Lot
2300 
1923, 2¢ Harding, flat plate printing, imperforate error, left margin plate no. "14870" block of 12, o.g., never hinged (short gum at left with a few light natural gum bends), large margins, fresh with deep color, Very Fine. Scott No. 610b $25,000 for plate block of 6.
ONE OF THREE KNOWN PLATE BLOCKS OF THE 1923 2¢ HARDING IMPERFORATE ERROR ISSUE WITH PLATE NUMBER "14870" - A PLATE THAT WAS SOLELY USED FOR THE PERFORATED FLAT PLATE ISSUE.
A single imperforate pane of 100 from plate 14870 was discovered in a post office pad of 100 panes of normal perforated stamps. Despite the fact that the pane had been "blue-penciled" for destruction at the Bureau, it had somehow been distributed with the normal panes. A month and a half later, when the 2¢ black Harding was officially issued imperforate (Scott #611), it was printed from a different set of plates, thereby allowing only the imperforates with plate number 14870 attached to be positively identified as coming from the error sheet. All others became indistinguishable from the regularly issued imperforates.
Realized: $11,000