This was the bottom left stamp in the famous McCoy block. The block had a red vertical guideline between stamps.

According to the Amick book, it is believed the block was owned by Arthur Hind of Utica N.Y., and offered at the auction of his estate in 1933 (auction catalogue did not have a photo). It was sold at the auction to Hugh Clark of Scott Stamp and Coin Co. for $12,100. It was subsequently sold in 1936 by Spencer Anderson to Ethel Stewart (later Ethel McCoy) for $16,000.

The block was stolen in 1955 while on display at the American Philatelic Society convention in Norfolk Va. Mrs. McCoy was reimbursed $15,000 by the insurers. The rights to the block were assigned by Mrs. McCoy to the American Philatelic Research Library (APRL) of State College Pa. in 1979.

In 1958, the position offered here, the lower left stamp of the block, was offered by a Chicago dealer, Louis J. Castelli Jr., to the Weills of New Orleans. Recognizing the stamp as part of the stolen McCoy block, the Weills notified the F.B.I., but the single stamp's value fell below the minimum necessary for the law-enforcement agency's involvement. With no other option, the Weills returned the stamp to the dealer, who claimed that he bought it prior to the 1955 theft.

The stamp resurfaced briefly in 1970 and then again in 1977, when the Philatelic Foundation positively identified it as Position 75 from the McCoy block. By then, it was of sufficient value to warrant an FBI investigation. After its recovery and a protracted custody battle, the stamp was donated by Mrs. McCoy to the American Philatelic Research Library and was sold on their behalf in 1981, realizing $115,000.

The stamp was next offered in the Siegel 2000 Rarities of the World sale where it went unsold, failing to meet its $100,000 reserve. It was next offered in Siegel Sale 839 in 2001 on behalf of the same consignor, where it brought $65,000 hammer.

The full story of the McCoy block was the subject of a September 2014 article by Ken Lawrence, in The American Philatelist