Very Rare 1c 1851 Strip

That's a block of 6

2 stamps is a pair.

A "strip" is one stamp wide or high, and 3 or more long.

Strip of 3:


Strip of 4:


Strip of 5:


Strip of 12:


Vertical strip of 3:


Block of 4:


Understandable?

Chipg, that's a great explanation and very understandable! May I add one small item to this? I collect Plate Number Coils, and PNC collectors use a somewhat "enhanced" nomenclature. When we talk about Plate Number Strips, we indicate them as PS5, PS9 and so forth. A PS1 and a PS2 is very possible! A PS1 is a single plate numbered stamp, and a PS2 is a pair of coils of which one is plate numbered.

Peter

The excitement of knowing that there are still many discoveries to make is awesome. Only those of us looking will have a chance of finding them.

And I notice one thing that all the Victoria strips / blocks have in common, they all have the stamp with the check letters CG

Lovely pieces Chip.

I see the strip that began this thread is now up for sale on ebay for a mere $40K.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/us-sc-5A-5A...em5b09d75016

I almost did not go to the ebay listing. What if I had had a sudden spasm and hit the buy it now button. I could have had a heart attack.

So someone will buy it, trim off the sound stamp, get it graded, and get someone who collects certificates to overpay for it.

Would that actually increase the market value to turn this into a 5 single and a badly damaged 5A pair? The catalog value of the strip is a huge premium over that of those two pieces individually. And wouldn't the cut away ball and plume at the lower left result in a poor grade on the #5?

Is it normal for two certificates to have near identical wording like that?

I'd expect that when he submitted item to PF he probably included the Weiss cert. That may have influenced the wording on their certificate.

Bill Weiss expertizes for the PF and likely wrote both certs...

No, that is not really true. I have been asked a few times over the years to look at something they had split opinions on, but not for many years. I had nothing to do with the same wording. But I am pleased that their experts essentially found the same things I did!

The price on this is essentially the price of a decent but not great #5, which cats $75,000. The other stamps are basically throw-ins at this price. So trimming it from the pair is not out of the question.

Is there a special trimming device that would be used to separate the right stamp from the other two? If I survived the heart attack of buying the stamp, I'd probably have one trying to separate the strip. Stephen