#20222

The only unused copy (Figure A) was formerly in the Ferrari collection. It is one of the few copies with four complete margins. It has the papermakers' watermark and is supposed to have original gum. This stamp was lot 563 in the third Ferrari sale held April 7, 1922, and realized approximately $1,930 including the 17 ½ percent government surtax. It may have been bought at the Ferrari sale by Warren H. Colson because this stamp was in his stock when it was acquired by the present owner, the Raymond H. Weill Company, in the mid to late 1940s. The Weill firm has owned the stamp since the I940s except for three or four years in the 1960s, when at that time this unused copy was sold to Josiah K. Lilly at a price that now escapes the memory of the Weills. Robert A. Siegel sold the Lilly collection in a series of auctions held in New York City in the late 1960s. This particular stamp was lot 19 in Part I sold February 2, 1967, and was reacquired by the Weills at a hammer price of $34,000. It has a Philatelic Foundation certificate. The photographs in both the Ferrari and Lilly catalogs show this copy to have a black dot outside the outer circle opposite the letters "PO" of Post. This is the only stamp included in my records that has such a dot, and I do not know what significance, if any, the dot may have

Philip Ward Chronicle 121 Figure A

Lot 631 5c Black on bluish (7X1), full original gum, very lightly hinged, sharp impression on bright fresh paper with papermaker's watermark, full even margins all around.

This mint copy was first seen in the Ferrary sale of April 7, 1922, where it realized $1,900. It is not known from where Ferrary had purchased the stamp. It was exhibited by Latham in London at the April 4, 1928 meeting of The Collectors Club of New York. When portions of the Latham collection were dispersed, the unused Millbury was acquired by Warren H. Colson. the Weills acquired it from Colson and, for a brief time, the stamp was part of the Josiah K. Lilly collection. when Lilly's provisionals were sold on February 2, 1967, the unused Millbury brought the highest price of all the provisionals - $34,000 “ far beyond the $18,500 paid for the Alexandria blue and nearly as much as the famous 1869 15c Invert with original gum. It has since been part of the collection assembled by the Weills.

Extremely fine. Unique as an unused copy and the finest of all recorded Millbury provisional stamps. Considered by many to be among the most distinctive and desirable of all United States postage stamps. Exhibited at Ameripex 1986 in the Aristocrats of Philately display (number 2), Illustrated in Williams' Stamps of Fame (pp 206-207 pl. 27), Life magazine ˜World's Rarest Stamps (May 3, 1954). Mentioned in Linn's Philatelic Gems (p 146). Ex. Ferrary, Latham, Colson Est. $60,000-80,000.

Christie's Weill Brothers sale Oct 12, 1989

Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, Inc. sale 312 (Josiah K. Lilly) lot 19 realized $34,000

Robert A. Siegel sale 1323 (Gross) lot 3 realized 250,000 (image)

PF 602291 IT IS GENUINE, PREVIOUSLY HINGED

Siegel Census 7X1-OG-01