A US No 5 Rare Variety Going Crazy On Ebay

From ebay dot com

Fascinating, Russ!

Thanks for the info, Puzzler. I had no idea. This info could come in handy one day!

Possibly the best story here is the seller. This Stamp was one he obtained in a lot he bought on ebay for $1,700.00, the seller of that lot identified it as a #9, the lot was quite large with a supposed catalog value of $21,000.00. So the seller pluck 1 stamp out of the lot he bought, throws it on ebay as a #9 with a catalog value of $160.00, someone identifies it as the rare #5 7RE1, the cat gets let out of the bag and now the seller finds out it has a catalog value of $85,000.00. The final 2 minutes of this auction will probably be the most exciting 2 minutes of his life. Go through the sellers feedback and you can see the stamp in the lot he bought.

This stamp is almost $14000 now, but I think you are right it will probably hit double in the last few minutes. I think it will hit 30K+.

I feel sorry for the guy who sold the lot to him!

If it were me, I don't think I'd want to know.

It's not so much the money - I mean it's not a fortune or anything - but the fact that a really big find probably passes through most collectors' hands once in a lifetime, if at all. It would be a real shame to know that you'd blown it!

True enough but to look on the positive side of it, what a wonderful learning opportunity, a wake up call to get all of your next stamp judgements that much better. Too bad it wasn't a smaller kick in the pants though.

The person who sold the lot has learned of what slipped through his fingers and has been very classy about it going as far to wish the seller the "best of luck".

The people bidding on this item do not know what a recession is.

Russ, you seem to be the resident expert on this stamp. In your opinion, is this indeed a number 5? In other words, there is no chance that the stamp is not a number 5. If I had sufficient funds, I still would be hesitant to bid on an unexpertized stamp based on an image on ebay.

I'll bet shipping may be a little more than 89 cents.

This stamp has positively been plated as a #5 7RE1. It is the genuine article.
Lynn's is also watching this auction. Expect to see an article about this in an upcoming issue.
I think it will sell for 30,500.00

I would love to see good scans showing the differences of all the plate varieties.

Looks like there are about 20 different issues using the same design.

Definitely impressive on the side of the seller. Very classy. I do hope that the eventual buyer, though, still asks for expertizing of the stamp before any exchange takes place. Sounds obvious, but I'd love to hear of the followup after the sale.

First the basic design



Now the types

Great Russ!

What a nice design too.