The 1894 Bureau Series

The Value of the Stamp


Henry Clay (biography)
15c - Dark blue or Indigo
Scott #259  - Un-watermarked - 1894

 
NY Auction Houses
 
MNH
MH
Graded
Used
MNH
Graded
MH
Graded
Spring 2003
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fall 2003
-
-
-
-
$400-$550
-
-
-
Spring 2004
-
$60-$80
-
$5-$7
-
-
-
-
Fall 2004
-
$50-$75
-
$4-$13
-
-
-
-
Spring 2005
-
$50
-
$10-$15
$2,000
-
-
-
Fall 2005
-
-
-
$10-$25
$1,800-$4,600
-
-
-
Spring 2006
-
$105-$140
-
$8-$17
$4,250
90
-
-
-
-
-
-
$1,250
80
$525
90
Fall 2006
-
$650
90
$3-$10
-
-
-
-
Spring 2007
-
-
-
$3-$9
-
-
$575
85
Fall 2007
-
$140
-
$7-$15
-
-
-
-
Spring 2008
-
$160
-
$4-$10
-
-
-
-
Fall 2008
-
$150
75
$3-$8
-
-
-
-
Spring 2009
-
-
-
$7-$11
$3,000
90
$425
90
Fall 2009
-
-
-
$8-$21
-
-
-
-
Spring 2010
$510
-
-
$6-$30
-
-
-
-
Fall 2010
-
-
-
-
$17,000
98
-
-
Spring 2011
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Facts and Statistics


Issued: Issued October 15th 1894, Earliest recorded date of use, December 6th, 1894.

Plate Size: Sheets of 400 subjects (4 panes of 100)

Printer: The Bureau of Printing and Engraving, their first contract

Watermark: None

Quantity Issued: 1,583,920. The stamp paid the foreign registered rate so expect to see a lot of oval registered cancels. An example of which is shown below.

What you should look for


DOES A TOP MARGIN COPY EXIST?

Brookman claims that #259 can be found with a top margin, I have yet to see one, and a search of auction records has not revealed a single example. As far as I am aware the Bureau delivered the sheets of these without a top margin. If anyone knows of an example with a top margin please let me know

One effect of this is that there are only half as many plate number examples of this, therefore, they command a price premium.

Below is a typical example of the 1894 Bureau Issue, you will notice the blind perfs and rough appearance of the perforations. The machines for perforating the stamp had just been relocated from New York to Washington DC and did not have the old operators from the ABC, consequently the new operators took some time to get used to perforating the large sheets of 400 stamps. By the next issue, in 1895, they had got the practice down to a science, hence that issue has nice clean cut perforations. The untidy perforations of this issue does not detract from its value.

Occasionaly postmarks from states that had tiny amounts of mail in this year can add to the value. This is particularly true of Alaska and the Territories. For a list of the number of stamps issued by each state in the year ending 30th June 1894 click here.

The Inspiration for the Design


The source for the design Brookman attributes to the famous daguerreotype of Henry Clay. This would be incorrect as their is little, if no, resemblence. It is more likely that it copied from a print which used as its source a later photograph of Henry Clay.

The source of the design (above) and the design (below)

The source photograph (below) for the print above

Shown below is the famous, and only daguerreotype of Henry Clay

Varieties to look for


There are no varieties of #259

The Making of the Stamp


259-P1
Large Die Proof on India


259-P1a
Large Die Proof on India
58 x 61mm, die sunk on 152 x 203mm card

259-TC1
Trial Color Proof on India
Dark Violet
Die Sunk on Card

 


>