S1601

World Stamp Expo

Washington, DC

Autumn 2019 Mail Sale Commentary 

Lot 24 S1601, S1602, S1603, S1604, and S1605 — Abraham Lincoln "high values" from the World Exposition set — 11/17/89

A number of philatelic issues had their first day at the World Stamp Expo in 1989. Between November 17th and December 3rd, it required eight separate trips to Washington, D. C., and my

son Tim did most of them with me. Locating a little coffee shop with a large booth in back, we made it our work area. This lot is a fascinating group of five high-value covers. Each of the colorful 90-cent Abraham Lincoln stamps are true replicas of those from 1869. One of the four stamps has the same colors as the one originally issued, and the other three have actual trial proof color combinations. My hand painted cachets depict various moments in Lincoln's life. A presidential portrait (S1601); as a boy in his log cabin (S1602); during the Lincoln-Douglas debates (S1603); meeting with Civil War generals (S1604); and being assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford Theatre (S1605). The cachets on the 02 to 05 covers are the normal full envelope "entires." S1601 has an impeforate sheet of all four of the 90-cent stamps, and the other four each have an individual stamp. The special pictorial day of issue postmark shows the Lincoln Memorial, and you had to be at the World Exposition in person to get it, making it an extremely scarce cancel. The small hand painted World Stamp Expo vignette shown at the lower left on the cover illustrate something I created and placed on all of the covers we produced during this 17-day exposition. Rarely does this group of five Lincoln cachets appear on the open market.