CCP JanFeb 2024

Jan./Feb. 2024 | Mail with Canada and Mexico • W. A. Cooper • Essential Elements • Postal Communications to Ukraine and Russia

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Poland: Postal Communications to Ukraine and Russia 1918-20

by Dr. James Mazepa RDP

Volume 103 Number 1 $10

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A beautiful and unique Pony Express cover to Switzerland.

January / February 2024

United States – 10th ERIVAN Sale www.hrharmer.com

Order the auction catalogue now!

Phone: (929) 436-2800 · info@hrharmer.com

January-February 2024

Volume 103, Number 1

The Collectors Club Philatelist Editor: Wayne L. Youngblood wystamps@gmail.com

Layout and Design:

Collectors Club

Jason E. Youngblood jyoungblood@gmail.com

Publications Committee: John Barwis, RDP Robert Gray James Grimwood-Taylor, RDP Matthew Healey Daniel M. Knowles, MD Robert P. Odenweller, RDP (member emeritus)

Advertising Manager: Robert Gray robertgray@me.com

Book Review Editor: Dr. Luca Lavagnino, Europe

Editorial Correspondence: wystamps@gmail.com

Business Correspondence: 11 W 42nd St FL2, New York NY 10036-8008 Tel. (212) 683-0559 email: info@collectorsclub.org

Website:

Essential Elements: The Dove of my Life Richard A. Coffey

7

An 1853 Trial Printing of the 3¢ Stamp on Crane’s Bank Note Paper

by A.J. Valente

12

Mail with Canada and Mexico in the Early 1890s David W. Mayo

21

W.A. Cooper, U.S. Dept. of State Despatch Agent, San Francisco Post Office.

Mel Kravitz 30 Analysis of W.A. Cooper Cover Mel Kravitz

34

Poland: Postal Communications to Ukraine and Russia 1918-1920 Dr. James Mazepa, RDP

44

Noted in Passing on the Auction Block Matthew Healey

58

www.collectorsclub.org

Executive Secretary and Librarian: Andrea Matura collectorsclub@collectorsclub.org

Authors’ guidelines for the CCP are available from the editor.

Departments President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2024 Speaker Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Index to Advertisers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

The Collectors Club Philatelist (ISSN 0010-0838) is published bimonthly in January, March, May, July, September and November by The Collectors Club, 11 W 42ND ST FL2, NEW YORK NY 10036-8008. A subscription to The Collectors Club Philatelist is included with dues paid by members of The Collectors Club. Subscription price for nonmembers in the United States is $70. Prices for foreign addresses and/or other classes of mail are higher depending on actual cost; consult publisher. Subscriptions for outside the United States should be paid in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. Back issues $9, including postage. For a complete list, write the publisher. Claims for undelivered issues will be honored only within six months of the date of publication. Beyond that, replacements will be provided at the single copy price. Periodicals class postage paid at New York, New York 10001 and additional offices. Office of Publication: The Collectors Club, 11 W 42ND ST FL2, NEW YORK NY 10036-8008. Copyright@ 2024 by The Collectors Club. All rights reserved. We do not give implied or other consent for copying for more than personal use.

Indexed in PhiLindx by E.E. Fricks and included in the article index of the American Philatelic Research Library and the Global Philatelic Library.

The opinions and statements contained in the articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Collectors Club, its officers or staff.

POSTMASTER: Send change of address to: The Collectors Club Philatelist, 11 W 42ND ST FL2, NEW YORK NY 10036-8008.

Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

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THE COLLECTORS CLUB 11 W 42ND ST FL2, NEW YORK NY 10036-8008 (212) 683-0559 The Collectors Club is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please call ahead if intending to visit.

Officers President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Chief Technology Officer

Lawrence Haber Robert Gray Matthew Healey Roger S. Brody, RDP Joan Harmer

Governors Class of 2024

Class of 2025

Ozan Gurel Mark E. Banchik Lawrence J. Hunt Stephen Reinhard Robert G. Rose

Robert Gray Lawrence Haber Matthew Healey Daniel J. Ryterband Wade E. Saadi, RDP

Class of 2026 Roger S. Brody, RDP Vincent Cosenza Joan Harmer Kathryn Johnson Behruz Nassre

The Collectors Club Philatelist is an international specialty journal serving the needs of hundreds of collectors worldwide. It serves as the journal of record for the Collectors Club as well as publishing stimulating and helpful articles for collectors of many levels and specialties.

The Collectors Club Philatelist strives to publish accurate philatelic information and serves as a forum for communication among members of the Collectors Club.

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January-February 2024

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President’s Message Lawrence Haber

In our last issue, I looked retrospectively at the year just completed. Now we turn our attention to the future.

The year 2024 is going to be wonderful.

I know that you may be disappointed that we did not hold our usual Lichtenstein Awards dinner in 2023. The previous event, which honored Patrick Maselis, Mark Banchik and John Barwis, was held at the Harvard Club. From all the reports that reached my ears, it was a splendid event, and everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

That was back in May 2022. At that time, we had yet to fully emerge from our Covid confinements. The opportunity to reconnect was a joy we savored.

We are pleased to confirm that we will hold a very special event on Saturday evening, May 11th: our Gala Re-opening and Lichtenstein Awards Celebration.

The evening will start with cocktails and hot d’oeuvres at our new home. Indeed, this will be a coming out party for our new premises and the first major event we will hold there. All the construction will be completed, and the dust will be gone. Following these preliminaries, we will stroll from West 40th Street over to the Chatwal, at West 44th Street – practically next door. The Chatwal is a fabulous and recently renovated hotel in our neighborhood. There we will complete the evening with all the formalities you would expect. I should also mention that, this being New York, we operate with the so-called “New York Minute Rule,” so the speechifying will be minimal. The point is to celebrate and enjoy new beginnings and our shared passion – and to honor some very special people. It is guaranteed to be one of the most extraordinary and special evenings in the Club’s history.

The formal invitations will go out around two months before the mid-May event.

We know you will want to join us. Spring in New York is a very special time.

And, yes, our new home will be completed and we will move back in during the coming year. Just the other day, I was there in the midst of all the construction activity. Everything is proceeding on schedule. We expect to move in during the latter portion of March. The move will be progressive. We will not be calling up the mover and asking for all our “stuff” to be brought back in one fell swoop.

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Volume 103, Number 1

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That would overload us. Rather, we will progressively move back in sections.

Once we are back, let’s talk a bit about what you can expect.

You can expect your Club to greet you if you are visiting from Queens, Brooklyn, Austin, San Jose, London, Paris, Sydney or Tokyo. Access is easy, and if you can make it to the curbside, you will be able to make it throughout our facility with no impediments. In the lounge area, there will be copies of the daily New York City newspapers and the major monthly general-interest philatelic journals for you to peruse. Plus, there will be coffee, tea and cookies. Remember, we are located on West 40th Street, between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue (“Avenue of the Americas”), diagonally across from the New York Public Library. We are close to both Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal. Just about every bus and subway line passes near our doorstep. We are a perfect place to visit, either for an event, for research or to rest your feet during your visit to midtown.

One of the elements that most excites me is the library. All on one level. All within easy reach. We are no longer prisoners of a rabbit warren of a 100-yearplus structure not designed for the purpose, but now a new purpose-built home.

Within the library the books, journals and auction catalogs will all be within your reach – on the same floor and contiguously arranged. It will be a pleasure to use, and we expect many to take advantage of a major philatelic library in the heart of New York City.

Our new presentation room will be fit out with the latest technology. Once again, we will host presentations in our home. These will be “broadcast” worldwide. In other words, our home will be open to those who can visit and those who remain at home.

One of the objectives of our new space is to provide multiple opportunities to meet and exchange. This requires multiple venues. With our new home, in addition to the large presentation room, there will be a smaller seminar room that holds 12. The library is always a favored place to congregate; there is a long table that also holds 12. In the lounge, two tables each provide four seats, and the conversationally oriented sofas and club chairs. But, more than furniture is required.

We will be scheduling meetings, symposiums and classes. We aim to bring our Club back to life in our new home.

Yes, the coming year will be wonderful.

Collectors THE COLLECTORS CLUB C lub

4

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January-February 2024

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Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

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Editor’s Notepad Wayne L. Youngblood Although it’s sometimes a struggle to get enough quality material to fill each issue of this journal, I’m constantly amazed at both the depth and the breadth of the knowledge and research base of our members (and even some non-members who occasionally write for us).

Just looking at this issue alone, we have items ranging from a timely and wellresearched piece on Polish mail to Ukraine and Russia during the twilight and aftermath of World War I, to a newly documented experimental printing of the 3¢ 1851 on Crane paper. But you’ll also find fascinating pieces detailing mail with Canada and Mexico near the end of the 19th century, as well as both the postal history involving a Dept. of State Despatch agent and a detailed scientific analysis of ink on one of his covers. On the lighter side is a love affair with the Basel Dove.

This is your journal, and we hope you both enjoy it and find it a useful journal of record. Of course we’re always looking for good manuscripts to publish; we also welcome your input. Continual improvement of the CCP is our goal. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have thoughts or ideas.

Jan. 31

Collectors Club Programs 2024

Re-Imagining Philately: Social Philately and the National Postal Museum, Bazylinski Alison

Feb. 14

Early Belgian Auxiliary Markings and Labels, Gregg Redner

Feb. 28

United Postal Stationery Society, Dan Undersander, Wayne Menuz

March 13 Reply Cards in International Mail – The Story Behind a UPU Oddity, Eric Scherer March 20 Bahawalpur Philately - Part 1 (up to 3 October 1947), Sandeep Jaiswal March 27 U.S. 1869 24¢ World Tour, Rob Faux April 3

A Tour of Our New Clubhouse, Larry Haber

April 10

Civil War, Dan Knowles

April 17

Polish Hyperinflation, 100 Year Anniversary, Ron Klimley

May 8

SURPRISE (Temperance), Chip Gliedman

May 22

Morocco Postal History (1852-1925): an overview on the four foreign post services; French, British, Spanish and German, Maurice Hadida

June 5

Philatelic Luminary, Joseph Hackmey

June 19

Danish Royal Family Sex Scandal (1768-1772), Henrik and Ana Mouritsen

June 26(?) Hawaii, Richard Malmgren, Fred Gregory July 10

1918 Czech Scout Post, Frederick Lawrence

Sept. 4

Mexico, Omar Rodriguez

Sept. 18 The Irish Brigadge, Robert Benninghoff, Brian Callan Sept. 25 Boston 2026 Update, Yamil Kouri

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January-February 2024

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Essential Elements The Dove of My Life Richard Coffey

In 1978, I was left in the dust on a bid for the Swiss Basel Dove (Scott 3L1). I shrugged at this defeat and said: “There will always be another time ...” contravening, of course, the first law of collecting: There will never be a better time.

