2021-05-24 Mon

In 2019, Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions offered a unique stamp at its Stochoholmia private Treaty Sale that was held between 29th May and 2nd June 2019 and the start of the Auction was Bermuda's Perot stamps. The 1 penny Perot Provisional stamp was presented at this auction.

William Bennett Perot (1791-1871) was appointed Postmaster at Hamilton in 1818 and remained in his position until 1861. During the early years of their tenure, postmasters were permitted to keep any postage paid on inland mail.

Some senders would leave a letter without payment, resulting in letters being sent free and the postmaster losing income. To eliminate this practice, Postmaster Perot in 1848 struck multiple impressions on paper, creating "stamps" that could be sold in advance and affixed by the sender to outgoing mail.

Only 11 examples of Perot's First Issue are known, six struck in red, five in black. The above example is considered one of the finest of the remaining reds. Issued in the year 1853, this stamp reads Hamilton at the top and Bermuda at the bottom with the year 1853 in the centre. The words “One Penny” and “W.B. Perot” are seen in the centre.

This stamp fetched a sum of USD 150,000 in the above-mentioned auction.

Mage courtesy: rarestampvalue