with corner sheet margins exist. To begin, only four outer corner positions on the full plate of 200 and four additional positions from the interior columns (separated by a gutter) could produce stamps with corner sheet margins. When the stamps were affixed to letters or envelopes, the sheet margins were often trimmed off, presumably to make the stamp fit on the envelope without covering up the address. Corner-margin stamps surviving from this small original supply are very rare, regardless of condition.

Of the dozen or so full-size sheet-margin copies we have located, most seem to have flaws either in the sheet margin close to the stamp or in the stamp itself. Two circumstances of production and use are logical causes for these flaws. First, during production the stamps' proximity to the edge of the sheet left them prone to creasing, pre-printing paperfolds or other handling flaws during the printing, gumming and distribution process. Second, during the normal course of use the large size of corner-margin stamps makes them more susceptible to flaws caused by handling. Everyone -- from the postal clerk selling the stamp, to the correspondent affixing the stamp, to the collectors who used fingers or tongs to move the stamp -- presented the potential for damage.

The example offered here, with bright color, a neat red cancel that leaves the design clearly visible, and only a trivial corner crease in the sheet margin, is one of the finest corner-margin copies of the 5c 1847 extant.

Ex Dick ("DeLuxe" Collection, Siegel Sale 189, April 19, 1956). With 1989 P.F. certificate. (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE GEM. THIS IS ARGUABLY THE FINEST USED 10-CENT 1847 STAMP KNOWN TO PHILATELY. APPROXIMATELY FOURTEEN USED CORNER-MARGIN 10-CENT 1847 SINGLES ARE RECORDED. THIS IS THE ONLY COMPLETELY SOUND EXAMPLE WITH FOUR LARGE MARGINS. IT HAS ALSO BEEN GRADED SUPERB 98 JUMBO BY P.S.E.

Philip T. Wall's census of the 10c 1847 Issue, which encompasses both the Levi records and decades of searching through auction catalogues, records fourteen used stamps and one unused stamp with self-evident corner sheet margins. Others can be plated to a corner position but do not show significant sheet margins. Of the fourteen used stamps, four have larger corner margins than the stamp offered here, but all of these have faults (a total of nine are faulty). Of the four other sound copies, two have one margin touching or at least close (one of these has not been offered at auction since 1969 and is only assumed to be sound) and another is pen cancelled.

Ex Moody, Dick, Haas (Siegel Sale 418, where it realized nearly ten times Scott Catalogue value -- $2,300 vs. $235) and Wall. With 2000 P.F. and 2009 P.S.E. certificates (Superb 98 Jumbo, unpriced in SMQ above the grade of 98, SMQ $6,400.00 as 98). This is the highest grade awarded to date and only two others share this grade. We wonder why this stamp was not graded 100 Jumbo, considering the enormous margins all around. (Image)

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