Year after year the Dove proved the law. The auction prices finally outpaced my bank balance and, though I loved that stamp dearly, I bought a house instead of the Basel Dove.

Tough love.

Woebegone, I moped around looking for sympathy until my wife asked me why I was so infatuated with a tiny piece of decorative paper, circa 1845.

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“I’ll tell you,” I said.

“Keep it short,” she said.

Long ago in a faraway land that lay between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps a Celtic people lived upon a plateau ...

“Shorter.”

During the Middle Ages, these tribes formed a confederacy, divided into sovereign states called Cantons. During the 19th century, this Swiss confederacy of Cantons, like kingdoms and states all over Europe, began to reason that unification of local polities would strengthen the social and economic muscle of a more diverse, whole people. Before Switzerland became a federal state in 1848 the Cantons of Zurich, Geneva and Basel had created their own postal administrations and produced postage stamps valid for use within the respective Canton.

“I have a hair appointment in an hour,” my wife said.

So, on June 30, 1845, the Canton of Basel published a notice in the city newspaper that postage stamps for the prepayment of letters were available. Letters mailed to someone in town required one stamp and those letters mailed to other communes within the Canton required two stamps – as did in-town letters weighing more than one loth (15.5 grams). Today collectors might classify these stamps as Locals, they...

“I’m sure it’s fascinating – why do you want the stamp?”

So I told my wife that the Basel stamp was profoundly attractive and unusual and designed by an architect, a guy named Melchior Bari, who also designed the distinctive Swiss letter-box with a white dove. The stamp was engraved on copper in Frankfurt, Germany. It was the first embossed multi-colored stamp in the world printed in black, crimson, and blue – and featuring an embossed dove carrying a letter in its beak in the midst of the arms of the ancient town of Basel, a crozier and a value of 21/2 rappen. It’s like no other postage stamp – it looks like a stained glass window!

And with that, my wife nodded. The significance of nodding seems to vary with spouses but when Jeanne nods it means she has heard my case and she will now retire to her chambers and have a think.

The following Christmas there was a large flat package for me under the tree.

When I removed the paper, behold, I was in possession of an 18-inch square stained glass Basel Dove in full Melchior Beri proportion and vibrant color. It hangs in my stamp room window these many years later as a constant reminder of Beri’s innovative design – but, more importantly, the Dove is a reminder of my love for a wonderful woman whose patience and understanding of a crazed collector is far more valuable than the stamps themselves.

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January-February 2024

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An 1853 Trial Printing of the 3¢ Stamp on Crane’s Bank Note Paper A..J. Valente

Mr. Crane’s Visit In the spring of 1852, Vice President Samuel Carpenter was riding high as the stamp department of Toppan, Carpenter, Caseliler & Co. (TCC&Co.) finally received its first payment for the U.S. Post Office contract. Congress had completed the yearly appropriations process in December of 1851, and payments to the various government contractors went out in the new year.

Now there was another USPOD contract coming up, this for post office stationery envelopes. Submissions were due in mid-1852, and the paper-maker, Crane & Co. of Dalton, Mass., was being courted as a sub-contractor.1 Most likely the request for a meeting had been transmitted through the New York offices of TCC&Co., which had been doing steady business with Crane since 1848.2 So, it was in late April that Mr. Z. Marshall Crane arrived at the offices of TCC&Co. in Philadelphia for discussions. The two principals met a short while to discuss the USPOD stationery contract, but then the conversation turned to the printing of stamps. Mr. Crane listened intently as Mr. Carpenter emphasized how much paper his department was currently going through. Production was nearly continuous, as new orders were received monthly, as opposed to the prior stamp contractor who obtained only one or two such orders per year. Prior to leaving, Mr. Crane reached into his sample book and handed over a sheet of bank note paper he carried for just such a purpose.

Figure 1. Willcox banknote sheet measuring 13 5/8" by 17¼," identified as stamp paper.20

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January-February 2024

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In May, Mr. Carpenter wrote to Crane & Co. about the stamp paper, this in response to a prior missive from the company, dated April 30th: “...Enclosed we hand you two sheets Post Office Stamp paper (such as we are now using). The paper we mentioned to your Mr. Zenas Marshal Crane we had recently quartered. It is to be made wider than the enclosed sheets (the exact size being one inch wider) but of the same thickness as these, which of course will make the paper heavier. The weight of 1,000 sheets of the paper now used is 16lb 6oz. We stated to Mr. Crane that we heretofore contracted with Messrs. McWilliams for our postage paper, although we know they do not make it. We have no preference, and no contracts beyond the one recently made for 300,000 sheets, and if your firm (or any other) will hereafter make it – an inducement to contract with you for them, by giving us a better article for the same price, we are perfectly free to enter into such contract, but unless some inducement of that kind should be offered we would not be induced to change our present contractor...“3 I have examined one of the aforementioned sheets of stamp paper, still residing in the files of the Crane Museum. It is quite strong and flat with the upside surface (print side) having a hazy matte finish, while the downside exhibits a few faint textile marks. In places along the top and bottom edges are seen some rather dim rib wire watermarks. These rib marks were made by the hand mould, and measure about 32 to the centimeter, as noted

by Dr. Carroll Chase in his book on the 3¢ stamp.4 It’s positively identified as Willcox foolscap, since the Willcox Ivy Mill happened to be the only commercial hand mill still in operation at that time.

Paper of this type is priced by weight (i.e. thousand-weight), and Mr. Carpenter was most concerned about the size of the paper as that would affect price. An extra inch all around appears desirable when it came to alignment on the press, but any more was deemed wasteful. Willcox paper was made by hand, so its dimensions were fixed. On the other hand, Crane paper, being made on a machine, was flexible in this regard.

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Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

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A Trial of Crane Paper in 1853 Mr. Crane selected from his stock a couple sheets of similar weight, thickness and finish as Willcox’s. The two paper-makers had been competing in the same market a number of years now, so finding an equivalent was no problem. The sheets of Crane bank note paper were then trimmed to the specified size and sent along to Mr. Carpenter with his complements.

The likelihood of a proFigure 2. Zenas Marshall Crane in later life.21 duction paper trial now loomed large as in a letter of June 7, 1852, Mr. Carpenter wrote, “... We shall give your PO stamp paper a fair trial, and you shall know the result. After, we shall surely desire to contract for several months as we have just received 300,000 sheets ordered as you will recollect we mentioned you a short time before we had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Crane here.”5 However, the trial did not occur immediately, as one would imagine. Mr. Carpenter was projecting new arrangements for paper to occur in 1853, evidently after being paid for a full year (1852) of production. So, there presently seemed no rush.

A 3¢ stamp on a rather thin paper comes to hand, apparently a remnant of this trial. The specimen measures .00235”, very similar to a Crane sheet dated June 8, 1857, measuring between .00242” and .00268”.6 This thin paper contrasts greatly with the .0030” +/- .00025” of the regular 1851 stamp paper. The wide variation in thickness found in the postage stamps being yet another glaring indication of a handmade article.

The Crane paper is a shade or two whiter than the typical Willcox variety.

Brighter color was a hallmark of Crane paper as the company used pure artisan water in combination with the highest quality white rags for lasting beauty. In addition, a paper grain test reveals the specimen curls into a neat cylinder (see Figure 4). Crane’s Old Red Mill employed a cylinder machine, making paper in the round. So, it’s anticipated that any sheets emanating from this facility match this grain pattern.

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January-February 2024

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Impression quality of the aforementioned stamp is fine, and the ink is richly deposited. One may consider it fortuitous the printing is of a 3¢ stamp as to facilitate dating. In this case the color is a transitional brownish carmine to rose red variety of early 1853. As an aside, such transitional colors occur when a new barrel of ink is bought from the supplier and the ink trough on the press is refilled. Although the trough is cleaned on a regular basis, the “dauber,” the cloth sack used to coat the plate and press the ink into all the recesses, is often reused. Thus, for the first few sheets after an ink changeover the old and new inks are present together in the dauber.

Given all the attention the 3¢ 1851 variety has garnered over the years, it seems remarkable that such a variety has not been previously recorded. It appears that Crane had only sent over a couple of sheets, which may account for its rarity, and we don't really know if one or both sheets were used.

At first Mr. Crane's limited action seems rather peculiar, given the potential significance of a major government contract. However, paper mills, as a rule, did not sell on credit. As we shall see, Mr. Crane had reason to doubt Mr. Carpenter's ability to pay in cash for 300,000 sheets of bank note paper, at least so far as 1852 was concerned.

Figure 3. A three-cent stamp printed on Crane banknote paper.

Negotiations of 1853 So, how did Mr. Crane perceive the situation? At this time it should be recalled that paper Figure 4. Grain test of 3¢ stamp exhibiting uniform curling. typically represented half the cost Collectors Club Philatelist

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of printing, if not more. Most telling is Mr. Carpenter's statement, “We get our paper from Messrs. McWilliams, but we know they do not make it.” The vice president expected a small discount by obtaining paper directly from the mill, so the only reason for the Stamp Department to deal with an intermediary because it was buying on credit. Looking at the Philadelphia directory it is learned that McWilliams was a printer.7 So, McWilliams was a large printing house that also dealt in printing supplies (paper, ink, typeset, etc.). The same also made additional profit by extending credit to worthy customers. Lastly, it is also revealed that, “The paper we mentioned to Mr. Crane we had recently quartered.” In other words, McWilliams didn't automatically hand over TCC&Co.’s full allotment of 300,000 sheets, rather “quartering” the paper in house and doling it out only as required.

Evidently, TCC&Co. was making timed payments for the privilege of doing business this way.

Figure 5. Samuel Carpenter's letter of May 7, 1853, regarding the paper trial and outlining his plans for the future.22

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January-February 2024

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The purchase of paper on credit was not unusual for the times. Money was tight, and many – if not most – small printers depended on credit to get them through until their job(s) were paid for.8 In all, it appears Mr. Carpenter's business operations were somewhat hard-pressed. It is noted at this time that the stamp department reworked and reused steel plates, rather than create new.

