3 New Revenue Acquisitions Courtesy Of The Bay

Each one somewhat unusual.

First an envelope of "Oakley's Florabel Sachet" from the Oakley Soap & Perfumery Co. of New York, a 5/8-cent Battleship proprietary stamp on the reverse with a matching magenta company cancel.

Perfume envelopes with revenues still affixed, while not rare, are not exactly common either. They make for great aesthetic pieces, as most are printed in very colorful ornate designs.




Next, a piece I had been coveting for my illegal usage collection for quite some time. Seller never put it on sale or reduced the price, and my polite inquiry as to whether he would entertain offers received no response. Still, I kept adding it to my watched list every time it was relisted, for over a year. Well, when ebay had their 1-day 20% off coupon last week, I figured I might as well bite, as it's a unique piece. It's not like I'll find another.

Scott #113 (2-cent post horse and rider) block of 4 and single paying a 10-cent tax on a promissory note. Blocks of 4 of #113 are uncommon, and in fact, are considerably less common used than mint.

A single catalogs $75, a pair $170, so a modest premium for a pair, but the catalog value for a block of 4 skyrockets to $1,350, a huge premium. Not dissimilar to block of 4 prices on 1st issue revenues, where on certain denominations, the premiums can be similar, if not even higher.




Lastly, an item that I spotted, set a snipe for, and waited patiently in the weeds. More scarce than it initially appears, R13d (silk paper) is moderately tough. What makes this nice is that it is a pair... and per the Curtis Census, only the 5th recorded multiple of any size.

In addition to the blue threads visible on the reverse, there is a large blue thread visible on the face of the left stamp at bottom left. A very nice addition.

And 10 cents is the proper rate for the 113 document.

Yep. I've learned (the hard way) to check the rate tables before committing on expensive items.

I never realized that used blocks of 113 were so scarce. This one was sold by Siegel for $550. If you bought it for even less than that on ebay you made out really well! Nice.

I think the reason that one brought so much below cat is that it's pretty heavily hammered cancelwise. Also, don't forget to add 18% for the juice.

This one went for much closer to Scott:

https://siegelauctions.com/lots.php...084-lot-3318


Browsing through Siegel's power search really gives you a sense of just how uncommon used blocks are. Lots of used pairs and strips, and plenty of mint blocks, but not used.

Excluding repeats, I come up with a total of 6 used blocks of 4 or larger sold by Siegel in the period covered by the Power Search. That ain't many.

Also, a block of 4 isn't the same as a strip of 4 with respect to scarcity or valuation. That's a mistake frequently seen, where sellers/dealers price a strip of 4 as a block of 4 rather than what it should be: 2x pair price (perhaps with a slight premium). The two are not the same.

Without doing the Siegel search, I am curious how many of the blocks appeared to have been postal use and how many revenue use. In the past postage collectors have shunned examples that appear to have manuscript cancels and thus probable revenue use. Not trying to denigrate your acquisition, but rather to elevate these improper uses to the level of their postal cancel cousins.

Zero were revenue usages.

So this is really a great gem. Well, all improper uses of postage stamps are scarce, but this is really something special and probably unique. Now most postage stamp collectors would probably shun your great piece, but it is much scarcer than a block of four used postally. In fact, probably unique. Congratulations!