Nov./Dec. 2023 | Prelude to Postal Profusion • My Collecting Philosophy • U.S. Independent Mails • Morocco & U.S. Colored Cancels
CollectorsClub Philatelist
Correspondences of the U.S. Independent Mails, 1844-45 A survey of surviving covers
Volume 102 Number 6 $10
The unique on-cover pair of the Unionville, South Carolina Postmaster’s Provisional, a rarity of Confederate philately Provenance: Ferrary, Caspary, Lilly
5–7 December 2023
United States – 10th ERIVAN Sale www.hrharmer.com
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November-December 2023
Volume 102, Number 6
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
Essential Elements: Prelude to Postal Profusion Richard A. Coffey
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My Philatelic Collecting Philosophy Anonymous
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Correspondences of the U.S. Independent Mails, 1844-45 David R. Wilcox, Ph.D.
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Morocco and the United States; The Suprising Similarity in the Color of Inks and Their Meaning Maurice Hadida, FRPSL, member of the Académie de Philatélie 372 Noted in Passing on the Auction Block Matthew Healey
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Deborah Friedman 1946-2023 Matthew Healey
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Website: 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Editor’s Notepad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 Index to Advertisers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
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@ 2023 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
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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.
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Governors Class of 2023
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Class of 2025 Robert Gray Lawrence Haber Matthew Healey Daniel J. Ryterband Wade E. Saadi, RDP
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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President’s Message Lawrence Haber This is The Collectors Club Philatelist’s sixth and final issue of the calendar year. That being the case, providing a brief overview of the Club’s year that will soon be complete might be worthwhile. During 2023, we provided 23 Zoom programs. A total of 32 individuals presented these programs. Our topics ranged from classic to modern, and from traditional philately to postal history to topicals. Our presenters came from both inside the United States and overseas. We mostly had single-presenter programs and special programs from several specialist groups. We also heard several group discussions and presentations from the National Postal Museum and the forthcoming Boston 2026 International. We are committed to growing this hobby and expanding our reach. As we look at this journal that you are reading right now, we believe that if you line up this issue with the November/December issues from 2022 and before, you will note a decided improvement in all aspects. We hope this journal truly speaks to you. We are proud of our editor’s efforts and the Publication Committee supporting him. We want this journal to be something you read and look forward to appearing in your mailbox. Our success is dependent on your support. Your articles make the journal what it is, and we look forward to your contributions. But, also, sometimes the little things can make a difference. The thought occurred the other day that we send our program presenters a very nice certificate and an engraved medal. Very nice. But for our contributors to this journal, historically, we have only provided a hearty handshake, aside from the best article of the year. This individual receives the Robert P. Odenweller Award. But for the rest? Nada, as we say in New York. Well, that is changing. Henceforth, everyone who contributes a fulllength article to this journal will receive a certificate and a commemorative pen. We have very few illusions about people lusting for another cert and a pen, but sometimes the little things make a difference. This is meant to communicate our appreciation in a visible and tangible way.
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I am writing this virtually on the eve of our single-frame exhibit competition, which was held at the National Postal Museum. We are tremendously appreciative of the efforts of the museum and wish to thank it and its staff for their support. But, our presence at the NPM is just one of many venues at which we have been present to meet and connect with members, as well as those who are not yet members. We are striving to be present at more shows and other venues where collectors gather. As we have previously updated you, we have made significant progress in our move. The end is within sight. Demolition was completed in early November at 58 West 40th Street, and the fit-out has begun. The target for completion is early Spring 2024. But, one of the most tangible milestones has passed. We actually had the chance to go furniture shopping. We reviewed several choices for the chairs, sofas and tables that will be purchased for our new Clubhouse. It is one thing to view a floor plan or a rendering of our new home, but to touch the actual furniture is special. Speaking of the Clubhouse, we have started planning activities in our new home. But, even though we are currently in temporary quarters, we have been holding in-person events. Surely, you have seen the emails on our Show and Tell programs. By year’s end, there will have been nine of these. Slowly, we are all learning to re-engage with other collectors in real space, all at the same time. We hope to put in an exciting program of in-person and hybrid events as we cross into 2024. We are very excited about the year that is about to close and obviously even more excited by what lies ahead. *
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Just prior to the publication date of this issue, we learned of the passing of Debby Friedman. She was a force of nature, with more than 50 years of membership in the Collectors Club. She was a first-rate philatelist and collector. But she will doubtless be most remembered for her efforts to support beginning adult collectors and new young collectors. She approached this task with passion and thorough commitment. Elsewhere, there will be a full-length obituary for Debby, but it must be said that we are all enriched from having known her, and we are all at a loss with her passing.