Contrast this with the years 1857-58 when any worn or unusable plates were replaced immediately. Crane & Co. also recognized the stamp department’s wealth in 1857, as Mr. Carpenter’s request for a printing trial met with 12,000 sheets of Crane’s finest plate-finished stock.9

Figure 6. Loft drying bank note paper at Crane’s Pioneer Mill.23

In the late spring of 1853, Mr. Carpenter again wrote to Crane & Co. to say the following, “We shall soon want to contract for paper for Postage Stamps, and as you some months since furnished a sample which appeared to be very good and offered to supply us more favorable terms than we could get it elsewhere, we now apply to you inform us of the rate per pound at which you will furnish us with the 3—500,000 sheets of the quality of the enclosed sheet. It must be in no respect inferior to the sample.”10 The paper-maker’s response arrived about a week later, as evidenced by Mr. Carpenter's next missive, datelined Philadelphia, May 16, 1853, “Yours of the 14th received. In reply, we have to say that your terms are too high, and if you cannot furnish the paper of good quality in every respect as the sample on lower terms than the $25 per thousand it is not worth while to say anything further on the subject. P.S. If you are Collectors Club Philatelist

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disposed to ... name your ultimate, <we> will give you an immediate answer, but if you have already named your lowest price you need not write.”11 Mr. Carpenter’s outrage seems justified, as the stamp contract paid only 15¢ per 1,000 stamps, which translates to $30 per 1,000 printed sheets. So, Crane is effectively asking for 83% (25/30) of the contract price!

To put matters into perspective, I have an 1851 letter from a Philadelphia business to the South Lee Mill, requesting several reams of flat cap, priced at $2.25 per ream.12 Flat cap is a letterpress printing paper typically used for circulars. A ream is 500 sheets, so a thousand sheets of flat cap would be about $4.50.

Of course, the stamp paper in this discussion is of bank note quality, specifically made for intaglio printing. So, while flat cap is exclusively made of cotton rags, bank note paper consists of a combination of linen and cotton rags, the linen fibers giving it endurance and folding strength, while cotton provides the softness and absorbency necessary for fine printing.13 The only linen rags available at the time were imported from Italy, the so-called “Leghorn” rags. So, the added expense of linen would effectively double the price over flat cap, making the composite-rag paper closer to $8-$10 per thousand-weight. Another factor is drying the stock. Typically, flat cap is dried right on the machine, whereas both Crane and Wilcox loft-dried their paper.14 Loft drying adds labor costs, jumping the price about 50% to between $12-$15. Next comes finishing. Common print papers were finished right on the machine at minimal cost, so-called “dryer finish.”

For the purpose of intaglio printing, bank note paper was finished by pressing (aka. “press finish”). Dr. Dard Hunter of MIT described this process as first applying a thin coat of sizing, so-called “light sizing.” Then each sheet is sandwiched between two thin wooden slats called “form boards,” and a large stack of these are placed in a hydraulic press for an hour or two (an editorial error in Dr. Hunter’s book gives the time in days instead of hours).15 Press-finishing jumps the price another 50%, bringing it now to about $16-$22 per thousand-weight. So, that’s how bank note paper comes to be so expensive in comparison to ordinary print paper.

It should be noted in Willcox’s 1850 circular that the advertised price for its bank note paper was $22.50.16 The circular also reports three thicknesses of paper, the stamps evidently printed on the medium-thick variety. Crane & Co. could produce a fair approximation of Willcox paper, so it seems unusual the company couldn't bring the price down beyond $25 per thousand-weight.

To get the price down further Mr. Crane then proposed a lighter-weight paper. The range in weight of bank note paper varied from 12lbs to 18lbs per thousand sheets.17 Mr. Carpenter diplomatically declined the offer and, in a letter dated the May 20, wrote, “At present, we do not need any of the 13 pound paper. Mr. Charles Carpenter, the son of the writer, is now connected with our New York office, and if Mr. Crane’s arrival will confer with him in relation to the postage stamp paper he may do so with the same freedom as if the writer was present. Our office in New 18

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York is now in the Trinity Building No. 24 and 26 on the 2nd floor, and Mr. C.T.C. resides at Irving House.”18 Finally, it is also learned that Crane’s bond paper was more expensive than Willcox’s. In September of 1853, Mr. E. Lewis Smith of TCC&Co.’s Philadelphia office, wrote to Crane & Co. about bond paper, complaining that $30 per thousand was too high, as the same could be had of Willcox for $20 per thousand.19 However, Crane’s pure white bond paper was extremely popular at the moment, and selling, at least in New York, without any hesitation. So, insofar as Mr. Carpenter might perceive the situation, Willcox was undercutting Crane’s prices, and not the other way round.

Conclusions and Acknowledgments Some may say the 3¢ specimen was a lucky find. The present-day survival rate of any given 1851 stamp is about five percent. Thus, of 400 impressions potentially made in the trial (or fewer, if only one sheet was used), just about 20 are likely to still exist. The possibility that another few stamps may be found must not be discounted, especially given the readership now knows what to look for.

Mr. Robin Lund and E. Fritz contributed to this work. The assistance of the former curator of the Crane Museum, Peter Hopkins, is gratefully acknowledged.

Endnotes 1. Crane Archives (those available on society website), 52-05-07 and 52-05-31.

2. The Crane Museum archive contains 35 orders from the New York office of TCC&Co for bond and banknote paper dated between 1848 and 1857.

3. Crane Archives, 52-05-03.

4. Chase, Dr. Carroll, The 3¢ Stamp of the United States 1851-1857 Issue, revised, Quarterman Publications, 1975, page 150.

4. Crane Archives, 52-06-07.

5. Peter Hopkins, email, April 9, 1997.

6. Chase, ibid, 156.

7. McElroy’s Philadelphia Directory of 1852, lists David McWilliams, printer, at 229 Christian St. 8. Valente, A.J., Rag Paper Manufacturing in the U.S., 1801-1900, McFarland & Co, 2010, page 41.

9. “The Problem Papers, 1857,” Albert J. Valente, American Philatelist, November 2001, page 999.

10. Crane Archives, 53-05-07.

11. Crane Archives, 53-05-16.

12. Letter of Hogan, Perkins & Co., Philadelphia, to Owen & Hurlbut, South Lee, Mass., Oct. 30, 1851, author's collection.

13. “Research on the Production of Currency Paper in the Bureau of Standards Experimental Paper Mill,” by Merle B. Shaw and George W. Bicking, T329, Washington D.C., June, 1926.

14. McGaw, Judith, Most Wonderful Machine, Mechanization and Social Change in Berkshire Paper Making, 1801-1885, Princeton University Press, 1987, page 46.

15. Hunter, Dr. Dard, Papermaking, The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft, Dover Press, 1947, page 450.

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16. Boggs, Winthrop, Ten Decades Ago, American Philatelic Society, 1949, page 25.

17. Boggs, Winthrop H., The Classic Stamps of Canada, Quarterman Pub. Inc, 1978, page 2-P. 18. Crane Archives, 53-05-20.

19. Crane Museum Archive, Oct. 24, 1853.

20. Crane Archives, 52_05_03_e2.

21. Pierce, Wadsworth R., The First 175 Years of Crane Papermaking, Excelsior Printing Co., 1977, page 17.

22. 17. Crane Archives, 53_05_07.

23. Pierce, ibid, 21.

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tronically as scans. Scans must be sized at a minimum of 100% and scanned at a minimum of 300 dpi as TIF or JPG files for optimal quality. Internet transmittals, such as WeTransfer (preferred) may be used.

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Mail with Canada and Mexico in the Early 1890s David W. Mayo

The United States was a founding member of the Universal Postal Union in 1874. The UPU generally permitted its members to enter into separate postal conventions with other members, providing for exchange of mails on more favorable terms than the UPU agreement, so long as the two parties to the separate convention were able to communicate with each other without using the services of a third member.1 The United States had such agreements with Canada and Mexico.

Mail sent in the early 1890s from the United States to Mexico was governed by a postal convention with Mexico entered into in 18872 and to Canada by a postal convention entered into in 1888.3 Both of these conventions replaced prior agreements with those countries.4 The Mexican Convention and the Canadian Convention were substantially the same. Both provided that articles admitted to the domestic mail of either country would be admitted to the mail of the other country, and that the postage and fees charged by the country of origin would apply.5 In this respect, both conventions went beyond the UPU, which provided for uniform rates of postage on limited classes of mail. Under both conventions, each country was to retain the postage and fees it collected, including deficiencies collected on underpaid letters sent from the other country. Thus, no postage accounts were required between the countries.6 Prepayment of postage by stamps was required.7 No postage charges were to be levied by either country on fully prepaid correspondence originating in the other; accordingly, forwarding was free.8 Undeliverable mail was also to be returned periodically without charge.9 This article will show mail that was sent to Canada and Mexico from the United States in the early 1890s under these conventions.

Figure 1 shows an all-over advertising cover for the Columbian World’s Fair used by a Chicago business in 1893. The cover is addressed to an attorney in St. Johns, New Brunswick, with postage paid at the United States domestic rate by a 2¢ Columbian canceled by a Chicago duplex handstamp dated Oct. 3, 1893.

The cover has a St. Johns backstamp dated Oct. 6. This is a typical first-class letter use to Canada with postage paid at the prevailing domestic U.S rate, as permitted by the Canadian Convention, albeit on an eye-catching advertising cover. Figure 2 shows another straightforward first-class use to Toronto, Ontario, except that the 2¢ Columbian is canceled by a World’s Fair Station duplex killer dated May 30, 1893.

Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

21

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Figure 3 shows a much-forwarded all-over advertising cover sent in 1894.

Originally mailed in Philadelphia to Lexington, Mass., it was forwarded to Canada and then numerous times within Canada. The cover was backstamped by a number of Canadian post offices in Quebec, including Levis, which is near Quebec City (Jan. 27), Notre Dame de Levis (same date), Montreal (Jan. 30), Lennoxville, which is about 100 miles east of Montreal (Jan. 31) and Rivier du Loup en Bas, which is about 120 miles north of Quebec City (Feb. 7), where it was apparently delivered. The forwarding required no additional postage, pursuant to the terms of the Canadian Convention.

Not all mail to Canada was franked at the correct rate. The 2¢ stamped envelope shown in Figure 4 had enough postage for a one-ounce letter from Chicago to Victoria, British Columbia, but the sender added a 1¢ Franklin definitive 22

January-February 2024

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Figure 3.

