Matthew Bennett International is to hold a public auction on Sept. 23-25 public in Boston that will be followed by an online-only sale. The auction will offer a great variety of United States and worldwide stamps, covers and collections, including a specialized sale of the Golden State collection of gem mint Washington-Franklins. One of the brightest issues that will be offered during this sale is 1909, 4¢ orange brown, bluish paper, that is to fetch more than its catalogue value of $27,500.
The auction is so special because it offers many of the top-graded examples of mint stamps that were absent from the Golden State collection of gem U.S. stamps auctioned eight years ago, Bennett explains, because “the collector was actively engaged in perfecting the area.”
Only 80 specimens of this valuable 1909, 4¢ orange brown on bluish paper were released and most stamps of are off center or have some faults. The lot offered by Bennett is the highest quality example featuring original gum and fresh colours, virtually perfectly centered, in an extremely fine condition. This is the highest graded example, which grade is shared with only two examples by the pf and one other graded by the pse.
