Bisected Stamp On Cover Sold For A Million Bucks By Spink!

The only known example of a bisected use of the India 1854 lithographed issue sent from Singapore to Hong Kong has just been auctioned by Spink for a million Singapore dollars!

Interesting.

"Heard" correspondence. A lot of famous covers from that.

For really rare items, condition such as the horizontal fold of the cover becomes less material.

That's only US$726,500 Pfffft...

Wow! Impressive selling price.

Great price!

The next question is, was the bisection officially authorised?

Ehh? Aren't virtually all bisects NOT authorized?

Or is my humor-detection meter failing?...

Yes, the reason rare bisects are rare is because they were emergency uses, either unauthorized or authorized in a special case by a single postmaster somewhere.

Generally authorized bisects, like St. Christopher Scott #17/Gibbons #23, are relatively common, in comparison.

Rare it might be, but this to me is still a postally used damaged stamp.

Well;
I think it was a raw deal, I mean the stamp is cut and unauthorized. Sometimes people with a lot of money just get taken for a ride. It is not in any catalog for it is unauthorized. This makes it a non-stamp a, "postally used damaged stamp" I mean if you could get a whole one you could do some Andy Warhol modern art but it does mean it is not a postage stamp anymore. It is a thing of no intrinsic value. And, in the USA that would be illegal. Believe it or not,mutilating money or postage stamps is illegal. lol.

Ummm.... legitimate bisect usages are very collectible. They are not merely "damaged stamps". If that is your stance, you don't understand philately.

Unauthorized, improper, and illegal usages are a collecting focus all their own. If you believe that something has to be listed in Scott (or any other catalog for that matter) in order to be legitimate, you are sadly mistaken.

They may not be your particular cup of tea, but to claim that they are merely damaged stamps is ignorance.

As far as I know, a complete stamp on that same cover is worth only a few hundred bucks.

HI! RC
I know that people collect and hold dear all kinds of items, endless numbers and kinds, from shoes to cigarette tax stamps, stuffed animals to rocks and on and on. Philatelists collect postage stamps. And, of course I know that you are aware of that fact.

This stamp and cover have undoubtedly been expertized. So, this is not a matter of damage or fakery

I agree with revenuecollector. There is a basic misunderstanding of philately to think that there is something "amiss" here.

Hi again;
I agree with myself and by the way; can I give you folks a muddy shoe for your esoteric collection?

You DO realize that there are stamp catalogs that list these cigarette tax stamps, right? Also, philately is not just about "postage" stamps. There's an entire world of back-of-book and non-scott-listed stamps that people actively collect.