Messrs. Lang le v · &: Co.,

Victoria, B. C •

Figure 4.

and a 2¢ Columbian, thereby paying the full UPU rate of 5¢ per ounce and overpaying the correct rate by 3¢.

Registered mail to foreign countries was generally handled within the United States using the same procedures that were used for registered mail addressed for delivery within the United States.10 Under those procedures, the mailing post office made up a registered package envelope, including the registered items and a registry bill that listed the contents of the registered package envelope.11 (For domestic mail the registered package envelope also included a receipt to be returned to the mailing office; those were not required for registered packCollectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

23

age envelopes containing registered mail to foreign destinations.) Instead of addressing the registered package envelope to the destination post office of the registered item,12 it was addressed to the exchange post office in the United States designated to dispatch registered correspondence to foreign countries.13 The annual United States Postal Guide included tables of proper U.S. exchange offices for registered mail. For registered mail to Canada and Mexico, these tables were organized by sending state and by recipient state (for Mexico) or province (for Canada).14 The U.S. exchange offices opened the registered package envelopes and made up packages of registered items for dispatch to the foreign destinations.15 Each U.S. exchange office had one or more non-U.S. exchange offices with which it exchanged mail. These were also listed in the Postal Guide.16

.

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24

January-February 2024

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Figure 5 shows a registered letter mailed from Sterling, Mass., to Toronto.

The 2¢ first-class postage is paid by the stamped envelope, and the 8¢ registry fee is paid by the four added 2¢ Columbian adhesives. The exchange office for mail sent from Massachusetts to Ontario was Boston.17 Mail from Boston was dispatched by locked pouch to either Montreal, Quebec, or St. Johns, New Brunswick.18 This cover has three backstamps – the required Boston Registry Division purple oval, dated Jan. 26, 1894, a Montreal marking dated Jan. 27, indicating that the cover was dispatched to Montreal and a Toronto marking dated Jan. 28.

The cover shown in Figure 6 is a more typical franking of a registered cover in the early 1890s. First-class postage is paid by the 2¢ Columbian and the 8¢ registry fee is paid by the 8¢ Columbian. The stamps are canceled by an indistinct Philadelphia double oval. There is also a “Registered” backstamp from an illegible Philadelphia station dated Jan. 4, 1894. Although the exchange office for most mail to Canada from Pennsylvania was Buffalo, N.Y., for mail from Philadelphia the exchange office was New York City.19 The New York City post office dispatched mail by locked pouch to several cities in Canada. This cover has a purple circular backstamp dated Jan. 5, 1894, that was used on registered mail in New York City, and a Toronto backstamp dated Jan. 7, 1894, indicating dispatch from New York to Toronto.

Figure 7.

The cover shown in Figure 7 originated in California on Sept. 27, 1893, and was addressed to a town in Nova Scotia. The exchange office for registered mail originating in California addressed to the maritime provinces of Canada was New York.20 The cover has a New York Registry Division doubleoval backstamp and a purple circular backstamp, both dated Oct. 4, 1893. It Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

25

was dispatched to St. Johns, where it was backstamped on Oct. 7. It also was backstamped in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Oct. 7, and West New Annan, Nova Scotia, on Oct. 9.

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It is not clear where the cover in Figure 8, also addressed to Toronto, originated. Presumably it was from one of the seven states that directed most registered mail addressed to Ontario to the Detroit, Mich., exchange office.21 The Detroit exchange office dispatched mail to Windsor, Ontario, located across the Detroit River.22 This cover has a Detroit backstamp dated Dec. 2, 1893, and a Windsor backstamp dated Dec. 4, 1893. Finally, it has a Toronto backstamp dated Dec. 4, where the “Received in Bad Order” auxiliary marking likely was applied.

RETURN TO

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26

January-February 2024

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Not all registered mail to Canada was handled in the manner set out in the Postal Guide. The cover shown in Figure 9, which was addressed to Nova Scotia, originated in Ohio. It should have been sent to the New York exchange office,23 but instead it was sent to Boston, where it was backstamped with a purple Registry Division oval dated Aug. 12, 1893. It was also backstamped in the Canadian exchange office at St. Johns on Aug. 14 and in Truro, Nova Scotia, on Aug. 15.

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Figure 10.

The postal stationery wrapper pictured in Figure 10 was mailed by the H. Kohlbusch company, located on Nassau Street in lower Manhattan, to Toronto, Ontario. The sender was a manufacturer and dealer in balance scales, such as those used by jewelers and apothecaries. The wrapper, which was canceled by a New York double oval, likely contained a merchandise catalog weighing up to four ounces, sent to Canada at the domestic third-class rate of 1¢ per two ounces.

The 2¢ carmine wrapper was current for several years beginning in 1899, so this cover does not qualify as an early 1890s use and it may not be an 1890s use at all.

(The postmark is undated, as was typical for third-class mail.) Nonetheless, it illustrates a service and a rate that was available in the early 1890s.

Mail sent to Mexico from the United States during the early 1890s is much less common than mail sent to Canada. The cover shown in Figure 11 was mailed from Denver, Col., to Torreon, Mexico, on May 24, 1893. Postage at the prevailing U.S domestic rate was paid by a 2¢ Columbian canceled by a Denver duplex marking dated May 24, 1893. The cover bears an indistinct Mexican backstamp and a poorly struck Torreon receiving mark on the front. Figure 12 shows a double-weight first-class letter mailed from St. Paul, Minn. to Mexico City. The two 2¢ Columbians paying the postage were canceled by a St. Paul duplex postmark on Feb. 14, 1894. There is a Feb. 20, 1894, backstamp from Mexico City.

Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

27

4li~· ~ ~/-·~'6 V: . :~~ ~p-· .

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Figure 12.

Figure 13.

28

January-February 2024

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Finally, the cover shown in Figure 13 is a registered cover sent from San Jose, Cal., to Oaxaca in southern Mexico. The cover has a typical-for-the-period franking of a 2¢ Columbian and an 8¢ Columbian paying the first-class letter rate and registration fee. It was mailed in San Jose on Jan. 4, 1894, and sent to the exchange office in El Paso, Tex., as was most registered mail from California addressed to Mexico.24 An El Paso registration label was placed on it there. Registration labels were required by UPU regulations on all registered articles sent to foreign countries other than Canada.25 Only 14 El Paso registration labels with a Gothic R have been recorded.26 There is a faint two-line El Paso handstamp dated Jan. 8, as well as a Mexican registration label and a handstamp dated Jan. 12, 1894.

These covers illustrate the integration of the United States postal operations with those of the United States’ two nearest neighbors in the early 1890s.

Endnotes 1. Convention for the formation of a Universal Postal Union Art. 3, 20 Statutes at Large pp. 734, 735 (1878).

2. Postal Convention between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, 25 Statutes at Large pp. 1385 (1887) (“Mexican Convention”).

3. Postal Convention between the United States of America and the Dominion of Canada, 25 Statutes at Large page 1413 (1888) (“Canadian Convention”).

4. Mexican Convention Art. 15; Canadian Convention Art. 13.

5. Article 1(a) of both Conventions.

6. Article 2(a) of both Conventions.

7. Article 2(b) of both Conventions.

8. Article 4 of both Conventions.

9. Article 10(b) of both Conventions.

10. Postal Law & Regulations (PL&R) Section 1143(1) (1893).

11. Id. Sections 1052-55.

12. Id. Section 1054.

13. Id. Section 1143(3).

14. See United States Official Postal Guide 821 (Mexico) & 823 (Canada) (1894).

15. PL&R Section 1164 (describing the procedures for dispatch of registered matter).

16. Postal Guide at 825.

17. Id. at 823.

18. Id. at 825.

19. Id. at 824 & 825.

20. Id. at 823.

21. Id. at 823-24.

22. Id. at 825.

23. Id. at 823.

24. Id. at 821.

25. PL&R Section 1163.

26. 2022 Scott Specialized Catalog of United States Stamps & Covers, page 414 (2021).

Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

29

W.A. Cooper, U.S. Dept. of State Despatch Agent, San Francisco Post Office Mel Kravitz The U.S. Department of State selected two post office personnel, one at San Francisco and the other at New York, to act as agents in forwarding mail and telegraphic communications overseas. The New York Post Office handled the mails for Europe and the Middle East, while the San Francisco Post Office undertook a similar role for the Pacific and Asian countries.

W.A. Cooper joined the San Francisco Post Office in 1879 and became the U.S. State Department Despatch Agent in 1884. As such, he handled sensitive Consular mail and State Department telegraphic communications, forwarding these to Washington. He was also one of the investigators for foreign claims of mail losses on U.S. registered ships or trains transiting the United States. In this position, he was able to forward insufficiently paid mail to U.S. citizens working in a foreign country, while transiting the San Francisco post office, as is shown in Figure 1. The reverse of the envelope shows a special handstamp which he generated for this specific purpose: “Deficiency in Postage supplied by W.A. Cooper, San Francisco, for the U.S. Gov’t Despatch Agency. Please advise your Correspondent to inquire of local Postmaster correct rate of postage on mail of future destination.”

The San Francisco post office then applied an additional 5¢ Garfield stamp, which was canceled by its circular datestamp to make up the deficient postage.

This is an unusual illustration of the treatment of underpaid postage on mail to China. As an official of the Maritime Customs, the addressee, Edwin Denby had a free franking privilege. He was at Chefoo in Oct. 1888.

Keep up to date with what’s happening in your Club:

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Figure 1. An 1888 (Aug. 24) envelope from Logansport, Ind., to Peking, China, redirected to Chefoo, bearing U.S. 5¢ canceled by duplex, underfranked by 5¢ and held for postage at San Francisco (Aug. 29), showing “Deficiency in Postage supplied by W.A. Cooper, San Francisco, for the U.S. Despatch Agency/...” handstamp in blue on reverse, with another 5¢ applied to pay the foreign rate to China and canceled by San Francisco c.d.s. (8.30), “U.S. Postal Agency/ Shanghai” oval entry datestamp (9.25) in violet, passed to the Customs Post in Shanghai for transmission to Northern China, “Shanghai Customs/Mail Matter” oval handstamp (Type II) struck in blue to denote that the letter did not require Chinese domestic postage, since the addressee was an employee of the Imperial Maritime Customs, “Customs/Shanghai” (Sept.

25), blue “I.G. of Customs/Peking” (Sept. 30), “Customs/Tientsin” (Oct. 1), and “Customs/Chefoo” (Oct. 4) double-ring datestamps on reverse.

Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

31

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Figure 2. An 1888 (Dec. 17) envelope from Logansport, Ind., to Peking, China, “care of the Chinese Customs Service,” redirected to Macao, bearing U.S. Large Bank Note 1¢ single and 2¢ pair, canceled by “Logansport, Ind.” duplex, underfranked by 5¢, with “U.S. Charge/to collect 10 cents” unframed handstamp adjacent, “San Francisco” duplex (Dec. 22) and “U.S. Postal Agency/Shanghai” oval arrival datestamp (Jan. 8, 1889) in violet on reverse, no Customs daters enroute to and on arrival in Peking, upon redirection to Macao. The “I.G./Mail Matter” oval handstamp in blue was applied on the front to indicate that the letter did not require Chinese domestic postage, since the addressee was an employee of the Imperial Maritime Customs, matching “I.G. of Customs/Peking” double-ring datestamp (Feb. 17, 1889), and “Customs/Shanghai” double-ring datestamp (March 2, 1889), British Post Office “Shanghae/C” (March 3, 1889) and “Hong Kong” (March 9, 1889) transit CDS, with “Macao” arrival CDS, all on reverse.

In December 1888 the Logansport, Ind,. correspondent sent another underfranked single-weight letter to Mr. Denby; it is shown in Figure 2.

Edwin Denby, a member of the Maritime Customs, had been reassigned from Chefoo to Macao in 1889.

Here, since Mr. Denby did not advise his correspondent to correct the postage on mail to China, the letter was taxed twice the deficient 5¢ postage.

32

January-February 2024

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CHRISTOPH GÄRTNER AUCTIONS

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For our 58th auc�on, from 19 - 23 February 2024, we once again promise you a wide-ranging selec�on.

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info@auk�onen-gaertner.de

ONLINE LIVE-BIDDING Selected philatelic sec�ons will be auc�oned online live via philasearch.com. Banknotes and coins will be auc�oned online live via biddr.com.

For the first �me, we have included not only single lots but also collec�on lots in our Asia special catalog.

We are already looking forward to an exci�ng und unusual 58th auc�on!

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Steinbeisstr. 6+8 │ 74321 Bie�gheim-Bissingen, Germany │ Tel. +49-(0)7142-789400 Fax. +49-(0)7142-789410 │ info@auk�onen-gaertner.de │ www.auk�onen-gaertner.de

Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

33

Analysis of W.A. Cooper Cover Mel Kravitz The following is a determination of the inks and dyes used on a registered letter from Samoa, April 18, 1895, to San Francisco, Calif. The Bruker 5G XRF instrument will be first used to determine if the elements sulfur, chlorine or bromine are present in the red “Registered” San Francisco colorant. The presence of sulfur alone would suggest an acid red dye, while chlorine could point to Rhodamine dye, and bromine would point to an Eosin dye. The absence of any heavy elements would point to an organic dye, such as Cochineal lake dye, used from 1868-90 in the San Francisco red “PAID ALL” circular datestamp (CDS).

The presence of sulfur, chlorine or bromine, will then allow a choice of laser best suited for Raman testing. The Renishaw Invia micro Raman spectrometer will then be used to obtain a Raman spectrum. This to be matched to saved ink and dye Raman spectrum samples in the instruments libraries.

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Figure 1 (facing page). An 1895 (April 18) registered letter from the “P. M. Apia Samoa” to “W. A. Cooper”1 U.S. Despatch Agent, San Francisco, Calif. The cover is franked with a pair of Samoa 1895 surcharged orange-yellow11/2d, a pair of 1895 purple-brown 1/2d (Half Penny), a single orange Samoa surcharged R 3d on Two Pence and a Samoa green 1d (One Pence) stamps, all tied with Apia Samoa April 18, 1895, CDS. Since Samoa was not a member of the UPU and registered mail sent to the United States required an 8¢ registration fee, (the Columbian stamp was added at the Apia Samoa Post office) with this U.S. stamp placed on the cover front, which would be registry double-ring oval “Z,” canceled at the San Francisco, Calif., post office on arrival. The cover front was handstamped “REGISTERED” in blue ink at the Apia Samoa post office, overlaying the script registered in orange crayon. On arrival, the cover front was handstamped with the three-line “REGISTERED” May 11, 1895, San Francisco, Calif., red colorant.

Figure 2. The Bruker 5G test point No. 1, the red colorant “M’ of the month May, shown in the 3mm oval collimator window. The elements will be of the red colorant, paper and instrument artifacts.

Figure 3. The Bruker 5G paper test point only. This element spectrum will be subtracted from that obtained from testing the red colorant. The result will be red colorant and non-homogeneous paper elements.

Invite a another collector to attend the next online event of the Collectors Club.

Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

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Figure 4. The Bruker 5G test method defining the X-Ray tube voltage, current and sample exposure time.

Test also used an internal filter, Al 38um, to suppress rhodium element response from the X-Ray tube, this element and chlorine are close on the Kev scale, with the rhodium response masking chlorine if a filter was not used.

Keep up to date with what’s happening in your club:

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Figure 5. Bruker 5G XRF element response, the red colorant in ‘red’ and the paper in ‘green’ overlaying the red colorant elements; we have sulfur where ‘red’ exceeds ‘green’ and trace calcium from the paper production. This implies that the red colorant is an acid red dye, the 785nm laser is best suited for Raman testing.

Renishaw Invia Raman test results for the registered red colorant h.s.

Figure 6. The San Francisco “REGISTERED” red colorant shown in the Renishaw Invia micro Raman spectrometer under the x50WLD at test point No. 1, this is the “M” of the month May. The 758nm laser will be used for this suspected acid red dye.

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Figure 7. San Francisco May 9, 1895, registered red dye at test point No. 1, magnified x50 and the corresponding Raman spectrum, this acid red 73, known at the time as “cotton scarlet.”2 The significant peaks correspond to molecular bonds ‘vibrating or bending’ due to absorbing laser energy and causing some of the reflected light to shift wavelength. These peaks are 1140, 1238, 1330, 1381, 1423, 1445, 1468, 1505 and 1587 Raman shift/cm -1. The 785nm laser used at 0.1% power or 1.459 milliwatts, 30sec. scan time, repeating two times.

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Renishaw Invia Raman test results for the blue Samoa post office stamp CDS colorant.

Figure 9. Apia Samoa post office CDS, April 18, 1895, blue ink at test point No. 1 illuminated using the x50WLD microscope.

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The peaks at 276, 369, 532, 2095 and 2158 Raman shift/cm -1 correspond to Prussian Blue. This Raman spectrum will be searched for comparison to a saved spectrum in the Ink3 library.

Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

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Figure 11. Apia Samoa cancellation ink Raman spectrum in ‘red’ and the best match of peaks from the Ink3 library in ‘black.’ There is no doubt the ink used was Prussian Blue.

Conclusion.

1. The San Francisco post office used “Cotton Scarlet” or acid red 73 a sulfur dye, chemical formula C22H14N4Na2O7S2, for its “REGISTERED” handstamp. This dye was detected used in1894 and, here, in 1895. It continues a long tradition of using red dyes for the post office’s registry handstamp and “Paid All” CDS. (Cochineal lake and Eosin dyes). These dyes were used in Europe by the artists Van Gogh and Matisse, as well as the Japanese wood block painters.

2. The Samoa Apia post office used Prussian Blue ink as its colorant for the stamp cancellation CDS on April 18, 1895.

Endnotes 1. W.A. Cooper was the Despatch Agent of the San Francisco post office. He was responsible for all foreign incoming and outgoing mail to and from Asian countries. He was an avid philatelist, as this item attests.

2. Anna Cesaratto, Yan-Bing Luo, Henry D. Smith and Marco Leona, “A timeline for the introduction of synthetic dyestuffs in Japan during the late Edo and Meiji periods,” Heritage Science, June 22, 2018. Figure 5, Page 7 of 12.

Comments.

In January 1893, three members of the Royal Philatelic Society London, embarked on a world tour, They were invited to visit the Pacific Philatelic Society of San Francisco. The following three pages are taken from the London Philatelist June 1893.

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df ~J:,,iZateZie ~ra-oeZZer' s Jfetes.

Bv M. P. CASTLE. (Vice-President, the Philatelic Society, Lo11don.)

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SAN FRANCISCO, 24th June,

I893.

TAKE up my_p:n with a less guilty feeling, as I have_ felt the.spirit once more stirnng me, and am now confident, despite previously ~~~ ill\ expressed forebodings, that the ashes of my ancient philatelic fires .N onl~ require a _littl~ fuel to blaze up again_ in their pristine ~er~en:ss.

-~ , ~ While travellmg m Japan we had received a courteous mv1tat1on 5tt'' from the Pacific Philatelic Society to a dinner to be held in San Francisco J4 • in our honour-an honour that, however undeserved, we gladly acceded to.

Hence, after landing ·at Vancouver on the 23rd May, we had, after sundry long journeyings in the Rocky and other mountains, much looked forward to a renewal of intercourse with collectors and the sight of stamps after our long severance from both. Nor were we disappointed, as we had scarcely arrived at the world-famed Palace Hotel at San Francisco before Mr. John N. Luff, the Hon. Sec. of the Pacific Philatelic Society, descended upon us, and promptly annexed us as his especial charge during our stay in the city of the Golden Gate.

Under such favourable auspices we were soon en rapport with the leading collectors and dealers. I had the pleasure of seeing through the collections of several, and I may briefly epitomise my impressions by saying that I was agreeably surprised to find not only several collections of considerable interest, but, among many members, an extensive philatelic knowledge. One of the first collections I saw was that of Mr. W. Sellschopp whose spccialitt! is the Old German States, used and unused, and I noticed that while Bremen, Lubeck, and many other of the old States were practically complete, his especial fancy-as being his birthplaceMecklenburg Schwerin and Strelitz, were represented by every adhesive stamp, used and unused. He has also some good envelopes, and it may be readily inferred that during his 25 years collecting he has had many opportunities of adding both to his special and general collections. Mr. Sellschopp's partner, Mr. Gesvret, has also a very fine lot of stamps. The President of the Pacific Philatelic Society, Mr. W. J. Gardner, was good enough to bring his collection to the hotel, and and amid many good stamps, I noted the Hong Kong as being especially strong, indeed I fancy Mr. G. possesses some rarities of the surcharges in native characters on the upper left hand that are not generally known.

