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| Item # |
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US$ | Never Hinged  US$ |
Mint Hinged US$ |
Used US$ |
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248212 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small}  "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small}  "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
Scott #1, Facit #1c Blue Green, Thin Paper [1855 3 Skilling Banco] THE FIRST STAMP OF SWEDEN. Mint, without gum as always, with Fine centering and perforations that must be considered to be perfect on this stamp. This color is, by a small amount, the least costly (Facit 2024 SEK 90,000) of the three colors listed by Facit. Furthermore, Facit only prices this color in Mint. All catalogs only value the Mint stamps of the Sweden #1-5 as without gum. Accompanied by a 2002 Helena Obermüller Wilén "HOW" color certificate stating (translated): "Unused without gum. This stamp does not exist with original gum. Stamp is genuine. No defects. No repairs. A very beautiful and fresh example of a very rare stamp." HOW has assigned a quality rating of "3,3,(-)" [the "-" is the lack of gum] -- this is an extraordinary quality rating for this stamp. HOW is the premier certificate to have for the skilling banco stamps. The stamp is also accompanied by a 1960 certificate from the Friedl Expert Committee, which is signed by both legendary gentleman, Herbert Block and Edwin Mueller; the stamp is signed on reverse in pencil by Bloch, as was his custom (and the certificate states this fact and also repeats that penciled signature). The picture on that Friedl certificate (it is embossed to the certificate) has been taken from an auction catalog; I strongly expect that the photo would be from one of the venerable Mercury Stamp Company auction sales -- which were operated by Bloch and Mueller. Most recently this stamp was in the John A. Haggstrom collection. An outstanding example, with wonderful color, and without any defects. This is the nicest Mint example I have had of this stamp in 50 years. [Layaway payment terms can be arranged for this item.] ACTUAL item. ACTUAL item. ACTUAL item. |
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9000.00 |
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233110 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
ca.1870 33 öre Lion Type essay design from the late 1860s. Listed by Facit as Lion Type Essay design #6. Originally printed in black, blue, orange, brown, red, and lilac, on rose-tinted paper; all are very rare. In the 1870s the essay was again printed, by lithography, in blue and brown on white paper. The white paper is a very fragile, ultra-smooth, chalk-coated paper that made a wonderful surface for printing, but after 140 years is usually only found in damaged condition. Normally with very large margins. BLUE on White Chalk-Coated Paper. With huge margins as expected. In PERFECT CONDITION, which is very scarce. ACTUAL item. |
Reference |
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247814 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
Sweden Scott #1585-8 (1588a) ALL ENGRAVING MISSING ERROR [January 1986 Stockholmia 86 "Stamp Collecting" and "NEW SWEDEN"; JOINT ISSUE WITH UNITED STATES Scott #2198-2201] NH VF complete booklet. All the offset printing is present, but ALL THE ENGRAVING PRINTING IS MISSING (and is NOT albino). Engraved by Sjööblom (#1585-6, 1588), Masure and Hipschen (#1587 which is the shared / common design with the U.S. stamp). Hipschen was a well-known engraver of U.S. stamps; Masure had done engraving of lettering on several U.S. stamps. Any type of error is "rare" on the tightly-controlled Swedish stamps, but this one is particularly spectacular. The cause of the error is likely that at the time this part of the web paper passed through the printing press, the engraved printing cylinders (which were after the lithograph cylinders) were not yet engaged (thus there was no engraved impression at all, not even an albino impression). The booklet-making process is closely integrated with the printing process, thus the quality control inspectors must have missed the small section of printing that was made into booklets before the web of paper was turned into booklets. Due to the web-press nature of the production, an example of an error such as this is not unique, however, I have only seen a few examples offered in the market since it was discovered (which I think was in the late 1980s). [The website illustration also shows, and this offer includes, a properly printed example.] In addition to being a scarce type of error from Sweden, this is a KEY ITEM for a collection of Sweden and/or U.S. related JOINT ISSUES. Furthermore, the New Sweden thematic is one of the most popular Swedish-related topical collections. An outstanding item! ACTUAL item. |
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247815 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
Sweden Scott #(2715 FOOTNOTED "Flags" VERSION), Facit #BL38v [2013 Table Tennis souvenir sheet SPECIAL VERSION WITH FLAGS BACKGROUND; JOINT ISSUE WITH PRC-CHINA Scott #4152-4153] CANCELED VF souvenir sheet. This special version of the souvenir sheet has the same two stamps as the regular souvenir sheet, but the rest of the souvenir sheet (picturing the flags of both countries) is completely different. This was a special item prepared by Sweden for very limited distribution to officials and diplomats connected with a major 2013 stamp show in China. While the quantity printed is not known to me, it is believed to be very small (a couple hundred to a few hundred at most) and the distribution was extremely limited and controlled. To the best of my knowledge, all examples that have come to the market have come, one at a time, from the original recipients -- I am not aware of any existing "stock" of these! When this issue became known, it was the subject of controversy and discussion in Sweden, but until recently it has been very little known outside of Sweden. Other than a picture in Facit and a couple illustrations in the philatelic press -- overlooked by most collectors -- the vast majority of collectors have never seen this item, if they have ever even heard of it. Virtually all known examples are Mint (NH). The listing in Facit includes a Used price, however, I had never seen or heard of a Canceled example until November 2023. This example bears a Swedish "LUND / POSTNORD" 2 September 2019 cancellation; surely a favor cancellation. As December 2023, of I have only been able to offer one other example (in October 2023; it is NH) of this souvenir sheet since the time of issue. Despite the original controversy, this is a genuinely "rare" item that is missing from virtually all Swedish (and Joint Issue and PRC-China related) collections. An outstanding item! ACTUAL item. |
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425.00 |