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In 2010 I got invited to participate in a auction in Switzerland Peter Rapp Auctions. It was a red carpet event picked up in a Rolls- Royce red carpet from Air plane greeted with champagne To spend a week A free bmw CAR AND A TICKET TO WINE TASTING. Here is a page in one of the 3 hard cover auction catalogues he sent me. Some of the items had not been seen in more then 50 years.

I have noticed when researching U.S. Scott 231 lists of plate numbers are for regular types. When It comes to Broken Hat Types it seems to be missing the plate numbers for them. Like they never existed. Well not all of them.  While searching for new buys on the internet I've come across the stamp with the plate numbers attached. And  they are not it the list of known plate numbers Plate 67 and 69. The new combos stamps I found with both broken hat and broken right frame line will be difficult to plate., unless we find  one with a plate number still attached to the stamp. Here is the list of plate numbers. This is a good starting list supplied by the APS. You see below that even the first date used is off The cover below from Salem Dec 31 1892 was used before it was suppose to be used. There are a watermark type and there are other shades of ink used on the stamp. A few thing to add in the future. If this letter had of went to a different town it could have been denied as payment for postage.

Enjoy this strange use of a stamp. This article was in the Chronicle of The U.S. Classic Postal Issues. August 2015. I have never seen a stamp used like this.

On Thursday, October 30 at 6:00 pm the BESG is presenting a Halloweeny gruesome topic on Zoom - “Creating Wreck and Crash Covers” with Kendall Sanford. There will be talk of body bags and near death experiences. The event is free but pre-registration is required:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register...gistration

I came across the BESG on Zoom in the early months of the pandemic and have been led down many scenic philatelic paths by their speakers. One reason why I have a rather eclectic collection (my daughter calls it a terrifying big mess of stuff) is my desire to own a sample of whatever the speaker was talking about. It led to something I called PPOSI - the post presentation online shopping indulgence. PPOSI became less frequent in the post-Covid period, replaced by CDHSO - the club dealer home shopping opportunity …

On Wednesday, October 22 at 5:30 pm the Collectors Club in New York is hosting a Zoom presentation by Andrew Kelley on “The Offset Lithographed Washington-Franklin Heads”.

This event is free but requires pre-registration:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register...gistration

Warning: One of the ongoing gifts from the pandemic is the opportunity to attend the meetings of this august club - founded in 1896 - for free from our homes in Canada. The meetings are now often hybrid, though, and when the host asks for a show of hands for those interested in dining at the local Chinese restaurant after the presentation, you can feel a bit left out, especially when so many of the local Chinese restaurants are take out only!

Yesterday Hugh MacDonald delivered “500 Years of Postal History” to the group - illustrated with actual physical covers from 1510 to 2025. He included a brief visit to Old Assyria to see a clay letter and envelope from about 1900 BCE. To be clear, he showed a photo, not the actual artifact.   

The group asked lots of questions. Two members are experienced collectors with a good understanding of postmarks and the evolution of the postal system. At the end of the presentation, Hugh handed out a selection of covers and invited participants to take something that appealed to them and examine it using the Four C’s: Covers, Cancels, Context, and Curiosity.

Next week - “Collecting Countries - Germany” with Ted Luhtala.

Anyone may read this Forum, but only current members of the Kingston Stamp Club may create new posts or reply to posts.