Thanks to the courtesy of Mr. W. A. Cooper, the chief clerk of the Foreign Mail Department, I was enabled to make a tour of the San Francisco Post Office.

The volume of correspondence passing through with the Japanese, Chinese, and Australian Mails, is astounding; and I was much impressed with the practical modern inventions for rapidly sorting the letters. The building itself is of former times, and will, I believe, soon be replaced by an edifice more in consonance with modem Californian ideas of progress. Mr. Cooper is an ardent collector, taking everything; but his "weakness" is for Australians; hence, perhaps, I was more interested in seeing his collection than any other. As the result of several years collecting, coupled with an accurate and extensive knowledge of the stamps of Oceania, this gentleman has succeeded in making a good and highly interesting collection of these stamps, the strongest country being New Zealand, where I noted such stamps as the 1d. a1_id 3d. star watermark rouletted, unused, fine pelures, thick papers, and a goodly array of shades of all issues. I may safely say that both 41 Collectors Club Philatelist Volume 103, Number 1 ~\ m~;

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PHILATELIC TRAVELLER'S NOTES.

133

for knowledge displayed and for the excellence and number of the specimens this was the best lot of Australians I have seen since leaving England. The indefatigable and courteous Hon. Sec., Mr. J. N. Luff, has also a large number of stamps, which are stored in 1mmerous volumes with movable leaves. Patriotism is to the fore · with this gentleman, his book of the United States being his chef d'a:uvre.

Despite the absence of the greater rarities such as the Brattleboro', the St. Louis, etc., etc., Mr. Luff has accumulated-in the most advanced collector style-a brilliant assortment of shades in every issue, most of the imperforate stamps being present in pairs, while his Officials are entirely complete. I especially noted his fine show of the 5 c., 1851 and 1861, of which there were many shades used and unused in splendid condition. I spent some hours going over other books of other countries, many of which contain good stamps, and finally only collapsed when Mr. Luff handed me a bulky volume entitled, French Colonies I Another member, Mr. J. C. Welch, has a brilliant copy of the 12 p. Canada, on laid paper postmarked, and he, moreover, informed me that a friend in the Dominion has no less than five copies, two of which are said to be on wove paper.

The Philatelic Society consists of about 25 members, and a meeting is held once a month at an hotel. We were fortunately enablt!d to make the acquaintance of the leading collectors at the informal meeting convened in our honour. I can hardly be guilty of any over-statement when I say that my travelling companions and I spent one of the most pleasant evenings of our lives when we enjoyed the hospitality of our Californian confrercs. Everything was done that could conduce to this end ; and the dinner must be pronounced a great success.• The toasts beyond the usual patriotic ones were few. In returning thanks for that of " Our Visitors" I expressed on my friends' and my own behalf our sense of the honour done to the London Society, and my conviction that the great kindness and courtesy we had received from the San Francisco Society would be highly appreciated by • I forward a copy of the quaint and tastefully-devised menu, and I venture to think that the clever way in which things gastronomic and Philatelic "have got mixed" will amuse the readers of this journal. I have a shrewd suspicion that the lion's share of these jeux d'esprit can be traced to the lively imagination of my friend Mr. John N. L,uff.

M. P. C. THE PACIFIC PHILATELIC SOCIETY. "We all have our hobbies."

MENU. A list of current issues, with notes.

Little Neck Clams.

From Seychelles, on original covers.

SOUP. Tomato au Riz.

VEGETABLES. Chauffeur au Gratin.

Petits Pois.

California locals, removed from wrappers.

ROAST. Selle D'Agneau.

Full plates, distinct watennarks.

HORS D'<EUVRES. Shrimp Salad.

Rouletted with short cuts.

Mixed lot, all in good condition.

Olives.

Ancbois.

Odd shades.

cut to shape.

FISH. Bass Ray~e au Vin Blanc.

Ice Cream.

:Latest from Iceland.

Trimmed and neatly mounted.

Picked specimens.

Fruits Assortis.

Close ribbed, showing outer lines.

ENTREES. Sweetbreads en Caisse.

DESSERT. Strawberries.

A general collection.

Gateaux.

Fromage.

Minor varieties.

Various types.

Chicken Saut~ A la Marengo.

Cafe Noir.

Just out, only a few issued.

Turki&h, surcharged for local use.

Dinner to Mr. M. P. CASTLE. Mr. W. T. WILLETT. Dr. E. H. GONIN.

Maison Tortoni, Wednesday, June 14, 1893. 2024 January-February 42

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PHILATELIC TRAVELLER'S NOTES.

all the members of the former body, and on its behalf I offered a warm welcome to any of our Californian friends who might visit London. I need hardly say that I proposed "Success to the Pacific Philatelic Society" and that Mr. Willett seconded the toast, nor perhaps need I further allude to the later proceedings than by saying that Philately developed into "Funniosities" as the evening waned, and that we separated at an early hour with the kindliest feelings towards our courteous hosts.

After an agreeable sojourn of a week in San Francisco, we departed on a tour to the famed Yosemite Valley and Southern California. Of the amount of dust swallowed, of the absence of springs on the Californian Mail coaches, of the presence of stones and ruts on the roads, and of the truly magnificent scenery we saw, it boots not to speak within the scope of the LoNDON PHILATELIST, but one item incidental to this journey may perhaps appropriately find mention in these pages.

In my olden days of general collecting I was always somewhat enamoured of a large number of" Californian Franks" that came into my possession indirectly through the late Mr. E. L. Pemberton, whose interest in these locals will be remembered by many. When, therefore, I encountered the well-known sign of "Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express" on Railway Cars, Post Offices, etc., it revived these ancient memories. This company, whose operations for the express delivery of letters and safe transit of packages is very wide-reaching, despite the great latter-day extension of Government Post Offices, have magnificent blocks of offices in this town for their several departments, while in travelling up the country we found their agents everywhere.

In the Yosemite Valley, for instance-70 to 100 miles from the railroad-we found the agents at each township or "clearing," who handed up to the mail stage driver a strong metal-bound box containing the letters and packages to be forwarded. The only envelopes apparently used on the South Californian route are the current 2 c. United States, in the commercial and official sizes, bearing the overprint "Paid Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express over our lines in the United States," in the usual oblong-lined block. The company's retail price for these is 5 c. each.

The townships aforementioned in the mountains are amusingly primitive-Grub Gulch, Giant Springs, or Fish Camp, consisting of five or six rough modern houses, the "Post Office•· having its designation placed over the door by someone who was not evidently brought up to sign-writing, and the "Postmaster" being an obvious Jack-of-aJl-trades. Where some of these small settlements are situated away from the mail road, a wooden box is attached to a tree adjacent to the road, and the letters deposited therein by the stage driver, literally "to be left till called for.''

This receptacle is simply a small white-painted box, fastened on to the friendly tree trunk by irons, and, being innocent of any lock, it is to be presumed the worthy settlers are all of the greatest probity; at the same time, were I a dealer, I should feel afraid of sending out approval sheets thus I I can only say, in concluding these somewhat discursive remarks, that, in the exceedingly enjoyable month's stay we have made in California, the unremitting kindness and attention shown to us by all the members of the Pacific Philatelic Society have been the chief factors.

We anticipate My next and probably last letter will be from Chicago. reaching "home" (how pleasant it sounds!) quite early in August, and we look forward greatly to again meeting our fellow-members of the London Society.

Collectors Club Philatelist

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Poland: Postal Communications to Ukraine and Russia 1918-20 Dr. James Mazepa, RDP

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Figure 1. Warsaw addressed to St. Petersburg Nov. 1, 1918 (coll. Auleytner).

One cannot overstate the chaos in Eastern and Central Europe during the turbulent years of 1918 to 1920. The Russian Civil War seemed unending (1917-22), the Polish-Ukrainian war, which began Nov. 1, 1918, was coming to an end by July 1919, but different factions, as well as the Red Army and the “White Army” of Denikin, continued to fight within Ukraine. The skirmishes between Poland and the Soviets started in the spring of 1919 exploded into war by 1920. The Red Army was defeated at the Battle of Warsaw (“Miracle of the Vistula”) in August 1920. However, a peace treaty was not signed until the Treaty of Riga in March 1921.

The constant movement of the armies and changing of borders resulted in the lack of or total collapse of postal communications. This is especially true of mail from Poland to Ukraine and Russia. Sadly, without the postal services, families could not communicate with each other and were left not knowing the circumstances of their relatives and friends.

My purpose here is to provide a preliminary documentation of what we know, based on existing postal documents.

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Mail From The Former German-Occupied Polish Territory Problems with mail to Russia from Poland are documented even before Poland became independent on Nov. 11, 1918. The postal card shown in Figure 1 was posted in Warsaw on Nov. 1, 1918, and was intended for St. Petersburg.

Warsaw was still occupied by the Germans, who censored the card and applied the “PÜSt.” censor cachet. The letter shown in Figure 2 was sent in November or early December 1918 from Koło, destined for Moscow. The stamps on this letter are canceled by the rare provisional “flower” cancellation. Both of these letters have a red manuscript notation “na przechowanie,” or, “to storage.” This notation was used only in the first weeks of the Republic; later letters to Russia do not have this endorsement.

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Figure 2. Koło adddressed Moscow November or early December 1918 (coll. Auleytner).

Figure 3 shows one of the very few registered letters seen during this time. It is postmarked on Saturday, Nov. 9, 1918, to Moscow but not yet put into the postal system. On Monday, Nov. 11, the Poles took over the post office. Perhaps because the letter was registered, it was “returned” (Z POWROTEM) to sender with a red manuscript “Zwrot z dzialan wojennych” (Returned due to war activities) on the reverse. Note the postage on these letters is paid with the former German occupation stamps. These stamps were valid until Dec. 16, 1918.

The postal card pictured in Figure 4 was written in Ossowiec, a small town in northeast Poland, to Fastov (Fastiv, today), Ukraine, and postmarked on Sunday, Nov. 10, 1918. Fastov is southeast of Kiev in Eastern Ukraine and away from the fighting in Galicia, but it still was not possible to deliver the letter. Interestingly, Collectors Club Philatelist

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part of the bilingual address is written in Russian not Ukrainian or Polish. This letter was posted on the last day of German occupation of Poland. The German postal clerk wrote “ZURÜCK” (Return to sender) in blue. Similar to the previous letter, Polish postal officials took over the next day. The Figure 5 item was written in Lodz, Dec. 12, 1918, to Gomel, Ukraine. The card was returned March 3, 1919, with the similar red manuscript “Zwrot z dzialan wojennych” (Returned due to war activities) as the letter shown in Figure 3. _:::::::==

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Figure 3. Warsaw registered (coll. Auleytner) Nov. 9, 1918.

