[COMMUNIST PART – I.L.D.] [SCOTTSBORO BOYS] International Labor Defense (I.L.D.)

Full Mint Sheet of Penny Stamps to Support the Scottsboro Emergency Fund, 1933

[New York: International Labor Defense, 1933]. Mint sheet (unused) of 100 perforated stamps; sheet size 27.5cm x 19cm (ca 10-7/8" x 7-1/2"); individual stamps measuring 2.5cm x 1.9cm. Stamps bear image of two hands holding the bars of a jail-cell, with legend "Save the Scottsboro Boys" above image; "One Cent" beneath image. At top of sheet is printed: "'They Shall Not Die' / Save the Nine Innocent Negro Scottsboro Boys / Distribute these penny stamps - use them on every letter you send - Rush the proceeds - one dollar - or as much more as you can spare...," with identifying imprint and address. Fine, as issued; protected in mylar sleeve mounted to backing board; professionally matted and framed.

Extremely uncommon unbroken mint sheet of non-postal fundraising stamps, issued by the International Labor Defense (I.L.D.), a CPUSA-affiliated legal aid organization that helped fund the defense not only of the Scottsboro Nine but also such figures as Tom Mooney, Sacco and Vanzetti, Bill Haywood and others. The defendants in the Scottsboro case were nine African American youth from Alabama who had been falsely accused and sentenced to death for raping two white women; the case became a cause celèbre in Depression-era America, thanks in large measure to the publicity it received through the I.L.D. and other Communist Party channels. These stamps, occasionally seen in individual examples or small blocks, are extremely uncommon in this unbroken state; we trace only one similar example in commerce (Swann, 2014).

Price: $2,500.00

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