#82 1867 3ยข B grill

Basic Information

Color: Rose
Subject: George Washington
Printing method: line-engraved intaglio on flat plates
Printer: The National Bank Note Company
Perforations: 12
Watermark: none
Type of Grill: B
Scott #: 82
Plates: Possibly 23
Quantity issued: Only 4 examples exist (see below)
Issued: Late August or September 1867

Value

Used: $600,000
The stamp was sold in 1975 for $23k, in 2026 that is roughly equivalent to $145k. The $600k realisation would have equated to a compound interest rate of 6.6%. If, at the same time, one had invested in 3 month US treasury bills, over the same period, the average rate of return would have been 4.85%. For 6 month T-bills it would have been 4.48%.

B Grill Detail

After it was found that the A grill mangled the perforations and margins of the stamp when separated it was decided to reduce the size of the grill. Hence the B grill, which was twic the size of the F grill. It must not have been enough of a reduction due to the limited amount of survivors indicate it was a short lived grill. These may have been essays delivered to the Post Office Department.

The four known stamps

The cover to Prussia, originally sold by Bartels, Germany in 1921

The B grill (#82) is one of the rarest stamps in philately. The four known examples all originated on one cover, mailed in 1869 from Mason, Texas to Germany. The cover is shown above. The stamps were removed to ascertain the grill. Only the far right stamp remains on the envelope, the others have been sold as single stamps.