Lincoln Ice House Cover Stamp

A torn but unique envelope bearing a 90-cent stamp portraying Abraham Lincoln, which turned up 40 years after it was stolen in 1967, fetch more than $400,000 when it is offered at auction on June 13 by Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York City.

Known to stamp collectors as the "Ice House Cover", the 3¾ by 9-inch envelope was mailed in 1873 from a Boston ice exporter to its icehouse in Calcutta, India. It is prized by philatelists because it is the only authenticated example of the 90-cent Lincoln stamp still affixed to its original envelope.

The stamp comes from the 1869 issue of pictorial stamps, which included the first United States postage stamps printed in two colors. The portrait of Lincoln is printed in black, while the surrounding frame with the 90-cent denomination is printed in red.

Although numerous examples of the 1869 90-cent Lincoln stamp are available to collectors, only this one is still attached to its original envelope. It was discovered in 1914 by a collector touring India and passed from collector to collector until its theft.

The Ice House Cover was one of 250 envelopes stolen on December 9, 1967, from the home of an Indianapolis stamp collector named J. David Baker, now deceased. The crime was part of an organized burglary operation that targeted stamp collectors whose names and addresses were listed geographically in the member directory of The American Philatelic Society.

In 1974 the FBI recovered the stolen Baker collection, except for the Ice House Cover. Mr. Baker gained ownership of the recovered items after suing the insurance company to enforce a provision of his original settlement, which allowed him to buy back any recovered items for the insurance compensation.

The recovered Baker collection was sold by the Siegel firm in 1978. Even without the Ice House Cover, the collection realized $772,000, many times its insured value at the time of the 1967 theft.

For four decades the Ice House Cover remained lost to philately. Most collectors thought the thieves had soaked off the 90-cent stamp to make it more salable.

Then, on a cold winter day in January 2006, an elderly couple walked into a small stamp shop in Chicago and inquired if three stamp items had any value. Two were worthless, but one was recognized by the dealer as having great value. After consulting with another dealer, the dealer determined that the item was the legendary stolen Ice House Cover.

The FBI confiscated the stolen property and began an investigation. The couple who brought it to the Chicago stamp dealer claimed they had no idea that the old envelope in their possession was valuable or stolen. They said it was among items they found while cleaning out the residence of a deceased relative. No charges were filed against the couple.

While the Ice House Cover lay in the evidence room of the FBI's Indianapolis office, several parties filed claims of ownership. Two years later, the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis ruled that the re-opened Estate of J. David Baker was the rightful owner. Baker's widow transferred ownership to a trust and consigned the item to Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, the same firm that conducted the 1978 auction of the other recovered items.

"During the 40 years the Ice House Cover has been missing, prices for the rarest philatelic items have risen dramatically. It's not that unusual to surpass a half-million dollars or even one-million dollars. The uniqueness of the Ice House Cover and its remarkable story of discovery, loss and recovery will undoubtedly attract the attention of stamp buyers around the world," said Scott R. Trepel, president of Siegel Auction Galleries in the days prior to the stamp's auction.

Photograph courtesy of Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, NYC.

2 Comments

I didn't start subscribing to Linn's until 1989, but I recall the story of the recovery several years ago. If I remember correctly, the stamp itself has been removed and repaired (due to a corner being ripped when the cover was opened) and then returned to its original location on the cover. I'm a history nut and fascinated by stamps, so this is a post that caught my eye - right off!

Posted by: Dave Dubé | June 24, 2009 at 07:55 AM