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Scott 321? Pittsburg P.A. Dec14 1908, Camden New York. This Might be a 321 coil but it needs a certificate. The problem with coils is another stamp could have been cut down to make look like a coil. This cover was trimmed but the stamp over hangs the edge of the  cover at the top right side? So the question is was it a coil  but trimmed  by accident  to open the cover. If I ever send it to the APS Ill find out. There are only two of these stamps ever found on cover used. The Date is right so is the cancel. Also The coils were only sold  from a machine dispenser from large  cities in a short period of time. Another thing to look at as well Is the type If it is type two then it isn't Scott 321.     This stamp is a type one.[b]2c Carmine, Ty. I, Coil (321).[/b] Bright color, used with [b]vertical pair of 5c Blue, Imperforate (315),[/b] tied together by "Indianapolis Ind. Dec. 20 11:30AM 1908" duplex datestamp and oval grid cancels on legal-size cover with return address for "Law Offices William Pirtle Herod, Fletcher Bank Building, Indianapolis" and addressed to "A. M. Travers Esq., Post Office Department, Washington D.C.", marked "Personal" at left, manuscript "Special Delivery" below stamps, nice range of backstamps including "Graf. & Cin. R.P.O. Dec. 20, 1908 TR.2" duplex struck twice, another similar strike from Dec. 21, "Washington D.C. Dec. 21 2-PM 1908" machine cancel, purple "Special Delivery, Washington D.C. P.O., Dec. 21 P.M." datestamp, 2c with tear at top right and light horizontal crease, 5c pair lifted and reaffixed and top stamp with few tiny surface scrapes, light vertical file folds do not affect stamps
VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A PHENOMENAL COVER BEARING THE RARE 2-CENT VERTICAL EXPERIMENTAL GOVERNMENT COIL, SCOTT 321, WITH ONE OF THE FINEST PAIRS OF THE 5-CENT IMPERFORATE, SCOTT 315. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THE STAMPS HAVE BEEN REUNITED ON THIS COVER IN MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY. WE REGARD THIS AS ONE OF THE GREATEST COVERS IN ALL OF 20TH CENTURY UNITED STATES PHILATELY.
The first government coil stamps were experimental, and philatelists at the time were generally unaware of or indifferent to their existence. Sheets of 400 were printed and perforated in one direction. They were then cut into strips of 20 and hand-assembled into rolls for sale in vending machines. Only small numbers of these experimental coils were produced before the Washington-Franklin series superseded them. One of the rarest stamps in the world is Scott 321, the 2c Shield Vertical Coil. In February 1908, four rolls of 1,000 were produced, and the vertical format was never repeated. A supply was sent to the Parkhurst Vending Machine Co. in Indianapolis, the only city where Scott 321 is known to have been used.
This cover is well-known among students of 20th Century philately both for its rarity and for its highly unusual history. It was sent by William Pirtle Herod, an Indianapolis attorney from a prominent political family. The recipient was Arthur M. Travers in Washington D.C., who was promoted around this time to Acting Third Assistant Postmaster General after serving as Chief Clerk to A. L. Lawshe before the latter's breakdown and resignation. In 1911 Travers earned philatelic notoriety when he was arrested in connection with the Steinmetz-Travers Bluish Paper scandal. His interest in stamps is reflected in a note he affixed to this cover (which accompanies this lot), which reads: "Note the 2 imperforate 5c stamps. Only 13000 of such were issued and less than 10000 were used for postage purposes. A.M.T. Dec 21, 1908." It is noteworthy that Travers did not point out the much rarer 2c coil on this cover. Like most philatelists at the time, he probably did not regard experimental coils as separate issues.
The Herod-Travers cover remained intact until at least 1954, when the first Philatelic Foundation certificate was issued. The cover, without the 5c pair, was offered in Siegel's November 30, 1971, auction of the Louis Grunin collection of 20th Century United States. Just like Travers, our firm's describers at the time failed to appreciate the importance of this cover and did not even photograph it in the sale catalogue. Following the Grunin sale, the cover disappeared from public view for the next 48 years.
All of our efforts to locate the fabled "321 cover" resulted in dead ends. Hans Stoltz and Walter Mader, two Siegel describers from the period, had no recollection as to its whereabouts.
In 2007 the 5c pair was found in an old-time estate and recognized by us as having originated on the cover. The pair was offered in Siegel Sale 930 (lot 2368), where it sold for $22,000 plus premium to the current owner, who had bid on the other 321 cover offered in our 1998 Zoellner sale almost a decade earlier. His fervent desire was to reunite the pair and the cover--owning the pair got him part of the way. On July 10, 2019, the opportunity to reunite the pair and cover finally presented itself. The Herod-Travers cover appeared in the "New Amsterdam" collection offered by Cherrystone Auctions. The consignor was a collector who had been relatively inactive for decades, but was active in the 1970s and probably bought the cover at or close to the time of the Grunin sale. Our client successfully bid on the cover with the 2c coil in that sale and realized his decades-long dream of reuniting the pair with its 2c coil partner on the original envelope.
Our census of Scott 321, available at https://siegelauctions.com/census/us/scott/321 , contains five pairs and two covers with singles. One of the pairs is part of the Benjamin K. Miller collection, currently on long-term loan to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, and will never be available to collectors. That leaves only four pairs plus the two covers available to collectors. Siegel has not offered a pair since before 1994. The Zoellner collection, which was complete, contained the other cover. We resold the ex-Zoellner cover in the William H. Gross U.S. Stamp Treasures auction for $260,000 hammer (Sale 1188, lot 104). A pair was also offered in the same 2019 Cherrystone auction, where it realized $700,000 hammer.
With 1954 P.F. certificate for cover with Scott 315 and 321. The Scott 321 alone on cover is ex Grunin and "New Amsterdam" (with 2019 P.F. certificate). The Scott 315 with 2007 P.F. certificate as an off-cover pair. The Scott value quoted is for a single 321 on cover.

