Missed It By That Much! Scott 5A

This stamp, listed in ebay with no minimum bid just ended. I ID'd it but sadly so did several others. Listed as a Scott #7 the 1st bid was .99c. Anyone else recognize this one?



I bet the seller is happy tonight!

9R1E?
Did the listing include condition?
Hard to drop 2 grand without knowing if stamp is sound

Regardless I would have got excited if I saw this listing but my excitement wound have waned when it climbed above 1300

It went from $11 to $2,000 in the last 4 seconds. There was no time to ponder ones bid. Right on...9R1E.

Yes, 9R1E

Pretty appearance.

Looks pretty good (sound) to me. The nice thing about ebay is you don't have to worry. If the stamp isn't sound, just return it. When it comes to returns outside of the country though, I do start to worry and it definitely brings my willingnes to pay down a little. Sadly, I must have blew right past that listing this morning. More than likely, I would have also been in the losers circle. I recognize several bidders and the winner, whom I don't know, is on a good run, would like to say high by beating his pants off on an extra-special stamp!

sinclair: how do you recognize some ebay bidders when the bidders' screen names are scrambled. Do you mean that you think you recognize some of the bidder?

Sometimes it's possible by the number of bids. I can recognize a few people that way.

Is this not 7R1L?

Nevermind. I don't see any recutting.

How much would a cert cost for the stamp?

Glenn, I meant what I said. I recognize some of the bidders and I know a smaller subset of those bidders by name, three of them in fact.

I think about $500 for a PF cert, right? Too much whatever it is.

If you call and ask, PSE will likely certify this stamp for a $70 fee. They had (and I think they still do) a discounted service for high catalog value stamps like this that would earn a grade of no higher than 70.

I used that service once on a used scott 110.

Matt

One never knows what is lurking in the middle of the minefield we know as ebay. Unfortunately, I too completely missed this one, despite checking ebay listings on a regular basis. What a beautiful stamp!

For learning sake, can someone explain this and why this stamp is significant? I take it that it has something to do with the plating or position of the stamp but since that is still light years from my knowledge base, I thought it would be interesting for me and maybe others to be enlightened on this particular stamp by the Knowledgeable!
Thanks in advance!!!!

The printers - Toppan, Carpenter, Casilear & Co, made a die design that was most likely too difficult to actually replicate properly on their 200 subject plates, of the day. There are numerous theories as to why.

They experimented in many ways with shortening the design - both eliminating the fine plumed ornaments at the bottom, which probably didn't transfer will into the steel, and also trimming other parts of the design.

The net result, is, that this fabulously ornate and attractive design, only appears complete in one position on the early state of the first plate. Position 7 from the right pane, of Plate 1-Early, or simply: 7R1E. That is the Type I, Scott #5, which is very valuable as a result.

Positions 3-6R1E, and 8-9R1E have, not only complete top ornaments, but substantially complete (not quite) bottom ornaments as well. These are classified as Type Ib, Scott #5A. They are also scarce, since they only come from 6 plate positions from a plate in use for only one year, during a period where the use of stamps on letters was still ramping up.

The stamp in this thread is position 9R1E, and is a pretty appearing example of it, showing the type characteristics quite well.