More Philatelic Butchery

In addition to the dismembered One-Cent 1851 Plate 3 strip shown by txstamp on the Plate 3 thread, here's someone who thought it was a good idea to separate a Plate 11 multiple (not implicating the ebay lister):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/36196295641...RK:MEBIDX:IT

Quite a while ago I mentioned that I had knowledge of a rare 1c multiple that had been broken up. So here it is...

66-67-68L5, A rare, unused, OG, Type V/Va combination strip. Ex. Wagshal. The strip was submitted to the PF (post Wagshal sale) as a combination strip but was apparently only certified (#515272) as a Type V strip... OMFW. That probably didn't help much. The strip was then broken and the middle stamp was submitted to PSE where it was certed as a Type V with a grade of 95. 67L5 is supposed to be a Type Va according to Nienken but I think there is room for debate on that one. 68L5 is clearly a Type Va.

That plate 5 strip is/was amazing. Nice quality and covering the transitional column(s) completely. Wow. That's the kind of thing Jerry would have. He had all kinds of crazy rare stuff like that ... not always that high quality, but crazy rare. Those plate 5 stamps individually are not nearly of the caliber of rarity as that strip, which had real meaning as a whole. Man.
I wouldn't put it past Jerry to come back from the grave and try to sue whomever did that.

Breaking up any plate 11 multiple is a bad thing as well. I wonder if, given all the chop jobs, if there is even any hope for ever reconstructing plate 11 at this point. Maybe 60 years ago possibly it could have been done ... now ...maybe not ever due to things like this.

Some of the great Plate 11 multiples from the Wagshal collection have already been broken up.

I guess we can always hope that a proof pane or sheet of Plate 11 turns up, as it did for the five-cent 1847.

The 1847 proof sheet is a whole discussion to itself. I examined that sheet in person before they removed whatever was glued on top of the stamps. Its been so long that I don't recall precisely the original state, but it was kinda weird. Anyway, I saw either the A or B double transfer 80/90R sticking out from under the adherence so it was obviously a right pane.

What I haven't heard, is any update on anyone doing plating work derived from this. I have been unplugged from things for quite awhile now, so I wouldn't have necessarily heard .. but I was always quite interested in the 5c '47. A friend in the 90's was trying very hard to reconstruct it. He made some real progress, putting pictures of multiples together, but I don't think he generated any output from that effort. It seems like a careful diagram of guide dot positions is what we'd need for starters.

Tangential to my last post - what I was hinting at, is that just because a terrific discovery, like a full sheet happens, does not automatically mean that now we have all of the answers. We could, if someone would sit down and go do the work to document it in depth. I know that photos were taken of it, but I'm not sure how good they are, or how accessible they are now. I suppose if they are high quality and readily accessible, then we have a shot (like the 66-68L3 1c strip, which at least got photo'd).

Does anyone know if there are plating quality photos of that sheet available on the internet?

With all of the advances in philately via the internet, and net plating resources all over now, that seems like a must.

The problem is that the dealers that are breaking these items up do not have customers for specialized items. When asked why they have taken such a scarce item and turned them into singles they say they offered the item to their clients, but there were no takers. When I complained to a noted NY area dealer that they had ruined a 10¢ 1847 cover which had the stamp tied by a fancy red Cheraw SC cancel (the only example on an 1847 and possibly the only example of the cancel in red) his defense was he could not find a customer for the cover but he had a customer for off cover 1847 cancels so he removed the stamp from the cover and sold it to his client. This problem will only get worse.

txstamp, I seem to recall an article by Mr. Wagshal in the Chronicle putting forth the argument that the proof sheet of the Five-Cent 1847 would not cause very much of a ripple in the hobby because not enough philatelists are interested in plating (replating, more accurately) these stamps,as opposed to simply owning them. As an analogue he cited the lack of plating activity for the Ten-Cent 1847 even following Perry's published plating work in the Collector's Club Philatelist in the 1920's. Of course, I would posit that the inaccessibility of Perry's work today is one reason why people simply do not care about plating the Ten-Cent. Contrast this with the enthusiasm for plating the One-Cent and Three-Cent, and even the Ten- and Twelve-Cent 1851-59, because of the ready availability of works by Chase, Ashbrook and Neinken. I always wondered why Perry's ground-breaking work has not been republished. In any event, it seems that Wagshal was on to something -- I haven't seen any serious or in-depth work on plating the Five-Cent 1847 since the discovery of that proof sheet.

dudley - you make some good points. I would also add, that the cost and affordability of the stamps themselves, factors into the equation. The '47s have always cost more than the 1c and 3c 1851 issue, for ordinary material, at least.

I still want to know if that 5c proof sheet (scan) is accessible on the internet. I think if it isn't, we should pursue a way to make it be.

I went back and read a couple of Wagshal's old articles on the 5c '47. I found the one to which you refer. Its from 1997, issue 175. I also read one he wrote in 1994. While it was good for refreshing my memory on the subject, it also brought back vivid memories from those times. Jerry's writing style took me back, and had me laughing pretty hard once again. I had to look up : "hyperbolic panegyrics". Also, the article from 1994 with his (in)famous "interview" with "Lone Star", the anonymous 5c '47 plater, whom he likened to "Deep Throat", from Watergate. Funny stuff. Decent articles, with amusing approaches. I remember getting the "Lone Star" Chronicle in the mail, and immediately calling my friend, who was trying to plate the 5c '47's, and asking him, "are you Lone Star?". The answer was no, and from there we were like, "who the heck is Lone Star?", and how can we learn what he's up to? Anyway, long story short, I'm pretty sure I know who he is (a very accomplished philatelist), but mostly, it just reminded me of the times 20 years ago.

I agree with Bill Crowe's comment that this will only get worse, with regard to important multiples, and covers being destroyed for profit.

There isn't much, I don't think, that we can do about it for the most part, with one exception, which occurs to me as a result of this thread. I think the key take-away, is whenever possible, make sure that a good scan or photo exists of any key multiple, or important cover. At least as long as there is a detailed photographic record of it, then that's something that can be leveraged for future reference when needed.

txstamp, great point.
Would be more than happy to publish (on Stamp Smarter) any images, articles, or even build a census database, as long as we have the proper permissions.

Additionally, if anyone would like to have 'some space' on Stamp Smarter to publish their work or resources please let me know. I can support anything from giving you space that you can control/edit yourself to submitting the work to me in any format and I'll publish it for you. Heck, I am even willing to teach folks how to code web pages if desired.
Don

"Lone Star" .... TXstamp .... hmm....

Don - that's terrific. I have so much respect for what you are doing with Stamp Smarter. If we can get or locate a scan of that 5c '47 proof sheet, your site would be the logical hosting choice -- assuming its not already out there somewhere. I have no idea.





Heh. Not "I", but I want to say that there is a distant connection with TX and the philatelic Deep Throat, known as Lone Star. I hope I don't have to go into witness relocation for disclosing that much.

Adding to wtwcrowe's post... Protecting threatened multiples or even covers is a lot like fighting terrorism - you have to do it 100% percent of the time. Much of the stuff is bought at auction where if it doesn't go to a responsible collector it goes to "Mr. Scissorhands" as I heard Scott Trepel once say.

I have even seen in a recent case, a warning to collectors in a Siegel catalogue that they better warm up their bidding paddles.