Looking For Documentation On Stanley Gibbons Breaking Up FDR Imperforate Sheets

I'm hoping someone can either point me in the right direction for this research or has the information they can share with me.

As you may know from the thread I've been working on for the past two months, the 1934 National Parks series, which was issued to the public in perforate, gummed form only was also one of the sources of material which ultimately resulted in the need to issue the Farley Reissues, affectionately named Farley's Follies, in 1935.

Two sets of imperforate sheets of the National Parks stamps were presented by PMG Farley to President Roosevelt. These sheets remained in his collection until it was sold by H.R. Harmer in 1946. The sheets sold as a single lot.

The next time these sheets come to light should be sometime in the 1950's. I remember reading somewhere, before I became serious about this series, that Stanley Gibbons had purchased the sheets. Unable to find a buyer for the entire sheets, they decided to break the sheets up. In the process, they rubber stamped the back of each stamp with a half-moon logo for Stanley Gibbons and pencil notated "FDR" and the plate position of each stamp.

What I am looking for is an article, any advertising or other proof this occurred. I know that it did and every major auction house I've asked about it also knows it happened, but so far, no one has been able to provided any documentation.

If anyone has an ad (probably from one of the weekly publications such as Mekeels, Weekly Stamp Gossip, Linn's Stamp News or a like publication, please let me know. If you can upload a scan of it, that would be even better.

I look forward to hearing from you all! Here's one of the stamps from the FDR sheets for reference.

You might find an ad in back of a Stanley Gibbions Catalogue of that era. I'd think that some of the SG catalogues users on this forum might have an old Gibbions on the bookshelf. I know I've got old Scott's. Good luck in your search!

A Random Google..may/may not be of interest......

http://www.stampnotes.com/Notes_fro...stnote31.htm

Notes from the Past
Gibbons, London, Condemns Farley Issue

Terming the issue "waste-paper." Stanley Gibbons of London, decree that the Farley imperforates will not be listed in their catalog, just as the Colonial Dominions are announcing the Silver Jubilee outfit of 176 varieties with a combined face value of well over $15 per set. "The stamps (Farley's) have not been generally issued throughout the United States, and have therefore no standing or interest for stamp collectors," the Editor reports. Last word from the Philatelic Agency was that sales were rapidly approaching the million dollar mark.

- George B. Sloane
Sloane's Column
Stamps
May 4, 1935

Posted August 12, 1999
Editor's Note: Gibbons did modify its stand subsequently and the Farleys are listed in my antique 1966 copy of SG. I suspect that the Farleys survived because, as usual, most collectors follow their own whims and the stamps are very attractive. The reprinting of the stamps was a tribute to the power of collector protests.

Index of 508 Notes from the Past

Note: If the link isn't returned the first try, try again.

Comments? Send me an e-mail
Please include a reference to this item.

First off, a bit of background. I have specialized in the Farley issues from 1933 to 1935 since 2003 because they are readily available, no varieties are exorbitantly priced, and for their historical significance. I have collected examples of all of the different varieties mint & used, perforate and imperforate, notable errors (vert & horiz imperfs), signatures (Farley et al), EFOs, SONs, as well as notable FDCs for both the perfs & imperfs.

In regards to Stampman2002's query, HR Harmer was the auction agent for the liquidation of FDRs stamp collection & holdings. They held a 3-session auction on 4-5 Feb 1946 and a second 3-sessions auction on 1-2 April 1946. The sheets stampman2002 refers to were lot 297 in session 2 of the 5 Feb auction and sold for $1500 to Stanley Gibbons, NEW YORK.

Gibbons also bought an uncut sheet of 4 panes of 100 Scott 727 and sheets of 200 of Scott 738 & 739. This letter validates SG bought the FDR sheets and stamped each one with a Stanley Gibbons guarantee mark identical to the one in Stampman2002's post. I purchased a set of blocks of the 1c to 10c National Parks issue stamped with SG's guarantee mark and accompanied by the below letter.



I further validated that the mark is genuine via e-mail with Stanley Gibbon's offices in London.


Now the twist to this whole exercise is that PF would not/will not certify that the imperforate stamps are in fact 740var to 749var. Rather they stipulate they are blocks of 756-765 because there may have also been Farley Reprint sheets in the auction and there is no way to separate blocks of 4 from one set of sheets from the other.

I hope this has helped shed some light on the Stampman2002's original post.

rturn22 - Thank you so much for your excellent post. It is very interesting. I find it strange that the PF can definitively state that your blocks are not 740-49. Just as they cannot prove that they are not 740-49 they also cannot prove that they are not IMO. Great provenance if you ask me.

How's that again?

It is unfortunate the Foundation did not also illustrate the reverse side of the block on the certificate, since that is an important facet to its identification either way.

Essay - My point is that 740-9 did exist at one point as imperforate sheets unless one disbelieves that Roosevelt received said sheets from Farley in 1934 as well as the verbiage that Farley penned on the margins of each sheet along with the President's autograph. The PF's basis for disallowing this has little merit IMO.

The provenance exists and I believe that with more research information could be presented to the PF that would result their overturning their opinion.

John has an excellent point. Virtually all of my "foreign" certs show the back of items, and it can be a great help even if just to document a change in condition subsequent to the issuance of the certificate.