Lot
514 
1923, 2¢ carmine, imperforate vertically and imperforate, full pane of 100, upper left plate no. 16269 with the left 6+ vertical rows perforated diagonally but imperf vertically, and the last 3+ rows (and the lower left stamp) completely imperforate; irregularly torn vertically between the 6th/8th rows and repaired with Bureau brown kraft tape (and along some perf separation); some light wrinkling of the imperf portion and a tear into position 30 from the right edge; full original gum and lightly hinged in the four corners only, Very Fine for this. Scott No. 554a, 554 var. Estimate $3,000 - 4,000.
A UNIQUE AND IMPORTANT FOURTH BUREAU ISSUE ERROR.
According to a June 1977 article by Dr. Stanley B. Segal in The American Philatelist, the sheet apparently shifted, jammed and tore while being perforated horizontally. The pressman then repaired the sheet, cut it into four panes of 100 and added it to his pile of normal panes from whence it "was shipped to a post office in the South where it was purchased for $2. The how and the why of the sheet not being destroyed at the Bureau is unanswerable." None of the 2¢ stamps that were issued imperforate, Scott no. 577, were printed from plate 16269.
Realized: $2,000