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Auction: 144 - August Philatelic Collector's Series Sale
Lot: 273

#512b, 12c Claret brown, perforated 10 at bottom variety, an amazing mint example of this enormously rare stamp, possessing the best centering of the known mint examples, large and balanced margins, fully intact perforations, o.g., l.h., light facial scuff affecting the color only, otherwise very fine; accompanied by a photocopy of 1980 PF certificate for a block of four, this being the top right stamp.

The certificate is important for establishing the census of the mint examples of this rarity as Apparently the nature of this error was not known at the time the certificate was issued. It has this unusual description: "Block o 4, right vertical pair perf.9½ between, left vertical pair perf. 10 between". The reason for this unusual description is the perf. 10 is perf. 10-81on the Kiusalas gauge, which is close to perf. 9½. Furthermore the left pair is only partially perforated 10. The left five holes are the normal perf. 11 and the right five holes are perf. 10. Not recognizing this when they tried to gauge the left pair they saw that it gauged differently overall than the right pair and thus their description. But this block also establishes that each of these four stamps is a different variety. The top right stamp (the stamp offered here) is perf. 10 at bottom, The bottom right stamp is perf. 10 at top (offered in 2011 as n.h. by Siegel Auction Galleries) and the top left and bottom left are partially perf. 10 at bottom and top respectively. Current census of 512b shows twelve used stamps. The number of mint known are only four, all of which are substantially different varieties. The stamp offered here is a great rarity for the Washington-Franklin specialist.