#85F 1868 15¢

Basic Information

Color: Black
Subject: Abraham Lincoln
Printing method: line-engraved intaglio on flat plates
Printer: The National Bank Note Company
Perforations: 12
Watermark: none
Scott #: 85F
Plate: 41
Quantity issued: less than 1,000 (only two copies survive)
Grilled: Between April 15 and 20, 1868

Value

A used stamp: $2,350,000

Rarity

This is the first grill to be issued after the experimental A and C grills. It was produced in April 1868. The 1¢, 10¢ and 15¢ were printed near the end of the Z grill life span. They were printed for perhaps only a few weeks and as such they are rare, with only a few sheets of the 15¢ being printed.

Only two copies are known to survive. Both are in private hands. Here is the other 15¢ stamp.

The Z grill was discovered in 1913 by William L. Stevenson who created the grill letter classification system. At the time he could not match this grill with any other grills, one year later, because of its unknown nature he assigned the letter Z to this grill.

Previous owners

Robert Zoellner

Bill Gross

There are a few philatelists who dream of acquiring every Scott number in there US collection. These two had the means and inclination to actually do it. They followed Benjamin K Miller, who also achieved this feat. He passed away in 1928, his collection can now be viewed in the New York Public Library.

Robert Zoellner
An investor who started the successful Alpine Investments. Not only did he acquire every stamp, many of them were the finest examples known. His collection was sold at Siegel’s in 1998.

Bill Gross
Bill was also an investor, being a successful bond dealer. He was worth billions and used his wealth to pay eye watering prices to achieve his goal. The collection was sold in 2024 for $19M. The proceed were donated to charity.