Scott #O47Sb, 1875 1c Black Post Office Official with INVERTED "SPECIMEN" overprint in carmine. VF appearance. Large margins with natural sheet-margin straight edge at right. Thin. Much rarer than the catalog value suggests! Another dealer, who I respect greatly and who specializes in this type of material, saw this and commented that it is extremely rare, much scarcer than the catalog value indicates, and that a thin is typical on these because of how some of them were utilized for specimen use (such as UPU distribution and placing into the specimen books in other countries). A RARITY! Scott 2021 value $2500, but in reality this inverted overprint is much scarcer than that value suggests! Accompanied by 2019 Philatelic Foundation certificate.
ACTUAL item.
1695.00
243250
Scott #O83S [1873 1c rose Franklin War Official, Normal Thin Hard Paper] "SPECIMEN" small blue overprint Special Printing (listed in Scott in a group after #O120). Mint (ungummed as issued) with VF centering and unusually large margins, but some soiling and a thin. Nice looking; seldom seen with large margins and good perforations. (Scott 2021 $35.00.)
ACTUAL item.