When A Multiple Isn't: An Example Of The Reality When Dealing With Low Populations

tl;dr: When you encounter something that is extremely scarce/rare, with an extant population in single digits, beggars can't be choosers. Do you pick up an example that has condition issues, or do you pass it by in hopes of finding a better one? What if it is a discovery example?

I picked up the document below from Denny Peoples when he set up at our local show last month. It has issues, but as far as I know it is unique... as Denny would say, "Find another one!"

It's a horizontal strip of 8 of the 1st issue 25-cent Life Insurance imperforate (Scott #R47a), used on a March 1863 indenture from Knox County, Illinois.

Sadly, the document folds are so severe that they completely sever the multiple in 2 places, effectively creating two pieces of 1.5 stamps and a center strip of 4.

Were it fully intact, it would far and away be the largest known multiple of the stamp. Per the Curtis Collection census, now maintained by Siegel Auctions after Dan's passing, there is 1 damaged block of 4, and 1 strip of 5 known. I don't know to what extent Siegel is updating the census since they took over the project.

Would this considered "reconstructed"?... it's still on its original document, so there really isn't any "reconstruction" going on in the traditional sense we encounter the term at auction.

Even if it's just considered a heavily damaged multiple in pieces, finding something that would presumably have qualified as "largest known" still on its original document is virtually unheard of.

Fun fact: If you do not consider it to be a "multiple of 8", then the intact strip of 4 in the middle is still tied for 3rd largest multiple known.

The price was right, so I wasn't about to pass it by, even with its problems. There are no alternative examples, at least at this point.

Sometimes you just pick something up for its historic value and to preserve it, and when it comes to its flaws, "it is what it is"... it may be an ugly duckling to some, but I'm thrilled to have it.

I for one, wouldn't have considered this as having "condition issues," since the folds extend through the entire document, not the stamps alone; to me, it'd be like complaining that a stamp on a crash cover had a singe mark or ash staining… that's all part of it, after all. I wouldn't have hesitated to purchase it either, if I had seen it or had a collecting interest.

Unless one is a self described "condition whore" as some collectors claim (have met several at shows), you buy the item and if another one ever shows up you upgrade. You can also write the item up to see if anything else falls out of the trees while you alert the world to the item you now own. [Would you turn down the unique 1 cent magenta just because the corners are trimmed?]

This remains a strip of 8 on document. When the document severs and is reconstructed, then the document is reconstructed. If you soak the stamps off and rejoin them then the strip of stamps is reconstructed. When a pristine document with either a strip of 7 or 9 shows up, then the debate can be reviewed.

How do you know someone didn't fill in the perf holes?

Seriously, it's a great document; while the condition must be taken into account, the chances of finding another are very slim. If put in for a cert, I would expect it to be called a strip of 8 that is split by file folds.

As for how it wound up this way, it was used in a location of very changeable temperatures, which might have made the paper brittle, and a long term heavy weight could well have split the paper.

I would call it a strip of 8 with separations. I would never remove it from the document - the doc proves that the splits are due to the doc folds and not some type of abuse of the strip of stamps. Like you say, beggars can't be choosers. When we are talking about the scarcity of this type of item, you take it the way you can get it and be happy with what you have. For now, a better (sound) strip of 8 doesn't exist.

When I see old docs like this, all dressed up in pretty revenue stamps, I often wonder how many old cabinets in the basement of some business have similar documents. I suspect there are 'plenty' of unrecorded copies buried in cabinets around the country - they are not even philatelic in nature. They are business docs. I have various family documents that are over 100 years old, so the idea of someone keeping old docs that long is not too much of a stretch. BECAUSE there are probably cabinets out there with old docs in them, I wonder how many get tossed with yesterday's catfood cans, never to be seen by a stamp collector? I bet that number is NOT 0, unfortunately.