⇚ Position 49 - 2023-11-08 Transaction Summary
Purchase Date:
2023-11-08
How Purchased:
Auction
Where Purchased:
Siegel Auction Galleries
Auction No.:
1299
Lot No.:
2154
Sound/Fault:
Sound
Catalogue Value:
$ 850,000
Realized:
$ 2,006,000
Seller:
Anonymous
Buyer:
Anonymous
Description
24¢ Carmine Rose & Blue, Center Inverted (C3a). Position 49, the ninth stamp in the fifth row of the sheet of 100 purchased by William T. Robey on May 14, 1918, original gum in pristine Mint Never Hinged state, extraordinarily rich colors on bright fresh paper, precisely centered
MINT NEVER HINGED AND GRADED EXTREMELY FINE-SUPERB 95. THIS INVERTED JENNY—POSITION 49 IN THE DISCOVERY SHEET OF 100—WAS ACQUIRED FROM EUGENE KLEIN IN 1918 AND HELD CONTINUOUSLY BY THE BUYER AND HIS DESCENDANTS FOR ONE HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE IT WAS SOLD TO THE CURRENT OWNER. IT IS CERTIFIED BY BOTH PROFESSIONAL STAMP EXPERTS AND THE PHILATELIC FOUNDATION AS MINT NEVER HINGED, EXTREMELY FINE-SUPERB 95. THEREFORE, IT IS THE FINEST INVERTED JENNY THAT CAN EXIST.
The original sheet of one hundred Inverted Jenny errors was purchased by William T. Robey on May 14, 1918, the first day the stamps went on sale in all three principal airmail route cities: Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia. Robey bought the sheet for its $24 face value at the New York Avenue Post Office window in the District of Columbia. On Sunday, May 19, Robey agreed to give Eugene Klein, a prominent Philadelphia stamp dealer, a one-day option to buy the sheet for $15,000. Klein exercised his option on Monday, May 20, in a late afternoon phone call, and he confirmed it with a registered letter to Robey sent in the evening mail. The sheet was delivered to Klein’s office by Robey and his father-in-law on the following day, Tuesday, May 21, 1918.
No later than Monday, May 20, the day Klein exercised his option, he had arranged to sell the sheet for $20,000 to Colonel Edward H. R. Green. Half of the $5,000 profit went to Klein’s partners, Percy McGraw Mann and Joseph A. Steinmetz. Klein was then authorized by Colonel Green to divide the sheet into singles and blocks, and to sell all but a few key position blocks.
This stamp from Position 49 was undoubtedly selected as one of the finest centered examples from the sheet and sold by Eugene Klein to a collector in 1918. It remained in its pristine “post office” condition in a bank vault for the next one hundred years and has been kept in the dark since it was purchased by the current owner in 2018. The gum is Mint Never Hinged and, since its exposure to light has been limited, the stamp’s colors are rich and the paper is bright.
In 2022 the stamp was certified by Professional Stamp Experts and recertified by The Philatelic Foundation, and both services assigned a grade of Mint Never Hinged, Extremely Fine-Superb 95. None of the five other Mint Never Hinged stamps from the sheet qualify for a grade above 85. The one certified XF-Superb 95 stamp (Position 58) is previously hinged. Position 59, the only other stamp with XF-Superb 95 centering (but not yet certified), is also previously hinged.
Therefore, it is a fact that Position 49, the stamp offered here, is the finest Inverted Jenny in existence and has no Mint Never Hinged equal. Unless someone discovers and acquires another Inverted Jenny sheet that contains a stamp of comparable quality—a virtual impossibility—or this stamp is destroyed, damaged or affixed to an album page with a hinge, that fact is immutable.
The Philatelic Foundation certificate 590621 (October 4, 2022) states “Genuine, Never Hinged, PF Graded XF-S 95.”
There is no Stamp Market Quarterly value for Scott C3a in Mint Never Hinged state above the grade of VF 80. The SMQ value for XF-S 95 in previously hinged state is $1,400,000.
MINT NEVER HINGED AND GRADED EXTREMELY FINE-SUPERB 95. THIS INVERTED JENNY—POSITION 49 IN THE DISCOVERY SHEET OF 100—WAS ACQUIRED FROM EUGENE KLEIN IN 1918 AND HELD CONTINUOUSLY BY THE BUYER AND HIS DESCENDANTS FOR ONE HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE IT WAS SOLD TO THE CURRENT OWNER. IT IS CERTIFIED BY BOTH PROFESSIONAL STAMP EXPERTS AND THE PHILATELIC FOUNDATION AS MINT NEVER HINGED, EXTREMELY FINE-SUPERB 95. THEREFORE, IT IS THE FINEST INVERTED JENNY THAT CAN EXIST.
The original sheet of one hundred Inverted Jenny errors was purchased by William T. Robey on May 14, 1918, the first day the stamps went on sale in all three principal airmail route cities: Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia. Robey bought the sheet for its $24 face value at the New York Avenue Post Office window in the District of Columbia. On Sunday, May 19, Robey agreed to give Eugene Klein, a prominent Philadelphia stamp dealer, a one-day option to buy the sheet for $15,000. Klein exercised his option on Monday, May 20, in a late afternoon phone call, and he confirmed it with a registered letter to Robey sent in the evening mail. The sheet was delivered to Klein’s office by Robey and his father-in-law on the following day, Tuesday, May 21, 1918.
No later than Monday, May 20, the day Klein exercised his option, he had arranged to sell the sheet for $20,000 to Colonel Edward H. R. Green. Half of the $5,000 profit went to Klein’s partners, Percy McGraw Mann and Joseph A. Steinmetz. Klein was then authorized by Colonel Green to divide the sheet into singles and blocks, and to sell all but a few key position blocks.
This stamp from Position 49 was undoubtedly selected as one of the finest centered examples from the sheet and sold by Eugene Klein to a collector in 1918. It remained in its pristine “post office” condition in a bank vault for the next one hundred years and has been kept in the dark since it was purchased by the current owner in 2018. The gum is Mint Never Hinged and, since its exposure to light has been limited, the stamp’s colors are rich and the paper is bright.
In 2022 the stamp was certified by Professional Stamp Experts and recertified by The Philatelic Foundation, and both services assigned a grade of Mint Never Hinged, Extremely Fine-Superb 95. None of the five other Mint Never Hinged stamps from the sheet qualify for a grade above 85. The one certified XF-Superb 95 stamp (Position 58) is previously hinged. Position 59, the only other stamp with XF-Superb 95 centering (but not yet certified), is also previously hinged.
Therefore, it is a fact that Position 49, the stamp offered here, is the finest Inverted Jenny in existence and has no Mint Never Hinged equal. Unless someone discovers and acquires another Inverted Jenny sheet that contains a stamp of comparable quality—a virtual impossibility—or this stamp is destroyed, damaged or affixed to an album page with a hinge, that fact is immutable.
The Philatelic Foundation certificate 590621 (October 4, 2022) states “Genuine, Never Hinged, PF Graded XF-S 95.”
There is no Stamp Market Quarterly value for Scott C3a in Mint Never Hinged state above the grade of VF 80. The SMQ value for XF-S 95 in previously hinged state is $1,400,000.