Looking Back #120 - (US) Columbian 1893, 4¢ Blue Error

(US) Columbian 1893, 4¢ Blue Error

The 4¢ Columbian blue errors
(Scott No. 233a), were found in
Cleveland, Ohio, late in 1893,
by John V. Painter a wealthy
Cleveland collector of the day
who sold and distributed a number
of the stamps among his friends,
one of whom, George H. Worthington
(later to become the world's most
famous collector) purchased a corner
margined block of four for $200.

Scott 233 4 cent ultramine:
http://cjoint.com/data/lbokfVADY1.htm

Scott 233a 4 cent blue error:
http://cjoint.com/data/lbofQ5mdDW.htm

The balance of the stamps Painter
is reported to have sold later to
John W. Scott, the New York dealer.

The stamp was an error to the extent
that it was printed in a blue rather
than an ultramarine.

It is a very distinctive color, but
the blue in my opinion was never the
color of any of the 1¢ blue stamps,
as it was for so many years
erroneously described.

It has always been my belief that
there was more than one mint sheet,
and likely others were issued since
the variety has been found used.

Some years ago the late Theodore E.
Steinway showed me a used copy,
somewhat thin, which years before
he had peeled off a cover in family
correspondence.

Several mint blocks exist. The
standard ultramarine runs to shades
but there is one that I have found
extremely scarce -- a very deep rich
ultramarine, almost a blue, that is
sometimes mistaken for the "blue error,"
until compared with the blue variety.

The Painter error sheet of the blues
was from Plate D17. In 1901, J. W.
Scott was retailing the errors at
$10 each.

- George B. Sloane
Sloane's Column
Stamps
January 25, 1958

Note: CV in the 2004 Scott Catalogue is:
MNH $32,500 Mint Hinged $19,000 Used $15,000
A mint hinged copy recently sold for $15,750.