Editor’s Notepad This issue of CCP was already quite full when news of Debby Friedman’s passing was received. To make room for her obituary, which appears on page 382, there will be no Editor’s Notepad column in this issue. 326
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Essential Elements Prelude to Postal Profusion Richard Coffey Whenever I read an article that posits the number of perforation holes per two centimeters of a stamp I own, I go after it like a brook trout for a fly. An aluminum perf gauge comes out of my desk drawer, a slightly newer plastic gauge out of my miscellaneous box, my magnifier desk lamp is switched to high intensity and the “patient” is withdrawn from its long nap in my stockbook. I have no reason to do any of this, but I can spend an hour fussing to confirm a common perforation, though more often I’m refereeing inevitable disagreements between measuring devices and my 80-something vision and cognitive abilities. It’s a picture of an old man at his hobby. The baggy worn sweater, the ancient pale trousers with a fading spaghetti stain, the slippers that pass for shoes and the bruised knurled knuckles that protrude the onion-skin fingers grasping a perf gauge in one hand and pinching a pair of tongs and a stamp in the other, in the nearly hopeless attempt to join the three objects in a field of view obstructed by eyeglasses sliding down my nose and cataracts that have fogged ® the field.
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I now know why old men appear angry most of the time. After spending a half-century learning to acquire the qualities of patience, the ball begins to unravel and your life just becomes a pile of string – and stamp tongs. Yet, old age is a gateway to an opportunity of sorts – lots of time – and, if you’re lucky, it’s inevitable. This brings to my mind Thurn and Taxis. In my youth, I imagined a Taxis postman leaning into a moonlight gallop across an Alps mountain pass with celerity, posthorn in hand and, www.collectorsclub.org
Note: The earliest Thurn and Taxis markings – place-name marks – appeared in the 1730s, produced by handstamps left over from the French post after the wars of Spanish Succession. In 1832, Thurn and Taxis developed a rectangular handstamp (upper right) peculiar to Hamburg. In 1840, the mark appears with only a single-lined octagonal frame. The Thurn and Taxis Post “came of age” in a Europe of many kingdoms, large and small, where recurrent wars and deadly neighborhood spats were routine. The House of Taxis negotiated postal agreements and treaties one-to-one, with every city and village. At the formation of the German Confederation in 1815, there were 350 independent territories, of which about 40 had any political or economic significance. This cover: An Aug. 29, 1832, single folded letter from Hamburg to Herrnhut, 350 miles (564 km). In 1840 one German mile equaled about 4.5 statute miles. The rate therefore would have been based on about 77 German miles in the currency of the North, silbergroschen (sgr.) The rate in the period was about 6.5 sgr. (15¢) for 50-60 miles. Thus, 10.5 sgr. was apparently paid. Until the Austro-German Postal Convention in 1847, weights, measures and tariffs varied from state to state, kingdom, territory and Dutch. Generally, the greater number of independent territories that a letter had to cross the more expensive the postage. A letter going southeast from Nuremberg to Regensburg (65 miles) cost twice as much as going northwest from Regensburg to Nuremberg. A letter from Berlin to Rome cost 68¢ through Switzerland, 30¢ via Genoa and 48¢ through Austria.
