The only recorded bisectional use of the 1851 1c stamp will be offered as part of Robert A Siegel's Outstanding United States Stamps auction, which will be held on March 26-28 in New York.

With the 1851 1c stamp one of the most collected in US philately, the half-cent bisect will command strong bids

A remarkable find, the 1851 Half-Cent Bisect has only recently been discovered and will sell with a $50,000-75,000 estimate. A bisect, or split, is any stamp that has been cut in part and used for the proportionate value, for example a 1c stamp that has been cut in half and is used as a half-cent.

The sender of the bisect was a lawyer who cleverly succeeded in working the system. At the time of the 1851 issue, there was a half-cent rate applied to all newspapers and periodicals addressed within a state. A printed circular was not entitled to this discount, though the lawyer affixed the bisect anyway and it was accepted by the New Haven and Hartford Post Offices.

The 1851 1c issue is perhaps the most widely collected and studied of all United States stamps, and the Half-Cent Bisect will undoubtedly attract strong attention from collections. The 1851 Half-Cent Bisect and the 6c 1869 Bisect are the only two unique bisected US stamps, and this is the only bisected 1c stamp in all of the US' 19th century issues.

Paul Fraser Collectibles has some equally rare stamps for sale, including the legendary Black Empress and the Hong Kong 96c Olive-Bistre block.