2014 Rarities of the World continued...

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A BEAUTIFUL AND EXTREMELY RARE EXAMPLE OF THE 2-CENT DIE 51 VERMILION ON MANILA.

Porter Venn notes that one entire is known, but that it is a Specimen. He records only two cut squares and one full corner.

Ex Dr. Summers. With 1987 and 2000 P.F. certificates (Image)

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VERY FINE. AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AIR MAIL POSTAL STATIONERY PAPER COLOR ERROR. ONLY A FEW EXAMPLES OF THE 6-CENT ORANGE ON BLUE PAPER ARE BELIEVED TO EXIST -- THIS IS THE DISCOVERY COPY.

This particular example of the rare 6c Air Post Color Error has never been sold in the philatelic marketplace. The current owner purchased this item for 7c from the Madison, New Jersey, post office in 1944 when he was 12 years old. This was the first example discovered, and it was certified by The Philatelic Foundation in 1947. The updated Philatelic Foundation certificate mentions "some light vertical creases" which the owner jokingly answers occurred by "putting the item in his rear pants pocket" while riding his bicycle home after purchasing it.

We have been unable to find another example sold at auction since our 1986 Rarities of the World Sale. This rarity has been missing from all of the prominent collections of Postal Stationery formed in recent memory, including Floyd, Saddleback, Wanamaker, Schiller and Scarsdale. The story of this item was featured in the January-February 2011 Postal Stationery journal.

With 1947 and 2013 P.F. certificates (Image)

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VERY FINE. A RARE NEW YORK FIRST DAY USE OF THE FIRST POSTAL CARD ISSUE.

According to the United States Postal Card Catalogue, for at least the first 50 years of postal card use, little attention was paid to observance of "first-day use" as we now know it. Even if an official first day of issue was announced, few cards, if any, were actually made available to the public on that day. In the case of the UX1, this was issued in Springfield Mass. on May 12, 1873 (one is known used on that day). Supplies reached Boston, Hartford, New York and Washington on the following day, which is the earliest known use from those cities. Fewer than ten are known to exist cancelled on May 13.

With 2014 P.F. certificate as genuine First Day use but declining opinion on the origin of the notation at bottom left "1873. May 13th" (Image)

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VERY FINE. A RARE BOSTON FIRST DAY USE OF THE FIRST POSTAL CARD ISSUE.

Fewer than ten cards are known to exist cancelled on May 13. They were postmarked in Boston, New York and Washington D.C. One is known cancelled on May 12 in Springfield Mass. (sent by an official of the Morgan Envelope Co.) but has never reached the market.

With 1992 P.F. certificate with the opinion "genuine usage of a postal card docketed May 13, 1873, with an undecipherable postmark" -- obviously it is May 13 (Image)

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VERY FINE. A RARE AND BEAUTIFUL PIONEER POSTAL CARD ADVERTISEMENT WITH A SANTA CLAUS DESIGN.

Accompanied by an article from the Postcard Collector (Dec. 1990) discussing another example of this design (dated Nov. 7), which was reported to be the earliest known example of a Christmas/Santa image on a First Issue postal card (Image)

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