Market Matters : Glen Stephens

Glen Stephens

Looks better in Mono than Colour!

the-top defacement was excessive to most who commented.

Thank Goodness for philately that Donald Trump did not choose to buy it - he’d likely have used a black Sharpie marker pen - on the FRONT! If these guys bought one of the 17 existing copies of the Magna Carta would they also go scrawling stiletto heel graffiti all over that too?

Anyway, what is done is done, and hopefully now that Weitzman has already tired of it, someone with a bit more common sense will own it, and not repeat the same wanton ego madness. The different markings you see on reverse are outlined in this list - most of them are very discreet - 1. Two strikes of Count Philipp von Ferrary’s famous “trefoil” owner’s mark. One impression is very faint, at lower left. It sold for then $US32,500 in 1922. 2. A large faint “H” of new owner, American Billionaire Arthur Hind at top - said to have burnt a second copy sold to him. “It is now STILL unique”. 3. A small “FK” of Finbar Kenny, the manager at Macy’s Stamp Department, who brokered the sale by Hind’s widow to Fred Small for $US45,000 in 1940. 4. Large, ornate 17 pointed star of Anna Hind, placed OVER her 30 year older husband’s “AH” cloverleaf, who had largely cut her out of his will. 5. A small discreet shooting star lower right, added by Australian born WWI Gallipoli hero, Frederick Small, who owned it under total secrecy from 1940-1970. 6. A pencilled “IW” by Irwin Weinberg, head of a group of investors who bought it 1970 for $US280,000 at Siegels, and later sold it to du Pont via Siegel Auctions. 7. A large soft pencilled “J E d P”, initials of the late John E. Du Pont who bought it for $US935,000 in 1980, and died in prison. His heirs sold it in 2014. 8. Vandal scrawl added 2019 of “SW” and a vertical stiletto squiggle in heavy pencil or metallic ink pen, by NY shoe designer, Stuart Weitzman who paid $US9.48m.

This poor old stamp, damaged and repaired,

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has been exposed to so much light over its long history, it is now faded beyond recognition. A blurry pinkish little smudged rectangle basically when I saw it in recent years. I took the nearby photo of Margo standing next to it.

The black and white photo nearby is what it looked like in a 1952 “PIX” magazine article here, which revealed an Australian WWI Gallipoli Hero has quietly owned it for 30 years, and even his wife did not know! It is one of the few mega rare stamps to look FAR better in mono than colour!

Sweden Tre Skilling Banco also on display.

Eight days exposed to bright light.

I inspected this British Guiana stamp in 2016 at the New York Expo where it was in a clear Perspex case with bright lighting beaming down on it. (The multimillion $ Sweden Tre Skilling Banco was also on show in a collector exhibit there.)

Weitzman is selling the pieces as he is 79, and says his family are not interested in stamps or coins. It is stated the monies raised - as much as $US37 million, based on Sotheby’s presale estimates, will go to charitable ventures, including The Weitzman Family Foundation.

I am no expert on US tax law, but I understand over there one receives a full tax write off for such donations, if the sum donated is verifiable and confirmable etc, as in this case? Seems to happen a lot there, and Americans are far more philanthropic than citizens of most nations,

Billionaire stamp collector and Large Gold medal winner Bill Gross (who of course also owned the “Inverted Jenny” Plate block 4) has donated mega millions to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington DC.

Bill Gross a very generous donor to Philately.

The initial donation by Gross was $US8 million alone, to create a new 12,000 square foot gallery that was named in his honour. Gross also loaned some of his star USA stamp pieces to be exhibited there to

Glen Stephens

Will Jenny keep flying high?

visitors. It has been a great success - I have visited it, like millions of others, and a top effort.

Bill Gross has sold off many of his superb stamp collections via Charles Shreve, and Siegel Auctions, and donated about another $US30 million to charities etc from those. A very generous man, and great for our hobby.

Also for sale on the same day as the British Guiana stamp and $20 coin, is the unique Plate Block of 4 of the USA 1918 “Inverted Jenny” 24¢ stamp. The block is hinged which means a big hit on Jenny prices, but being the plate block, will likely still fetch several millions - likely not as many as Sothebys estimate of $US5-7 million, before commission.

