Bill Gross US Singles Sale Announced - June 2024

Siegel announced the Bill Gross US Singles auction for 14 / 15 June 2024
https://siegelauctions.com/Gross_Preview

I had been wondering when this was going to come out.

It should be interesting to watch.

Watching is all most of us can do, The opening prices are going to be astounding. Only the big money collectors or dealers will be bidding. It will bring new meaning to the term "feeding frenzy".

Should we take predictions on the hammer price for the 1 cent Z grill? The stamp brought $850,000 in 1998 (Zoellner). Gross traded the inverted Jenny plate block for the stamp after paying $2,700,000 for the plate block.

I'll start - $1,800,000

It depends - did they ever resolve the debate over whether that Philadelphia CDS was in use at the proper time (i.e. when the grilled version of the stamp was issued)?

That is a very old debate, which I suspect has been resolved, I just never heard the answer.

I do not know of a resolution

Your guess seems pretty reasonable. Knock off about a million since, well, its not 4 upside down airplanes with a plate number by them.

I'll say $1.7 million.

I wonder if Stanley Gibbons will chase this one? They probably don't have the cash right now though.

A $1.7mill opener would certainly get excite the potential bidders. I'm expected in the hammer price. Siegel's written $4-$5mill. I'm thinking closer to 4 than 5.

That sounds really high, but Scott is good at PR, and if it gets enough visibility, who knows.

I missed the estimate - that means it won't open below $2 million. For a lot like this Scott probably knows that he has at least 2 whales interested in bidding.

If I could only win the powerball before the sale!!!!!!!

You only have a few legitimate shots in your lifetime to be the person who paid the most ever paid for a stamp. If that's your style, this is one of those chances.

I doubt that Gibbons would be interested, cash or no. This is, let's say, a minor variant of a variant. Strictly for rich Americans.

By that logic, one could say that every stamp ever issued after the Penny Black is just a minor variant of a variant. Philately is full of varieties; many are hardly "minor". Including grills.

I doubt Stanley Gibbons will repeat what it did with the British Guyana stamp anyway. But I agree with GeoffHa that if they have not learned anything, this stamp, unlikely, will be of interest to it.

Apart from being major or minor, a grill would be a variant of the stamp without grill (if that exists) and the type of grill would be a variant of that. I do not think they will find a big audience for that outside the USA.

The British Guyana stamp, like the Blue Mauritius 'Post Office,' is an iconic stamp throughout the world. Part of that his the history of the stamp. This grill does not have such iconic status outside the USA and a limited circle of US collectors.

It is only limited by the price. Anyone who collects classic U.S. would love to own it, regardless of where they live. And many classic issues around the world exist in multiple examples of the same design, differing in paper, or watermarks, or perf varieties. I don't see you disparaging those as "minor variations". No, I seriously doubt that Gibbons would be interested, fortunately. But more than enough people will be.