Rare Orangeburg coil pair in March 19 Siegel auction of Pivawer collection of U.S. stamps

By Charles Snee

Philip Pivawer’s impressive collection of United States stamps will be sold March 19 by Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York City.

The sale will be conducted in two sessions, the first beginning at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time and second at 1:30 p.m.

Among the sale’s 285 lots are stamps of exceptional quality and rarity. The first 239 lots are arranged chronologically, starting with the 1847 issue (the nation’s first adhesive postage stamps) in the first session and concluding with 1922-29 issues in the second session.

Most of the remaining 46 lots comprise back-of-the-book issues, beginning with airmail and special delivery issues and concluding with offices in China and a mint, never-hinged example of the first federal duck stamp (Scott RW1).

Four balance lots, each filled with desirable stamps, conclude the auction.

A notable highlight of the afternoon session is a rare unused, original-gum pair of the 1911 3¢ deep violet George Washington coil stamp (Scott 389), known to collectors as the Orangeburg coil.

Siegel’s lot description provides an explanation of the stamp’s nickname and its rarity:

“The so-called Orangeburg coil was made by the Post Office Department in 1911, specifically for use by the Bell Pharmaceutical Company in Orangeburg, New York. The 3c coil stamps were used to send samples of their products to physicians. Due to the quantity of mail, they were put through the first-class cancelling machine at Orangeburg. The Orangeburg coil stamps’ use on mail containing product samples and the fact that philatelists were generally unaware of their production account for their rarity.”

The Orangeburg coil pair in the Pivawer collection comes from a strip of five that was broken into two pairs and a single, according to Siegel.

“Our census of unused Scott 389, available at https://siegelauctions.com/census/us/scott/389, contains six pairs and four singles,” Siegel said. “An uncertified unused pair with paste-up at left is in the The New York Public Library’s Benjamin K. Miller collection (on extended loan to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum) and will never be available to collectors. Of the five pairs available to collectors, one is a paste-up, one has perfs touching at left and three are centered strongly to one side. …

“The other pair from the strip [of five], which adjoined this pair to the right, contains the only known Mint N.H. example of the Orangeburg coil (the other stamp in that pair has a small thin spot). That pair, which is ex Alan B. Whitman (Sale 968B, lot 494) was last offered in our 2021 sale of the Gary Petersen collection (Sale 1234, lot 324) and realized $370,000 hammer.”

Siegel describes the pair in the Pivawer collection as being completely sound and notes that a small piece of a hinge was used to reinforce a few perforation separations at the bottom.

A copy of a 1997 Philatelic Foundation certificate for the strip of five containing the pair (positions 2 and 3) is included. Also accompanying the pair are 1997 and 2015 Philatelic Foundation certificates for the pair itself.

An unused pair of the Orangeburg coil is valued at $240,000 in the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers. The value is italicized to indicate an item that trades infrequently in the philatelic marketplace.

The Scott U.S. Specialized catalog values No. 389 in the grade of fine and includes this important warning in a footnote: “Stamps offered as No. 389 sometimes are examples of No. 376 with top and/or bottom perfs trimmed. Expertization by competent authorities is recommended.”

Full details of the March 19 Pivawer U.S. collection auction, including a downloadable version of the 70-page catalog and online bidding options, are available on the Siegel website.

For additional information, contact Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, 21 W. 38th St., Seventh Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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