In 2005, it sold at auction by Siegel Auction Galleries in New York, where it sold to bond tycoon Bill Gross for $US2,970,000. Mr. Gross’s ownership was shortlived, as he swapped it within a week to Donald Sundman of Mystic Stamp Company, for the USA 1¢ blue Franklin “Z” Grill rarity. After the completion of this bizarre trade, Gross became the only person alive to own a complete collection of United States postage stamps, by Scott numbers. He might have overpaid however, just to secure it for the “swap”. Heaps of background to the Jenny inverts are here - tinyurl.com/Glen0519 Mystic Stamp Company retained the 24¢ plate block and used it for advertising and promotion purposes and razzmatazz etc until 2014, when it was purchased by Stuart Weitzman of shoe fame, the current vendor. The price paid is unknown. Gross has owned LOTS of “Inverted Jennies” - they are not really scarce at all (just pricey!) as the full sheet of 100 copies are all basically still floating about the global stamp market. I have things in stock priced at $1000s, not millions, that far less than 100 exist of!

“Please keep them for the grandchildren.”

He gave his 3 children a handful of these Inverted Jenny Airmail stamps, an American classic issue he clearly is very fond of, and requested they all be put aside for the future - “to be kept as an inheritance

for his grandchildren.”

Youngest son, 31 year old Nick Gross, a little known rock musician, sold his gifted “Centre Line” block of 4, and a single 24¢ invert at Spink

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New York in September 2019, despite his father attempting to stop the sale,.

According to a ”New York Post” report, around the time of the sale, Nick Gross suggested that if his father would like to have the Inverted Jenny stamps back, “he is welcome to buy them at the auction.”

The block 4 got a surprisingly poor figure for these - $US1,450,000 hammer price, and I suspect young Nick’s position in Dad’s Will was adjusted out by many, MANY times that figure, for his crass ingratitude and petulance! The “wisdom” of greedy youth.

$20 coin nearly destroyed in 9/11 attacks.

HUGE mistake to sell this block Nick.

In 1933 in the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt stopped the issuing of any gold coins, and indeed made it illegal to own the metal at all - although coin collectors could retain their existing pieces.

With one exception, no 1933 double eagles were ever legally released, although some were stolen from the government, and over the decades, all but one were recovered. The one being auctioned here.

The 445,500 x 1933 date $20 coins that were minted, were supposed to have all been melted down to preserve US Gold Reserves etc. However, 20 coins, including Weitzman’s, were stolen from the US Mint.

The Feds over many decades have clawed back 19 of these 20 stolen 1933 gold coins from public hands, and they wanted this one shown nearby too. Many court battles ensued over it. The UK owner Fenton was arrested in a “sting” at The WaldorfAstoria Hotel in New York.

First he claimed he bought it over the counter. Then he claimed it was ex King Farouk of Egypt. Who “sort of” had legal permission to own one. Which complicated the issue, as after all, unlike 20 x Penny Black stamps etc, 20 x uncirculated Gold Coins of the same date and Mint all look more or less identical.

The coin very nearly melted or vaporised, as whilst these Court proceedings took place, the coin was secured in the Twin Towers in a USA Federal storage facility there. Only 2 months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the coin was very fortuitously moved to Fort Knox.

The US Feds have chased down all the other coins vigorously that were stolen from them, and even in recent times had 10 of them turned over to them, despite all kinds of court appeals and processes, that went on to as recently as 2016.

Glen Stephens

The single eagle, “double eagle” coin!

Why is it known as a “double eagle” coin, when they is only ONE eagle on the reverse was my first thought? Why - because it was double the face value of the $10 coin! I kid you not. Anyway that nickname has stuck, although many collectors more logically call this $20 long series of coins issued from 1907-1933 “The Saints”.

The original missing $20 “Augustus SaintGaudens” designed double eagle was acquired by King Farouk of Egypt, who was a voracious collector of many things, including imperial Fabergé eggs, gold antiquities, precious objects, postage stamps - and coins, of which he had a nice collection.

USA Export Licence for $20 coin granted.