well … when I was a little older, I read that riding a horse in the Alps in the dark didn’t turn out well for horse or man or mail. After reading that, a large hunk of the romance that I had attached to stamp collecting broke away and disappeared like the Conger ice shelf in Eastern Antarctica. I was left, briefly, facing reality. The Thurn and Taxis post served Europe for 355 years and, if I can’t find some romance in the reality of that longevity, my imagination is failing as well. Imagine, then, an interim of darkness out of which arose the Holy Roman Empire in pursuit of power in Christendom. In that time Europe was made of Collectors Club Philatelist
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hundreds of village-sized kingdoms, each hungry for news of threats and opportunities and so formed royal posts and yes, night riders, couriers and king’s messengers, who scurried from palace to palazzo sewing polities together with shared divulgence, unifying the dark and dangerous dominions of divided loyalties with the light of the written word. Though our peasant ancestors could neither write nor read (nor even imagine a need for such skills), the princes of power – secular and religious – had scribes and teachers. It was a princely time, every speck of a kingdom was a rich garden upon which entrepreneurs fed. One such brand, the Tassis family, developed courier services between city-states in 13th-century Italy building a reputation noticed by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, who hired the family, Frantz von Taxis, in 1489, as did his son, Philip I of Spain, in 1504. With the Holy Roman Empire as a client, the Taxis family, which was vast, young and ambitious, was allowed to deliver and charge fees for official and private mail. The family was granted a patent of nobility by Maximilian I, which opened European doors for them for three centuries. The Princes of Thurn and Taxis created and maintained the first public access mail service in Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Hungary and the low counties. They designed pathways, procedures and postal protocols, which they tested for three centuries; many protocols endured, in principle, to the modern era. Much has been inherited from the postal past, but the centuries of Thurn and Taxis were certainly prelude to the profusion of demand for postal service by the close of the 19th century
Explore our website and see just how much more the Collectors Club can offer! www.collectorsclub.org
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GENÈVE ◊ PARIS
Tradition and Quality for more than 50 years
France - Ceres 20cts used on the December 31st, 1848 – Unique
A major item of French postal history consigned by the owner to Le Timbre Classique for an upcoming auction. Next auction Hotel Warwick – Geneva, January 23-24, 2024
www.letimbreclassique.com 31, route de Troinex 1234 Geneva, Switzerland 011 41 22 760 11 11 info@letimbreclassique.com
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4, rue Drouot 75009 Paris, France 011 33 1 42 46 63 72 contact@letimbreclassique.com
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UPCOMING CORINPHILA AUCTION
Provenance: Christies Manson & Woods auction (Oct. 1944)
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------Great Britain 1840–1841 – The World's First Postage Stamps – The Simon Beresford-Wylie Collection (part I) British Stamp Perforation – The Ray Simpson Collection British Commonwealth – British North-, Central- & East Africa, St. Helena, Ascension, Seychelles, Bushire – The ‘BESANÇON’ Collection Australian States & Commonwealth of Australia – The ‘DUBOIS’ Collection (part III) Australian States “Unused” – The Peter Campbell Collection (part II) Togo Postal History – Collection John Mayne Egypt 1866–1975 & Alexandria Postal History – The Constantin Kelemenis & Ronny van Pellecom Collections Haiti – “Liberty Head” Issue 1881–1887 – The Brian Moorhouse Collection South & Central America – The Brian Moorhouse Estate
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My Philatelic Collecting Philosophy Anonymous
Publication This is my first article for publication in a philatelic journal, and I am honored to share my “collecting philosophy.” I am neither “expert” in a philatelic field, nor prominent among students who share similar interests. However, I endeavor to acquire items in a manner that, to my mind, is organized and logical.
Background I grew up in a Polish neighborhood, “back of the (stock) yards,” on Chicago’s south side, and earned a degree in history (I was too undisciplined to finish chemistry). My degree and an Army ROTC commission were tickets to escaping the city and living “high adventure.” Subsequent tours in Vietnam, MBAs in finance and management, work in resource management and, eventually, “research and analysis” at another U.S. Government agency came to influence my reality and life philosophy.