Figure 4. Ossowiec to Fastov, last day of German occupation, Nov. 10, 1918.

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Figure 5. Lodz to Gomel, "Returned due to war activities," Dec. 12, 1918.

Figure 5a. Jędrzejów to Novobylitsa, Ukraine, Oct. 1, 1918.

One can conclude that at this time postal communications between Poland and Russia did not exist and such mail was sent “to storage.” Evidence indicates mail to Ukraine was returned to sender.

Mail From The Former Austrian Occupied Polish Territory Only a few letters have been seen from Southern (Austrian occupied) Poland to Ukraine or Russia. The card shown in Figure 5a was sent on Oct. 1, 1918, prior to independence, from Jędrzejów to Novobylitsa, Gomel, Mogilev Gubernia, Ukraine, with the bold endorsement “Nach Ukraine.” The card pays the correct 8 heller postal card rate and has a faint “K.U.K. …” Austrian military censor Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

49

Figure 6. Lubartowa to Russia, Dec. 16, 1918.

cachet. There are no transit marks and it seems the card reached its destination.

The card is addressed in Russian and the message on the reverse is in Polish.

The card shown in Figure 6 is interesting from several perspectives. The card was sent Dec. 16, 1918, from Lubartowa to Ratnitz, St. Petersburg District. Austrian kronen and the German mark that was used in the Warsaw Administration were not on par, 1 mark = 1.75 kronen. In an attempt to equalize the postal rates, a temporary period of higher rates was instituted in the Lublin Postal Administration from Dec. 16, 1918, to Jan. 7, 1919. This card was sent on the first day of the new rates. The sender paid the old postal card rate of 10 heller, but the new increased rate was 25 heller. The postal official noted the short payment of 15 heller with a “T” (Taxe) and assessed an additional double deficiency of 28 heller, rather than 30 heller, based on the exchange rate between the heller and mark. Even in the midst of the turmoil of war, the postal officials continued to do their accounting when they could! In Warsaw it also received the rectangular “MIN. SPR. ZEWN./WYDZIAŁ KONTROLI/CENZOWANO WYSŁAĆ!” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Seen by Control/Censored) as well as the circular “Wr.1” military censor.

The postal card shown in Figure 7 from Sławków, Jan. 15, 1919, is addressed to Liski, Voronezh Province, Russia. The postal card rate changed on Jan. 7 to 15 heller, but the sender paid the former rate of 25 heller. In Warsaw it received the same Ministry of Foreign Affairs cachet as the previous card.

The card shown in Figure 8 was addressed from Dąbrowa, Jan. 31, 1919, to Tomsk, Russia. The 15 heller rate is paid with an 8 heller postal card indicium, covered with four 2 heller field post newspaper stamps for a total of 16 heller, one heller overpaid. Here, again, the card was censored as seen by the circular “Wr.1” Warsaw military censor.

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Figure 7. Sławków to Russia, Jan. 15, 1919.

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Figure 8. Dąbrowa to Russia, Jan. 31, 1919.

These three postal cards were to be sent to Russia via Warsaw, as evidenced by the Warsaw censor cachets. There is no evidence that they were ever received and one can assume they were also sent “to storage.”

The “SERVICE SUSPENDED” Stamp In speculating how mail may have transited to Russia and Ukraine from Poland, one speculation was that the mails may have gone through the Baltics, specifically Riga. The letter pictured in Figure 9 was posted in London and addressed to Latvia, May 3, 1919. It was returned to sender and confirms the Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

51

“Service Suspended” was applied in London. The letter illustrated in Figure 9a shows the return route. It was posted in Lemburg (now Malpils), Latvia, on Sept.

11, 1920, to the village of Semenovka in the Poltava District of Ukraine. These letters confirm Latvia would not have been a transit for mail to Ukraine or Russia, but they do suggest there was a northern route from England to Russia and Ukraine at some time.

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Figure 9a. Latvia to Ukraine, “Service Suspended,” Sept. 11, 1920.

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Figure 10. “Via Newcastle-Bergen” Notation, Nov. 11, 1918.

The answer comes from another letter shown in Figure 10. A lieutenant in the French Army sent this letter from Paris on Nov. 11, 1918, to Russia, with the endorsement “Via Newcastle–Bergen.” We know little about this route via England, Norway and probably Sweden. This routing is crossed out on the letter. Exactly when this route was suspended is for further investigation. Any mail with the intention of using this northern route would get to England and get stamped “Service Suspended” and was most likely returned to sender. This letter was returned to the officer in Paris.

Figure 11. Konin “Service Suspended” (coll. Auleytner), December 1918.

Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

53

Two cards from Poland are known with the “Service Suspended” cachet. The first is from Konin, shown in Figure 11, sent in early December 1918 to Kiev. The card has a Warsaw censor cachet and was sent from there to England, where it received the “Service Suspended” marking. The card and stamp are canceled with the rare provisional “flower” of Konin. It is uncertain where the German “ZURÜCK” (RETURN) was applied. German postal devices were used by the Polish post until replaced with Polish devices, so it is unclear where this was applied or by whom. This could have been used on the return from England or an attempted transit via Germany on the outset.

Figure 12. Suwalki to Kiev “Service Suspended,” Feb. 9, 1919.

Even after independence the German Tenth Army remained in northeast Poland in an attempt to block the Soviet army from overrunning Poland and threatening Germany. The Tenth Army began withdrawing in January 1919 and continued throughout most of 1919. In the city of Suwalki, a Polish post office opened in the railroad station on Feb. 9, 1919. The card shown in Figure 12 was addressed to Kiev on the first day the post office opened and the stamps are canceled with the provisional canceler of Suwalki. There is no evidence of a Warsaw transit but the card made its way to England, where it received the “Service Suspended.” From there it is uncertain if it was returned to sender or retained in Warsaw because, as seen before, letters to Ukraine were not sent “to storage.”

While postal communications from Poland eastward to Ukraine and Russia were still closed, at some point a route to the west did open. The item shown in Figure 13 is a registered letter from Suwalki in 1919 to the United States, sent “Wolna od Censura/Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych” - (Free of censorship/ Ministry of the Interior), probably applied in Warsaw. Exactly how this letter traveled is uncertain.

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Figure 13. Suwalki to the United States, 1919.

Figure 14. Warsaw forwarding, May 1921 (Coll. Auleytner).

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Conclusions Hostilities (mostly) and the establishment of national borders was concluded at the Treaty of Riga, which was signed by Poland, Russia and Soviet Ukraine on March 18, 1921. The treaty went into effect April 30, 1921. At this time the resumption of postal communications between the signatories was negotiated and resumed.

The letters that were “in storage” for correspondence to Russia were released.

The reverse of the letter shown in Figure 2 is shown in Figure 14. Here one can see that the letter was sent to Warsaw on May 4, 1921, for transit to the addressee.

According to contemporaneous accounts, and given the volume of letters, many letters were not sent forward and were destroyed. There is a report that some collectors and dealers were allowed to rummage through the mail sacks and remove what they wanted before the remainders were destroyed.

There is no evidence that letters destined for Ukraine were held in storage.

More research on the Newcastle-Bergan route to circumvent the ongoing hostilities and the “Service Suspended” material needs further exploration. When was this route in effect? Was it only one way or could mail from Ukraine and Russia also take advantage of this route in the opposite direction?

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This article is only a preliminary attempt to understand the complex postal history of this chaotic period. Additions and corrections are welcome.

I would like to thank Dr. Julian Auleytner for his valuable help in sharing material from his collection and his article in The American Philatelist, June 2015, which made this article possible. I would also like to thank Steve Volis for his assistance in translating the Ukrainian and Russian texts.

[Editor’s Note: If you have additions, corrections or other comments, the author would welcome correspondence at jmazepa@comcast.net.]

VIDIFORMS CO. INC. Showgard House 115 North Route 9W Congers, NY 10920

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UPCOMING AUCTIONS

Curated by

FEB/MAR 24

The J. W. Phillips Collection Part III The Academic Collection Part II The George Rab Collection of Bahawalpur The Raffles Collection Part II

Lot 281 Grenada SG 157a block mint

View our catalogue at www.baldwins.co

| @baldwinsauctions +44 (0)208 092 5856 | info@baldwins.co

Noted in Passing on the Auction Block Matthew Healey The following notable items are from recent auctions that were advertised in the Collectors Club Philatelist. Members who do business with these firms should be sure to thank them for their support of our journal. If you have spotted—or personally bought or sold—an item you feel is worthy of inclusion in the next round-up, no matter the price, please drop a note to secretary@collectorsclub.org

A Bechuanaland Beauty $8,050 Colonial Stamp Company, Los Angeles, Calif., Auction 139, Oct. 12, Lot 275. Advertised in CC Philatelist Vol. 102 Nos. 4 & 5. Further details at colonialstamps.com/auctions One of the distinctive features of the stamps of Bechuanaland, the British colony in southern Africa that was later incorporated into Cape Colony and then South Africa, was its adoption in 1887 of British revenue stamps for postage.

The stamps were of the United Kingdom’s “unappropriated” series; that is, their designs showed a denomination in words but had a blank panel at the bottom where an overprint would go, designating the type of fee or duty the stamps were appropriated to pay. In the case of this colony, that overprint—in small black type — reads “British/Bechuanaland/Postage & Revenue.” The revenue designs were printed in dull green or lilac fugitive inks, without much contrast, so their denominations could be hard to read. Therefore, a year after the initial postal issue, the Bechuanaland stamps were reissued with a supplemental overprint giving the face value in figures. The 2d value appeared first with a red surcharge, which is fairly common. Then the surcharge appeared in green, and that is a very hard stamp to find. George Holschauer estimates “perhaps a dozen examples are recorded” and he considers the stamp “undercataloged” by Scott at $4,000. He may well be right: the lightly used example shown here brought double that amount. (Realization includes 15% buyer’s premium.)

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South Pacific Survivor

$94,400

Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, New York, N.Y.: The Barry K. Schwartz collection of Fiji and Samoa (Sale 1302), Nov. 15, 2023, Lot 6586. Advertised in CC Philatelist Vol. 102 No. 5. Further details at www.siegelauctions.com.