[b]Certificate[/b]
2019 PF
1954 PF
2007 PF

• [b]Scott Value:[/b]$310,000
  

$110,000

• [/url]
  

This cover bears a genuine example of one of the rarest stamps in the world, the 1908 2¢ Vertical Coil, Scott 321, of which four pairs are in private hands and one other single is recorded, but has not been seen in the last 47 years--from the perspective of provenance, this is the most fascinating of all
[b]DESCRIPTION[/b]
[b]2¢ Carmine, Type I, Vertical Coil (321),[/b] deep rich color, well-centered, tied across both sides by “Indianapolis, Ind. Oct. 2 3:30PM 1908” postmark and wavy-line machine cancel on light blue cover addressed to “Mr. Randolph Prelate, Baker Vawter Co., Chicago, Ill.”, backflap with engraved McKinley Club seal of a “GOP” elephant, monogram “MC” and “INDIANAPOLIS” city location, sender’s signature “R. C. Griffith” below the printed design, with original letter enclosure on matching McKinley Club engraved stationery--mentions looking for employment, selling a house for “mother” and running into an old girlfriend
[b]PROVENANCE[/b]
* Edwin P. Seebohm, San Francisco, June 1939, Sale 68, lot 16, to Milton
* Maxwell C. Milton (collection bought and sold privately through Weills; the cover sold privately to Zoellner, 1993)
* Robert Zoellner, Siegel Auction Galleries, 10/8-10/1998, Sale 804, lot 531, to William H. Gross
[b]CENSUS, LITERATURE AND EXHIBITION REFERENCES[/b]
* Siegel census no. 321-COV-01
* https://siegelauctions.com/census/us/scott/321
* World Stamp Show 2016 Court of Honor (Gross)
[b]CERTIFICATION[/b]
* The Philatelic Foundation (1994)
* Accompanied by notarized affidavit from Randolph Prelat, the addressee, dated June 21, 1939, attesting that: ...the certain United States Postage Stamp described on Page 4 of catalogue of Edwin P. Seebohm (68th Public Auction) as Lot No. 16 has not been tampered with and has been in my possession since it was originally mailed from Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1908
[b]CONDITION NOTES[/b]
* Extremely Fine stamp and cover
[b]VIEW PDF OF HISTORY AND COMMENTARY[/b] at https://siegelauctions.com/legacy/104.pdf

• [b]Est:[/b]
  $150,000 - $200,000
  
  
• [b]Scott Value:[/b]$0
  

$260,000

• [url=https://www.siegelauctions.com/auctions/sale/804]
  104.jpg Size: 138.67 KB  Downloads: 20
  
  

Curtesy of Siegal Auctions

[b]Subject to some special terms below, A autographed and incribed copy of Bill Gross's book, The "William H. Gross Collection - United States Classics, 1847–1869" .[/b] This is an extraordinarily high quality publication that faithfully and exquisitely reproduces the most comprehensive and most valuable classic United States stamp collection in private hands. This 136-page book depicts in full color the entire eight frame exhibit "United States Classics, 1847–1869" formed by the renowned philatelist, William H. Gross, which was awarded one of philately's most prestigious exhibiting awards—the Grand Prix National at the Washington 2006 International Stamp Show.

Provenance. 2014 John Emery $775, 2015 Gordon Eubanks $925, 2016 Andrew Titley $525, 2017 Randall Henson $475, 2018 Andy Carr $600, 2019 David Benson $525. 2021 Eric Neville $1100. This is the 8th offering of the book. I have attached the signatures to date I donated last winter and won this book. All proceeds go to Diabetes Society. I added My John Hancock to the book last year. This year I will be the nine time Auctioned. I will pass this year just maybe the opening bid but I will try to win this book in the Tenth Year.

[b]1858, 5¢ brick red, type I (Scott 27),[/b] a wonderfully bright, fresh [b]vertical strip of 3[/b], tied by New Orleans and red "New Paid York/12" c.d.s.s on an 1859 folded letter to Nantes, France; blue sender's double oval and French entry c.d.s. and three different French backstamps; the striip has blunted/clipped perforations at the top and right, but is otherwise exceptionally well centered and Very Fine.