In 1944 King Farouk purchased a 1933 $20 coin, and in strict adherence with the law, his Ministers applied to the United States Treasury Department for an export license for the coin. Mistakenly, just days before the Mint theft was discovered, the license was granted. The US Treasury Department attempted to work through diplomatic channels to request the return of the $20 coin from Egypt, but World War II delayed their efforts for several years. It was not a major priority of course in the post-war era. In 1952, King Farouk was deposed in a coup d’etat, and went into exile in France, and most of his possessions were sold by public auction - including the $20 USA coin. The massive stamp collection section alone took a WEEK to auction by Harmers in 1954.

This monochrome British Pathé Newsreel footage of the Auction is quite something to view - tinyurl.com/Farouks Many scarcer stamps had the “Royal Cartouche” marking added on gum, which is basically a small black square with Arabic inscription inside. Backstamped by the curators of the collection, on what they considered more important issues.

King Farouk was an AVID stamp collector. He instructed his stamp printers to “create” all kinds of misperfs and imperfs and oveprint errors etc. This

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The King Farouk Sale official cartouche.

material sold for a “song” in 1954 but has slowly gained in popularity in the ensuing decades.

The United States government requested the return of the $20 coin, and the Egyptian government stated that it would comply with the request. However, the coin then “disappeared”, and was not seen again in Egypt.

Owner arrested in “sting” raid in New York.

In 1996, this $20 coin surfaced after over 42 years of obscurity, when British coin dealer Stephen Fenton was arrested by U.S. Secret Service agents during a “sting” operation at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.

Although he initially told investigators he bought the coin over the counter at his shop, Fenton later changed his story. Under sworn testimony, he now insisted the $20 had come from the collection of King Farouk, although this could not be verified.

This caused a very obvious problem for the Feds. They could not prove it was NOT the Farouk coin, for which a US Export License had been issued! Criminal charges against Fenton were subsequently dropped, and he defended his ownership of the coin in court.

The case was settled in 2001 when it was agreed that ownership of the coin would revert to the United States government, and the coin could then legally be sold at auction. The United States Treasury issued a document to “issue and monetize” the $20, thereby making it a legal-tender gold coin in the USA.

Glen Stephens

Estimate $15 seems about right to me anyway!

Boring looking lettercard sells $3,000!

Some very odd things occur in Stamp Auctions. Often it is obvious why - silly low estimates, or under described material, or an obvious flaw or postmark not noticed by the busy describers etc, etc.

Do look at the NSW Lettercard shown nearby. It is the bog basic NSW issue, in pretty average condition, and addressed to St Mary’s - now an outer suburb of Sydney, and from Canberra, not very far away. The Canberra numeral cancel “371” is not very scarce, nor are the Canberra, or St, Marys or Queanbeyan cds cancel strikes. All pretty run of the mill cancels. The lettercard appears to be very normal issue. The Phoenix Auctions March 7 description simply said - Canberra (1): framed ‘CANBERRA/SP12/1899/ N.S.W’ tied with rays ‘371’ (A2) on 1½d Letter Card, unframed ‘ST MARY’S/SP13/1899/ N.S.W’ arrival backstamp. PO 1/1/1863; renamed Ainslie PO 2/6/1913. Estimate. $15 Estimate $15, it was invoiced at $A3,000! David Wood the owner of Phoenix Auctions replied on stampboards when it was raised, and posted this - “I can

tell you we are just as mystified as everyone else.”

tinyurl.com/NSW1899 is the discussion on this lettercard, and no-one there can offer any suggestions as to why a Lettercard that David Benson, Phoenix and myself all agree was truly worth only $10-$20, was invoiced for $3,000. Does any reader have input on this?

U.S. Duck STAMPS

The ambition of most collectors is to assemble a complete collection of their preferred areas but what does one do when this has been accomplished? One of the major driving forces in our hobby is the constant hunt for new stamps and covers. Some solve this problem by selling off their complete collections in order to have funds available for a new speciality. Thus the hunt for interesting stamps or postal history items can continue unabated.

When surveyed about their favourite themes, many collectors indicate birds on stamps. There is much to suggest that this is one of the most popular topics worldwide. I am sure that many readers of this magazine enjoy watching birds. Many ornithologists “collect” sightings of as many different bird species as possible.

