The Maitland Collection of U.S. Stamps and Inverted Centers of the World
October 29-30, 2024
We are pleased to present two outstanding sales from the Maitland Collection - United States Stamps and Inverted Centers of the World. The focus on the United States Collection is on items typically missing from conventional collections, most notably Re-Issues, Special Printings, rare Coils, Postage Dues and of course the Inverted Jenny (which is offered in the Inverted Centers sale). Some additional highlights include a sound unused Indian Red, Grills, Bluish Papers complete, imperf. 5c in 2c block, "Fast", "Slow" and "Grounded" Jennies, and more.
The Maitland Collection of Inverted Centers of the World brings these striking errors and some of their stories to light. The United States showing is apparently complete, with 1869 Pictorials, 1901 Pan-Americans, Internal Revenues and the more modern CIA and Stock Exchange inverts. Rounding the group is the Inverted Jenny, one of the three stamps recovered from the infamous "McCoy" block. Stolen from the APS Convention in 1955, the Maitland copy is position 75, its fascinating story available at https://invertedjenny.com/position/75.
The collection continues with major rarities from Central and South America, better Canal Zone, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Peru and Uruguay.
European Countries feature the three Inverted Parliament Building errors from Austria, Inverted Madonna from Hungary, Bulgaria 50st, Athens Academy from Greece, Italian Filiberto and Postage Dues, as well as Italian Colonies, 1956 Poland 20gr Boxer, a splendid group of Imperial Russia and Spain.
The British Commonwealth is highlighted by Canadian Revenues, St. Lawrence Seaway, multiple examples of the Truro School, plus Patricia Airways. Jamaica, Labuan, New Zealand, Cook Islands, South Australia and Tonga.
Not to be overlooked, there are inverts from Belgian Congo, French Colonies, Liberia, excellent Iran and others.
These sales will take place live via CherrystoneLIVE.
| Images | Description | Current Bid |
 | Lot #2505 United States 1901 Pan-American Exposition 1901 1c green & black, Center Inverted, relatively l.h., unusually well centered for issue, fresh and v.f. example of this popular invert, with 2002 PFC and 2009 PSE certificates, * Catalog #294a Catalog Value $12,500 | Price Realized $5,250.00 |
 | Lot #2506 United States 1901 Pan-American Exposition 1901 1c green & black, Center Inverted, used, relatively light pmk, well centered, shallow thin spots, with 1971 and 2007 PFCs, fine appearance of the 1 Cent Pan-American Invert. Siegel census records 56 used examples, including 48 singles, a pair, 3 stamps on pieces and 3 stamps on separate covers (Census no. 294a-CAN-32), O Catalog #294a Catalog Value $25,000 | Price Realized $8,500.00 |
 | Lot #2507 United States 1901 Pan-American Exposition 1901 2c carmine & black, Center Inverted, unused with original gum, bright colors, centered to left, small thin and a corner crease at top left, fine appearance, with 1979 PFC. The 2c inverted Train is the rarest of the three Pan-American Inverts. About 200 were issued through the post office, with two distinct shades known. Siegel records an intact block (4), reconstructed block (4) and 64 unused singles for a total of 72 unused. There are also seven used singles. Many of the unused singles have disturbed gum or no gum, and/or are off center to top or top left, * Catalog #295a Catalog Value $50,000 | Price Realized $15,000.00 |
 | Lot #2508 United States 1901 Pan-American Exposition 1901 4c deep red brown & black, Center Inverted, unused with full original gum, h.r., incredibly bright and fresh colors, centered just slightly to the bottom, far better centering than most existing examples, superior quality, among the finest available, without the usual gum problems that plague this issue, with 1960 and 2009 PFCs. There were two sheets of 100 each of the 4c Pan-American with centers inverted intentionally made for Post Office records. An unknown number of these were overprinted "Specimen" and still others were destroyed. The unoverprinted examples were mounted in a Post Office Department book resulting in the vast majority of them having disturbed gum, and a number were also thinned in an effort to remove them from mounting paper. Very few exist today with completely undisturbed original gum and/or free of faults. This example is accompanied by a 1960 PFC which states the stamp has "disturbed gum". It is easy to agree with the written notations on the certificate by the legendary dealer Jack Molesworth who writes "Ridiculous comment, probably the most undisturbed gum of any copy known - most of which have gum missing, thinned, etc. from being stuck down." (the stamp was resubmitted to the Philatelic Foundation, which issued a certificate in 2009 "It is genuine, previously hinged" (the catalogue value in Scott is for examples that have "full original gum that is slightly disturbed.") (a comparable example recently fetched $60,000 hammer in the June Siegel auction) * Catalog #296a Catalog Value $85,000 | Unsold |
