U.S. & Worldwide Stamps & Postal History
December 7-8, 2021
Welcome to our December 7-8 sale of U.S. and Worldwide Stamps and Postal History. This 1,554 lot sale begins with United States, with 19th and 20th Century single rarities, graded items, proofs, essays and back of the book material. European countries are well represented, with a good showing of Great Britain & British Commonwealth. South America is highlighted by classic Colombia. Other noteworthy areas include the late Roy Koczarski's award-wining collection of Poland, plus Russia, with an unused Number One. The sale concludes with Large Lots and Collections, with single country albums to specialized collections, multi-carton worldwide groups and cover lots. Scans of most of the lots are available on our website and additional scans are being added daily
| Images | Description | Current Bid |
 | Lot #310 United States Modern Issues 1979 $1.00 Rush Lamp & Candle Holder, intaglio brown color inverted, n.h., v.f. The so-called CIA invert is one of the best known inverted color errors in United States philately. These stamps were discovered by an on-duty CIA employee who teamed up with some colleagues to purchase the pane from a post office. Saving a copy each, the group later sold the bulk of the sheet to a prominent stamp dealer. News of the error reached CIA officials who sought to claim ownership and US Postal authorities who tried to recover the stamps. Official queries, threats, and even job losses followed the group until the sale of the pane was ruled legal. Because the number of existing CIA inverts approximately equals the number of existing Inverted Jennies (examples of C3a regularly bring six-figure sums at auction), it may be said that current values for 1610c are far too low. This exceptional copy is accompanied by a 2014 PFC graded "XF 90", ** Catalog #1610c Catalog Value $17,000 | Price Realized $14,000.00 |