Fiji became a British colony relatively late, in 1874. Its first inter-island postal service, with a crude issue of typeset stamps, had been operated in 1870 by a local newspaper, the Fiji Times, but this was soon discontinued under pressure from the British consul. Proper stamps were issued in 1871, with a simple, circular design bearing a crown and the cipher of the king: “CR,” which stood for Cakobau Rex. When the British took over, these stamps were locally overprinted “VR” (for Victoria Regina) and soon replaced altogether with a set of stamps incorporating her initials into the same design. The order to the English printers was for 1-penny stamps in ultramarine and 2d in green; but when the shipment arrived in the islands some months later, it was discovered that the printers had mistakenly printed the 2d stamps in ultramarine. A demand was made for a reprint in the correct color. The 50,000 error stamps, minus a block of four sent to the Colonial Secretary in response to his inquiry, languished in storage for a decade until they were all destroyed in 1890. Where did that block of four end up?

One example was stuck in a book at the Crown Agents and now resides in the British Library; another found its way into the hands of King George V and remains in the Royal Philatelic Collection. A third example was acquired by Philipp de la Renotiere von Ferrary; when his collection was dispersed, it was obtained

by Arthur Hind and a succession of well-heeled collectors, until John Gartner, an Australian collector, bought it in 1975 (or shortly thereafter). In 1983, the ultimate tragedy befell it: wildfire engulfed the Gartner home. Gartner and his wife survived by jumping into their backyard swimming pool; his stamp collection, sadly, was consumed by the flames. The fourth surviving example, one of numerous rare highlights in Barry Schwartz’s superb collection of these two Pacific islands, is the one shown here. After its first documented appearance, in an H.R. Harmer sale in 1933, it went into hiding for more than a half century, emerging Collectors Club Philatelist

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only in 1986 at the Ameripex show. It subsequently resided in the collection of Peter Robertson, curator of the Philatelic Foundation, before passing to the Gibralter collection, from which it was bought in 1996 for $35,750 by Schwartz, who has owned it since. The Scott catalog values this error – now unique in private hands – at $40,000, a figure that is sure to be revised upward in light of this sale.

(Realization includes 18% buyer’s premium.)

A Unique Hermes Head

€ 70,850 ($75,100)

The Philatelists, Athens, 7th Auction, 24-27 Nov. 2023, Lot 18. Further details at www.thephilatelists.gr In the March 1938 issue of the Philatelic Journal of Great Britain (PJGB), Percival Loines Pemberton, the famous scholar of Greece’s Large Hermes Heads of 1861-82, announced the existence of a small quantity of unused specimens of the 2-lepta brown Athens “Provisoire” coarse first printing, which henceforth became known as the 2 Lepta Brown-on-Straw (Scott 9a). Pemberton correctly described these stamps as among Europe’s rarest. Today, no more than 10 survive and, since 1938, no further examples have been identified – until the present item: a stampless circular mailed from London to Athens, struck on departure with a red double arc CDS. On arrival, the circular received two 2-lepta stamps to pay the 4-lepta rate on circulars from England, canceled with a Type II CDS of Athens ‘1’ dated March 6, 1864. One of the stamps has been mostly torn off, while one remains on the circular – the only-known used example of the 2 Lepta Brown-onStraw, a deep brown Athens “Provisoire” coarse first printing. It is a sheet-margin example with very heavy print and whitish spandrels, no relief, and heavy contour all over the medallion and particularly to the left of the head. Its discoverer, Kyriakos Papathanassiou, is a Collectors Club member as well as a leading expert in the Large Hermes Heads. (Realization includes 9% buyer’s premium.)

Kathmandu Cover: Genuine or Fake?

$2,950

Schuyler Rumsey Philatelic Auctions, San Francisco, Calif.: Specialized Sale of Asia (Sale 112), Dec. 14, 2023, Lot 4192. Further details at www.rumseyauctions.com

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To trust or not to trust? That is always the question. The cover shown appears to be a star item and “perhaps the most important item of Nepalese philately,” according to Rumsey and others. It bears a pair and single of the 2-anna purple of Nepal’s first issue of 1881, on European-made wove paper with pin-perforations – the only examples known on cover – along with an imperforate 1a blue of the same issue. It purports to be a double-weight, registered “native” cover and quite possibly the earliest Nepali registered cover recorded. It was sent from the Ayaan monastery near Kadarban to Kathmandu. But is this cover genuine? The late Wolfgang Hellrigl, RDP, was a widely acknowledged expert in the philately of Nepal, Tibet, Jammu and Kashmir and Mongolia; he won international Large Gold medals for his exhibits, wrote numerous books on the classic philately of the Himalayan region and served as an FIP commissioner. So when, in the pages of a specialist journal, he declared the item fake after seeing it in an exhibition in India in 1989, his opinion carried some weight. “I felt sure that, if the cover were taken out of the frames and examined on the spot, I could prove that it was a fake,” he wrote in Postal Himal. “It is not a registered cover at all (there are no wax seals and no m/s endorsements of registration, etc.), hence the 7-annas rate is wrong.” Hellrigl went on to argue that the correct rate would have been 6 annas, in any case, as the envelope is marked “1 tola,” meaning it was a single-, not a double-rate cover; that the 2-anna stamps are not properly tied; and that their placement over the address is odd. Stacked against these assertions, however (according to an article by Richard Frajola on his website), are certificates by several other experts, including the British Philatelic Association (BPA), which in 2020 declared the cover genuine. Frajola also provides a translation of the Devanagari contents that seems to bear out the idea that the letter, which recounts a recent robbery, was of sufficient importance and urgency to justify a registered sending. It obviously is hard to tell anything from scans, but readers can attempt to judge for themselves whether the 2a stamps are properly tied by their cancels (as well as a little brown schmutz). Hellrigl himself readily acknowledged that, if indeed real, the cover would be “staggering” and “unique.”

Nonetheless, despite an earlier five-figure estimate, the cover was hammered for just $2,500, perhaps a reflection of the market’s lingering doubts over the conflicting claims. (Realization includes 18% buyer’s premium.)

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The Collectors Club

Membership Update: Oct. 25 through Dec. 24, 2023.

Approved by the Board of Governors: Nov. 28, 2023 Resident: Alstede, Kurt W. Pataki, Jane Smith

Chester, N.J. Norwalk, Conn.

Non-Resident: Boltz, Prof. William G. Clague, Dr. Brian Howard Karp, Aaron

Seattle, Wash.

Signal Hill, Calif.

Norfolk, Va.

Pending Applications Resident: Phillips, Dr. Thomas H.

Huntington Station, N.Y.

Non-Resident: Galletti, Greg S.

Mount Airy, Md.

Merritt, Michael

Roosevelt, N.J.

We regret to inform you of recent deaths of the following longtime Collectors Club members: Eaton, Robert C. Doubleday, Elwin

Paraguay New Hampshire

We extend our profound sympathies to their families and loved ones.

If you would like to update your contact information, please contact Executive Secretary Andrea Matura at: info@collectorsclub.org.

Our ongoing 2024 electronic meeting program is in progress. We eagerly anticipate reintroduction of in-person activities at the Clubhouse in the late Spring of 2024! We will also have a presence at Westpex (San Francisco) in April 2024.

Respectfully submitted, Mark E. Banchik, Membership Co-Chair Lawrence Hunt, Membership Co-Chair

Friedman Memorial A memorial for Debby Friedman will take place on Feb. 11, 2024, from 1:303:30 p.m. at 160 East 38 St., New York, N.Y. Enter at the Lobby and ask for directions to the memorial. Those planning to attend should notify Bob Breuer at rbreuer@nyc.rr.com or (917) 768-1952. Those wishing to make a donation in Debby’s memory may go to: http://mskcc.convio.net/goto/DeborahFriedman 62

January-February 2024

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David Feldman

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INTERNATIONAL AUCTIONEERS

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Exceptional material, outstanding results 2023 Autumn Auction Series

Lot 20321 - MEXICO Sold for € 61’500

Lot 40359 - ROMANIA Sold for € 54’120* Lot 10032 - EGYPT Sold for € 46’740*

Lot 90152 - JAPAN Sold for € 73’800*

Lot 40404 - ROMANIA. Sold for € 116’850*

*Including buyer’s premium

Consign with us for our June 2024 Spring Auction Series David Feldman International Auctioneers Office 1-800-470-0457

With us, your precious collections and philatelic gems are in the best hands

info@davidfeldman.com davidfeldman.com

Collectors Club Philatelist

Volume 103, Number 1

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50 th

Index to Advertisers Page

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Inside Back Cvr.

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If you purchase stamps or covers from these fine companies, please let them know you saw their ad in the CCP.

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SCHUYLER J. RUMSEY AUCTIONS IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE:

THE VALENTINE’S DAY SALE February 14, 2024

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United States #5 Combination Pair, The Most Important Valentine Cover in Existence

This important sale features a remarkable selection of 19th Century Valentine enclosures and Valentine envelopes, which are among the finest ever to be offered in the market. The quality of the material is outstanding and the depth of the collection is unsurpassed. To honor this unique occasion, we have scheduled the sale to take place on Valentine’s Day in our San Francisco Galleries. This is an excellent opportunity for the seasoned collector or for anyone who has ever considered collecting these wonderful pieces of early Americana.

415 781 5127

srumsey@rumseyauctions.com

• Schuyler : Rumsey : • Philatelic • • Auctions : •

visit us at www.rumseyauctions.com

The New Year is starting with a blast of great sales THE

MAGNOLIA COLLECTION

CHINA AND PHILIPPINES POSTAL HISTORY

The Magnolia sales continue with a fantastic offering of covers between the United States and China and the Philippines

The Dr. Géza Homonnay Collection

First Issues of the World on Cover

This impressive worldwide postal history collection will be offered by Siegel International

The ra~onflr olkction This important collection features 19th and 20th century stamps, essays, proofs, errors, multiples and one of the finest Private Die Proprietary collections ever formed

United States Postal History

The February U.S. Postal History sale features several collections, including a portion of Carol Bommarito’s Large Gold exhibit “United States Mail To, From, and Through Great Britain 1840–1875”

For buyers or sellers, Siegel Auction Galleries offers unparalleled expertise, a worldwide client base, financial reliability, intelligent marketing, and the best internet resources and search tools.

ROBERT A. SIEGEL AUCTION GALLERIES, INC.

America’s premier stamp auctioneer since 1930

21 WEST 38TH STREET, 7TH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10018 Phone (212) 753-6421 • Email: stamps@siegelauctions.com