Although in no way an ornithologist, several years ago I began taking an interest in the Hunting Permit Stamps introduced by the United States government in 1934. The decision to require hunters to pay an annual fee of $1 was passed by the US congress on 16 March 1934. The money from the tax was intended to improve the conditions of birdlife in the country’s wetlands. The offi cial name of these tax stamps is “Hunting Permit Stamps” but in view of the birds depicted on the stamps, they are almost always referred to as Duck Stamps.

The stamps pay the hunting permit fee from July 1st until the end of June the following the year. This is clearly stated on the stamps. On the fi rst Duck Stamp issued in 1934 we not only see two mallards alighting but also the wording “Void after June 39, 1935”. Shown in Fig. 1 is the very fi rst US Duck Stamp.

The Bureau of Engraving & Printing was commissioned to design and print the hunting permit stamps. The result was very pleasing. This state owned operation printed all Duck Stamps until 2001. They were produced in large size and until 1958 the engraved stamps were printed in one colour only.

Figure 1 Figure 2

Christer Brunström

The change came in 1959 when multicolour printing was introduced. The fi rst multi colour stamp depicted a Labrador retriever (Fig. 2), a most suitable design as dogs are almost always used by bird hunters.

In the fi rst year it was rather unclear if the stamps should be cancelled or not. When the second issue went on sale in 1935, hunters were required to write their name on the stamp when it had been affi xed to a licence. Used stamps thus always exhibit a signature. This is exactly the reason why I prefer to only include mint stamps in my collection. Shown nearby is a 1964 Duck Stamp signed by the hunter (Fig.3).

During the fi rst 12 years all the stamps were issued in sheets of 32 of which 10 stamps lacked perforations on one or two sides. Despite the fact that these straight-edge copies are scarcer than stamps with perforations on all four sides they are worth less. In fact, some 25% should be deducted from the stated catalogue value for a stamp with one or two straight edges. In Fig. 4 I show a 1937 stamp with one straight edge.

Many collectors and bird friends appreciated these magnifi cent stamps and as time went by they became immensely popular which resulted in everincreasing prices of the early issues. Today many collectors in the USA only want stamps with perfect centering and unblemished pristine gum. They are often willing to pay ridiculous sums for this kind of quality.

Hinged stamps and stamps without gum usually sell for substantial discounts from catalogue value. Starting in 1946, the hunting permit stamps had a text printed on the back (Fig. 5) telling hunters that it was illegal to hunt waterfowl without signing the stamps with their name in ink.

The licence fee was $1 until 1948 when it increased to $2. In 1959 the fee was increased once again to $3. The next increase to $5 came in 1972. In 1979 the fee was raised to $7.50. From 1987 the

Figure 3

Figure 4

U.S. DUCK STAMPS

licence fee was $10 but only for two years. During the period 1989-1990 the fee was $12.50. It was increased to $15 in 1991. Since 2015 the fee is $25. Starting in 1998, there are two versions of each new stamp: one water-activated and one self-adhesive. Collecting the new issues is not particularly cheap. In Fig. 6 I show the 1992 $15 Duck Stamp.

As there is a new duck stamp each year this is still a very active area and as far as I know the hunting permit stamps are the only US federally issued revenue stamps today.

The success of the attractive Duck Stamps encouraged the majority of the 50 US states to also release local hunting permit stamps in addition to the national ones. In the long run this certainly turned out to be too much for most collectors and in recent years interest in these issues has diminished resulting in lower price levels (which has made it possible for collectors to obtain back issues at more favourable prices).

Quite early on I decided to limit my Duck Stamp collection and I decided to stop adding new stamps when the Bureau of Engraving & Printing was no longer in charge of their production. At the time I also considered ending my collection at the point where recess printing was replaced by offset. Just a few months ago I was able to add the only missing stamp. Strangely enough it was a rather inexpensive $3 stamp.

The early Duck Stamps are quite expensive but even on a limited budget it should be possible to build a comprehensive collection of these impressive stamps. In used condition, most can be acquired for a few dollars each. Dealers frequently offer heavy discounts on mounted mint stamps or on stamps lacking gum. To answer the question at the beginning of this story I have absolutely no intention of getting rid of my collection now that I own all the basic issues. In the future I might try to add a few complete licences with both federal and state Duck Stamps. Thus the hunt goes on!

Figure 5

Figure 6