Hi All,
This is my first post, so I'll make it about the one and only stamp type I truly love. Don't take me wrong, there is a lot about stamp collecting I like, but this is my love!
In the philatelic world there are hundreds of errors, however, I have grouped them into only 2 groups. The 5 cent reds of 1917 (the only true errors) and everything else that is called an error.
I spent 20 years collecting United States stamps before I narrowed my interest to the Washington - Franklin issues. It only took about one additional year before I started to find out about the far fetched stories of the 5 cent reds and their discovery.
One of these stories is about a Virginia postmaster's complaint to the Post Office Department. In this complaint he stated that the presence of 5 cent stamps in the 2 cent sheets was making his accounting very difficult.
Then there is my favorite story about a little boy in New York who was sent to the Post Office to purchase some stamps. He found the error and tried to sell the stamp back to the Post Office for a 3 cent profit.
Now for the true story which has no romance at all. The credit for the discovery goes to a Dr. Barrett who was in charge of Christiana's Drug Store, Postal Sub-Station No. 79 located at the corner of 9th St. & Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. He found the error and brought it to the attention of the Chief of the Stamp Division, who was Mr. Fitch.
The main reason I fell in love with the 5 cent reds is because there was a series of errors, not just one, which caused the creation of this famous variety.
The error started when the dies were placed in Plate # 7942. Upon inspection of the sheet, 3 positions (upper left # 74 & # 84, lower right # 18) were found to be weak. Therefore, they were marked to be reentered in order to strengthen the design.
It was at this point that the major & most important error was made. Since the transfer roll appears in reverse, someone mistook the reversed "5" for a "2" and entered the number "5" into the transfer plate.
The error was compounded when the reentered positions were not inspected and the plates were sent off to the press, and put into production on March 6, 1917. The plates were in production until the discovery of the error on May 2,1917.
It was at this time that the next major error accured. This error was in the form of a notice from the Third Assistant Postmaster General to every office throughout the country. The notification was so poorly written that clerks were looking for 2 cent stamps in 5 cent sheets.
One paragraph of this notice read:
" Postmasters and others connected with the Postal Service are notified that a quantity of 2 cents have been inadvertently produced from printing plates of the 5 cent denomination, and some of these stamps were issued to postmasters before the error was detected."
There were a total of 49,563 full sheets of 4 panes produced. A search of the perforating room on May 2, 1917 reveled 6,166 panes containing the error. So, the total number of errors issued was 130,173. The Post Office records show that 23,021 errors were found by branch offices and returned to Washington for distruction. This left 107,152 errors in the hands of the public.
From the list of errors returned by the post office branches, it appears the distribution was wide spread. However, the rare imperforated form of the error were only found in two post offices. Chicago Ill, found plate #7942 and returned its entire holdings to Washington. There were 755 full uncut sheets of the imperforated
variety in this lot all but three were destroyed (the three sheets that were saved are in the government archives).
There is a story about 700 sheets. It appears the Red Cross tried to obtain the lot and auction them off to raise funds for their war drive. However the Post Office department did not want to commercialize the error.
It was in New York that 43 imperforated and uncut sheets containing all 3 errors found their way to Mr. Edgar Nelton (a stamp dealer). Mr. Nelton had bought the lot for $4,000. He latter sold twenty-eight complete sheets to the famous collector Col. Edward Green for an undisclosed price. A few weeks later 5 more sheets showed up to make a total of 144 examples of this imperforated 5 cent error, which carries the Scott # 485.
Another story that I enjoy, is when the rumors of the discovery of the 5 cent imperforated error reached the Post Office Department. The Post Office Department denied their existence. The way the story goes they even attempted to prove that such a variety could not exist. In order to counter the Post Office's claimed, the owner offered a complete matching set of imperforated plate blocks with the plate # 7942 for $ 550. At this time none of the imperforated errors were for sale.
Of the perforated varieties the best known true story is about a Postal worker from Long Island, New York. After being advised about the error he got into his auto and proceeded to all the little post office branches he could find. After all the reports were in, it was found that no other person had acquired more copies of this error than did this postal worker. These copies latter found their way to George Tuttle, who was a dealer and was in the same building as Mr. Nelton.
In the early months of 1917 the 5 cent error set off one of the greatest searches of all times. Many said that it was equal to the California Gold Rush of the 1860's. The Post Offices were bombarded with collectors. All who were looking for the magic plate number 7942. In the beginning an error stamp sold for $125. Later the price
dropped to $1 each. As the stamps made there way into the homes of every day collectors the demand and price rose.
Today the stamps sell between $300 and $700 with very little difference in mint and used, I should say, used copies on cover, used as 2 cent postage and were post marked in 1917 bring the best price ($1500 to $2000 at last check).
Quantities Issued:
Originally ----------------- 130,173
Returned & Destroyed ------- 23,021
Quantity in circulation ---- 107,152
Breakdown of the surviving copies
# 467 Carmine Perf-10 ------ 32,000 est.
# 505 Carmine Perf-11 ------ 75,000 est.
# 485 Carmine Imperforated-- 144
Well that is it. Hope you enjoyed the read.
Bill in Fresno, CA
Posted 10/25/2013 5:38 pm
