A Find Of A Life Time...#32

well done man. Just read up on a CBC article about the stamp and I am assuming it is referring to you. That is awesome that you found a gem like that in a circuit book.

Congratulations, indeed. Very nice work.

Congrats Watermark, nice find, I can imagine a nice Ferrari in your driveway soon.

Can you slightly elaborate for all us hopefuls on the accusation and your purchasing history?

Was this an ebay find or a local find or stamp show? Do you buys tons of lots and collections looking for treasure?

Thanks, good luck with the sale.

Nice find indeed. In a couple months I will be sharing a similar story about a true rarity mixed in among common stamps. Good luck with the Fall auction.

Congratulations watermark. That is indeed what makes the hobby an adventure. I'm a large queen junkie and will often buy old album pages even if the lrg queens are in rough shape just to see what may be hiding on the reverse. As much as I would have struggled with selling it you are making the right decision. Short of having a multi million dollar budget to acquire more insanely rare items and as you said lock them in a safety box it makes sense to sell. The fact it has the Hamilton CDS so nicely is a huge bonus. At that time it was mandated to post masters that the cds be off the stamps incase the stamp fell off . Apparently by this and others early issues I have seen the Hamilton post master was a bit of a rebel.
I just acquired a rough 33 for under $10 and will always continue to hunt for things like this and I am sure your story will inspire others. Please keep us posted on the details and and may the hammer drop far above 6 figures (I'd say 7 but one can never tell with something like this)

XYYZ I purchased the stamp from a sales circuit book. I have also found other nice stamps on ebay and at stamp shows. I have even made purchases directly from dealers either on line or via mail. Stamps are where you find them. Most of my purchases are for single stamps or an ocassional set of a particular issue.

Wow just read the Greene report and did they ever put that baby through the tests. Understandably with the potential value they need to be sure to put there name on it but they really went CSI to prove what you have. The thing in the back of my head as I read all the tests performed on this copy was what about the other 2. Surely in 1935 the tecnology was not as good and I am almost surprised the Bingham one wasn't brought into the scenario . With his also coming up for auction this year I would think he would want as much science behind his as you have. Not sure of auction dates between eastern and Binghams but yours may very well far surpass the earlier certed items .
Silly question but what did you pay- maybe better not to say on here.

Nitro Lures The VGG Foundation considered trying to compare mine with the other two copies. It found it would be too expensive and complicated to do so. They also determined scientifically that mine was genuine. Therefore they found it unnecessary to compare them. As you say the others probably didn't get the rigorous tests mine did. I wouldn't be surprised if the new owner of Brigham's copy might get it recertified. I also want to correct the record of the buying price I paid, it was not the $5 reported in the press but closer to $60. Add the $40 fee for the certificate and I have a little over $100 invested in it.

I know if I had a big blank check I would go with yours or it would very conditional on the other. You definatly got your $40 worth from VGG - A steak dinner with all the experts would be worth the price just to talk with them when all is said and done but I'm sure all were very honored to be part of the experience. Can I ask what Eastern put as estimate? Exciting to watch this play out for you.

The estimate was six figures. I will let the fall auction speak for its self. Do not want to count the chickens before the eggs hatch.

This is just amazing, congratulations watermark and best of luck on the auction. And I know what you mean about being nervous with it in the house.. I feel nervous with some of mine that are not even CLOSE to the value of your discovery lol!

Congratulations watermark! Thanks for sharing and good luck on the auction. Would be interesting to know the history of the stamp since 1870 and how many times it has changed hands prior to being included in the sales circuit book. Also interesting would be how many people went through the sales circuit book before watermark!

I'm sure the tax man is already counting!

XYYZ I purchased the stamp from a sales circuit book. I have also found other nice stamps on ebay and at stamp shows. I have even made purchases directly from dealers either on line or via mail. Stamps are where you find them. Most of my purchases are for single stamps or an ocassional set of a particular issue.

Thanks for the reply. Is a sales circuit book what I call a dealer stock book? These are what I usually see at shows or dealers stores and you look through the book and pick out what you want, or is it something totally different? Did you buy the whole book?

KHJ brings up a good point. Maybe a talk with good planner would be in order. I'm guessing you could start a home base "stamp business" (on paper anyway) and at least write off the auction expenses against the total. Not that it will help much but your internet expenses can be called advertising since you are promoting the sale sort of speek.