The PMG Approved Die Proofs Of The Fourth Bureau Issue

There are fewer than 400 large die proofs of the Fourth Bureau Issue of ordinary stamps in collector hands. More than half of them bear approval signatures and dates. Most of the approved proofs (551P1-573P1, 622P1, 623P1) were contained in nine Fourth Bureau Issue proof sets given away as gifts by Postmaster General Harry S. New during the 1920s. None of the sets contained proofs 684P1 (Taft) and 685P1 ( full faced Harding) which were pulled in 1930. Since then, most of the sets, but not all, have been broken up and sold in auction.

Seven of the gift sets were assembled in early 1929. Since the inventory of available approved proofs on hand was insufficient to fully make up the sets, forty-six additional proofs of twenty-three different denominations had to be pulled to make up the sets. It is expected that there is some variation in color between those proofs and the corresponding earlier proofs. All of the new proofs were backdated to the original approval dates and signed by the original approvers. These proofs have six digit control numbers (C.N.) on their card backings while the original proofs have seven digit control numbers on their card backings.

One of the sets was given by PMG New to Second Assistant PMG W. Irving glover. That set is still intact. It contains twenty of the six digit proofs pulled in 1929. All of the actual proofs are approximately 6 in. x 8 in. The set is displayed as follows:

Even though the following proofs are not part of the Glover set, they are displayed so that all 27 Fourth Bureau Issue proofs are exhibited as one set.

Those are nice !

Do you collect Fourth Bureau Issue die proofs???

Very impressive. Thanks for posting them in such a nice display. I don't collect those, but wow!

Is it true that a complete set was given to President Calvin Coolidge and if so, do we know where that set is?

Coolidge received a set of 23 proofs. It was sold in a Siegel sale on 11/17/2015 and I believe the set may still be intact.

Oops. Some of my research notes may be in error. I checked out the 11/17/2015 Siegel sale, lot 2410. it says that 25 proofs were in the set. I thought only 23 because my notes say that Coolidge received the set on 7/10/1925 (which must an error) which would have been before proofs 622P1 and 623P1 were pulled late in the year. I have no idea who won the proof set and I have not seen it in auction since.

Thanks Hayes. Love your posts and great work putting the history of these things together. I think I may have said before that Jim Lee might very well know where some of these things are. I would wager he knows who purchased the set at Siegel. It may have been him bidding for a client.

Oops again. Must be my age. I forgot that Coolidge received two sets of Fourth Bureau Issues proof, one in 1925 and another in 1929 when PMG New gave away seven sets just before he retired. I've been mixing the two sets together. The 1925 set, with only 23 proofs, was sold in the 11/17/2015 Siegel sale and has not been seen since. The 1929 set with 25 proofs was broken up and the individual proofs were sold in a 06/16/2006 Shreves auction. I recall now that I picked up the Hayes proof from that broken set.