US Stamps

Matthew Bennett’s Feb. 25 auction includes U.S. used rarities

Feb 5, 2015, 10 AM

A rare used example of the United States 1875 90¢ blue reissue will be auctioned Feb. 25 by Matthew Bennett in New York City.

 

Matthew Bennett International will hold a public auction of United States stamps and postal history Feb. 25 at the New Yorker Hotel, 481 8th Ave., in New York City.

The auction features the Michael Bakwin collection of used United States, 1847-1947.

Two key issues in any collection of used U.S. stamps come from the set of 1875 reissues of the 1861-67 series.

Chief among these are the 1875 10¢ green George Washington (Scott 106) and the 90¢ blue Washington (111).

The upcoming Bennett auction has one used example of each.

The 90¢ blue on offer is described by Bennett as "perfectly centered within large margins, brilliant, exquisite color and a sharp impression on the whitest of paper, unobtrusive, oval grid cancel. Extremely Fine."

Only three other used examples of the 90¢ reissue have been certified by the Philatelic Foundation, Bennett notes, plus one stamp with a noncontemporaneous cancel, an assessment confirmed by the description in the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers.

This example "may well be considered the finest of these used 90¢ reissues," Bennett adds. Formerly part of the Twigg-Smith collection, it is offered with a 1977 Philatelic Foundation certificate.

The stamp is listed in the 2015 Scott U.S. Specialized catalog with a value of $225,000 used.

The 10¢ green reissue has a 2015 Scott catalog value of $125,000, and the example in Bennett’s auction is also choice.

"An outstanding jumbo-margined single of one of the rarest used U.S. stamps, two of which have faults," according to the auction catalog description. "The present example is one of the two finest extant."

The stamp is struck with cork cancels and listed as ex-Mayer. It is accompanied by a 1974 certificate from the Philatelic Foundation.

The Bennett auction also offers an impressive selection of postally used U.S. inverts, including the 1869 15¢ brown and blue Landing of Columbus, type II with center double, one inverted (Scott 119c); the 1869 30¢ ultramarine and carmine Shield, Eagle and Flags with flags inverted (121b), the 1901 1¢ green and black Pan American with center ship vignette inverted (294a), and the 1901 2¢ carmine and black Pan American with center train vignette inverted (295a).

The 242-lot auction concludes with a neat used example of the 1938 red brown and black variety of the $5 Calvin Coolidge stamp from the Presidential definitive series (Scott 834a), plus collections and balance lots.

Information about the Matthew Bennett auction is available online; or contact Matthew Bennett International, 1 Oldfields Road, South Berwick, ME 03908.

More from Linns.com: 

Upright Jenny Invert pane, imperf stamps from press sheets to be listed by Scott

1¢ Bobcat coil variety to be issued at Aripex show

Possible 20¢ Apgar imperf surfaces on 2002 cover in Fla.

No speedy delivery for letter to PMG Brennan

An Open Letter to Postmaster General Megan Brennan

Keep up with all of Linns.com's news and insights by signing up for our free eNewslettersliking us on Facebook, and following us on Twitter.