Sale 1357 — 2025 Rarities of the World
Sale Date — Wednesday, 25 June, 2025
Category — 1875 Re-Issue of 1869 Pictorial Issue, including A New Discovery of Scott 125 on Cover
3c Blue, Re-Issue (125). Rich color, used with 1c Brown Orange, 1881 Re-Issue (133a), 2c Brown, Re-Issue (124), 5c Yellow Brown, Bank Note (205) and 4c Blue Green, Bank Note (211), 1c straight edge at bottom, 5c straight edge at left, tied by "New York" registry oval cancel, 1c tied by "New York Reg'y Div. 4-10 1884" double-oval datestamp on 5c Brown entire addressed to Gustave Beil (philatelist) in Paris, France, New York registry label no. 73488 affixed at lower left, red Paris double-circle datestamp (Apr. 24), red "Paris Rayon-Central 24 Avril 84" and additional black datestamp on back, "Joseph Rechert" (philatelist) sender's script backstamp with manuscript "Hoboken N.J.", large purple registry backstamp, blue crayon "76", part of green registry slip on back, slightly reduced at left
VERY FINE AND A SPECTACULAR NEW DISCOVERY—THE SECOND KNOWN COVER BEARING THE RARE 3-CENT 1869 PICTORIAL RE-ISSUE. BOTH REGISTERED COVERS WERE MAILED BY JOSEPH RECHERT, A WELL-KNOWN PHILATELIST IN THE UNITED STATES, TO OTHER PHILATELISTS IN PARIS, FRANCE.
Prior to the discovery of this cover in Europe in 2024, there was only one recorded example of the 3c 1869 Pictorial Re-Issue on cover. That famous cover was lot 453 in the sixth sale of the Alfred H. Caspary collection (H.R. Harmer, Nov. 19-21, 1956). It is additionally franked with 1c and 2c 1869 Pictorial Re-Issues, as well as Bank Note stamps, paying the triple 5c UPU rate plus 10c registry fee. After the Caspary sale the 3c cover mysteriously disappeared and was not seen again until it was offered more than 60 years later in a 2017 Spink sale.
The cover offered here has a similar franking, but with 5c less postage, paying the double 5c UPU rate plus 10c registry fee. It has the backstamp of Joseph Rechert, a well-known philatelist of the period who was the first International Secretary of the American Philatelic Association. The handwriting on the Caspary cover and the cover offered here is the same. This cover is addressed to Gustave Beil, a Parisian philatelist of the period (member 328 of the American Philatelic Society).
This cover emerged in Europe in 2024 and becomes the second cover known with the rare 3c 1869 Pictorial Re-Issue. Along with the Caspary cover and the unique four-stamp franking with 1c, 2c, 12c and 15c Re-Issues (Sale 1211, lot 536), these are the three most spectacular and important 1869 Pictorial Re-Issue covers.
Census no. 125-CAN-COV-18. With 2024 P.F. certificate.
30c Blue & Carmine, Re-Issue (131). Original gum, intense colors and impressions, wide margins
VERY FINE ORIGINAL-GUM EXAMPLE OF THE 30-CENT 1869 PICTORIAL RE-ISSUE.
Ex Hoffman. With 2000 P.F. certificate.