Unused 1901 4¢ Pan-American special printing inverted center error brings $22,800 at Regency-Superior auction

By Matthew Healey, New York Correspondent

Regency-Superior held a sale in conjunction with the Sescal stamp show in Los Angeles on Oct. 3-4, previewed in Linn’s Sept. 28 issue.

The biggest-ticket item was a comparatively well-centered unused example of the 1901 4¢ Pan-American Exposition special printing with inverted center (Scott 296a). Beset by the usual “disturbed original gum, with faults,” it sold for $22,800, including the 20 percent buyer’s premium assessed by Regency-Superior on all lots.

An unusual lot consisting of plate-number strips of three (and larger) of the First Bureau issue of 1894-1903, comprising more than 400 items in total, sold for $16,200. Early plate blocks and multiples are harder to find than later issues, because they were not extensively collected until the 1920s.