US : The "Ogdensburgh" Cover.

November 1, 1952

Fabulous Cover Sells for huge Price

The famous Ogdensburgh cover, which has been called "easily the greatest stamp find of 1952," was sold for $3,750
dollars in the September 23-25 auction of Harmer, Rooke and Co. Inc., New York. It was bought by E. D. Cole for
the Raymond H. Weill Co., of New Orleans.

What makes this cover outstanding is that it is franked with twelve copies of the 5c. New York postmaster's stamp,
including a unique block of nine and a strip of three. The cover went from New York to Ogdensburg and is
addressed to Louis Hasbrouck, whose business in the 1845-47 period was real estate and insurance. Presumably the
cover enclosed heavy insurance papers requiring the 60-cent rate.

The man who found the cover, Willard R. White, a young businessman of Ogdensburgh, N.Y., and his wife sat in
the back of the auction room and watched with keen interest as Gordon R. Harmer auctioned their treasure.
Louis Hasbrouck V, the great-great grandson of the addressee, is also a resident of Ogdensburg today and a close
friend of Mr. White, to whom he gave a large accumulation of Hasbrouck family correspondence and old
documents some time ago.

It was among this material that Mr. White made the great find. Mr. Hasbrouck was
clearing out some old trunks in his attic at the time, and has since assured Mr. White that he wanted him to have
anything he found in the accumulation, regardless of its value. They are still close friends.

Three smaller "Louis Hasbrouck" covers, each bearing a pair of the 5c. New York, were also found by Mr. White,
sold in the same Harmer Rooke auction and bought by Mr. Cole. The prices were $475, $270 and $180 dollars.
In the same sale, a well centred copy of the 24c. air mail stamp of 1918, with inverted centre, sold for $2,500
dollars.

A group of 50 lots of proofs and essays of U.S. newspaper stamps, from the estate of Y. Souren, realised $1,574
dollars.
An imperforate block of 80 of the 1916-17 2c. carmine, including the 5c. carmine error, was sold for $825

I would gladly pay that price for that stamp.

There was an auction in Melbourne earlier this year where a box of BOB's sold for $32,000.00 the auctioneer said what did he miss,the buyer said there was an inverted Jenny in an album in the box.
I believe the buyer thought he was the only one to see it and realized he wasn't when the bidding took off.

I thought all of the "Jenny's" were accounted for?

.

Any scans?
I can't find it in scott.

I think it might be Orangeburg coils, which is the common name for Scott 389. One is a few lots down this auction page:

http://www.stampauctionnetwork.com/y/y91348.cfm

Maybe?

Thanks Collin,
crikey, those prices are astonishing.
It appears one can detect an orangeburg machine cancel
by the wavy lines?

.

That's also what I heard. I have never heard of a used on cover copy. All I have ever read is that there was only one known full MNH sheet and the sheet was not broken down until relatively recently.

I'm just relaying what I've been told by a seller at the stamp fair in Wagga,who's to say that he was just pulling my leg or yanking my chain .

Regarding the inverted Jenny...

Of the 100 known originals (only 1 pane was discovered), 7 have been either destroyed or lost (i.e., unaccounted for). There is exactly 1 used example, and that is encased in a locket along with a mint copy.

Some tidbits...

-- Mabel sent an airmail letter to Edward Green (one of the early owners of the full pane) when he was away, and used one of the inverted Jennys laying around on his desk (apparently we are not the only collectors who leave stamps all over the desk :D ). Fortunately he was observant. He kept the used copy in a pendant on his watch chain.

-- Edward Green put a mint C3 and a mint C3a in a locket and gave it to his wife, Mabel. This locket was in the 2002 Siegel Auction at $170K. It did not sell at auction, but was subsequently sold privately.

-- all the straight edge stamps lack original gum. Apparently Green held on to these and actually put them in his safe. After his death, it turns out the stamps had stuck together (again, we are not the only collectors to have run into this problem :( ). They had to be soaked to unstick them.

-- 7 stamps have been reported lost or destroyed. Of the stolen stamps, 2 have not been recovered. I do not know if those 2 are included in the count of 7.

The sheet was broken apart not too long after its 1918 discovery. I believe the position of each stamp was penciled in on the back and the sheet broken apart by Klein (2nd owner) soon after he sold it to Green (3rd owner). Green then proceeded to sell blocks and singles.

Please note that I have removed my posts here in this thread. I feel like such a dummy. I read the word Ogdenburgh and confused it with Orangeburg, the source of Scott 389.

So sorry folks. Mea Culpa

Hey Rohumpy,
we all make mistakes, think nothing of it.