Evolving Philatelic Philosophy I began “collecting” stamps at about age eight, mainly because a neighborhood friend began collecting them – “if Phil could have them so could I.” Interestingly, I was not attracted to U.S. stamps, but rather to multicolored emissions and exotic locals, especially those of the British Empire – for example, Nyasaland, Cook Islands and Borneo easily come to mind. Such “eye candy” and the “unusual” continue to influence my interest, acquisition and, now, “study” – the differential, to my mind between “collecting” and “philately.” I sought to build a “collection,” representing the “empire,” but four successive albums, including eventually a Scott International (Junior), failed to provide space for many items, especially completing less expensive sets. The cost and quantity of new issues (as well as a growing interest in girls), moreover, ended this pursuit and I switched to one country – Egypt. John Ross, a dealer across the street from Chicago’s fabled Marshall Field & Co., provided me an array of early and later Egyptian material that sapped my limited budget until graduation and the Army temporarily ended my “stamp collecting”; second lieutenants in a parachute rifle battalion had little time for stamps, but I did get “high adventure!” I resumed collecting while assigned to ROTC instructor duty, Ohio University, where I also pursed MBA degrees. The faculty had a stamp club, they solicited 334
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my participation and – I learned after joining – they expected discussion beyond “year of issue” and “catalog number.” This encouraged me to acquire my first specialized reference, the Zeheri Catalogue for Egypt – and to “write-up” my early material, identifying and illustrating design differences produced during preparation of printing “stones” and later plates. I choose to expand my earlier Egyptian holding because, to my mind, the land is exotic, mysterious, a crossroad between empires and it offered multiple venues: color, printing and plate varieties; color cancellations; foreign post offices (“used abroad”); and leveraging MBA Egypt, issue of 1874 used from the Egyptian study, the possibility for “value appreciation.” Consular post office at Smyrna. Subsequent Army duty in Heidelberg and interaction with German collectors focused my attention on “condition,” and appreciation for “stamps” as an inter-national “negotiable security.” Germans in 1979-82 did not want “dollars,” but mint never-hinged German issues of 1930-45 and stamps of the early Republic were “gold.” I traded my never-hinged German issues, cost probably less than $300, for my first significant postal history cover – a very fine 30c Prussian closed mail folded letter with a strip of three 10¢ Washington imperforate stamps, Scott 15; similar covers sold in the early 1980s at Siegel and Wolffer auctions for in excess of $1,000. I knew little of U.S. material beyond Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers descriptions and values, plus “prices realized” from previously mentioned sales; I did not belong to any collecting group, other than the American Philatelic Society (APS), and my reference library consisted of “clippings” from Linn’s Stamp News. I found myself admitting to a fellow collector “I collect 3¢ imperforate U.S. stamps by color,” but had not read Chase and was not a member of the Classics Society. The collector, Gary Starkey, rather than laughing me off, sent me 200-300 imperforate 3¢ stamps for review and purchase at 25¢ each if I would join the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society (USPCS). I accepted Gary’s kind offer, and my membership has been financially and socially rewarding beyond expectation. I read, some years later, William Mooz’s article “Scissor Cutting of the 1875 Special Printing Issues” in the society’s Chronicle and recalled hinge-mounting an unused 1¢ Large Bank Note I acquired for $1 in a “Packet of Twenty 19th U.S. Stamps” in 1958. I found the stamp in my old Comprehensive album; stamp perforations appeared scissor-cut; and the reverse had a tiny mark – “Richter” – that I recognized as being of a German expertizer. I eventually sent the stamp to the Philatelic Foundation (PF) after equivocating over cost and identification and it responded: Scott No. 167 “genuine 1875 Special Printing”; philatelic study, knowledge, memory and a bit of serendipity can be profitable! Collectors Club Philatelist
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The preceding antecedents reflect my evolution from acquiring stamps to fill album spaces to buying material that will expand knowledge and possibly “net worth,” while study eases life’s tensions. I can lose myself for hours researching 3¢ U.S. 1851-57 stamps as to “color”; detecting plate marks – made easier now with USPCS’ computer program, Plating Wizard; and summarizing results in a few sentences. I find such activity to be intellectually and, sometimes, financially rewarding.
Interests and Research I currently research, study, acquire and document observations related to stamps, markings, persons and events associated with postal history artifacts from our Westward Expansion and the American Civil War; color varieties of select 19th-century U.S. and foreign stamps; forgery characteristics for select U.S. and foreign issues and probable perpetrators; postal history material related to Great Power Expansion in East Asia and Pacific regions; and color cancels and markings on cover, their history, creators and purpose – an area that complements my interest in “folk art” and “color in philately.” Each of these topics lend themselves to careful and substantive research if one is to place them in the historical perspective they rightly deserve, and one should not assume an auction description or reference “text” is complete, let alone free of error. A postal history cover should be open to more than “rate and route” description; for example, was the place of origin or destination unusual?; what event(s) possibly influenced transmission?; was the addressee of importance?; who might have sent the missive?; what might have been their relation?
March 26, 1789, “canoe mail” from Donald “Mad” McKay in Montreal to fellow clansmen, James McKay, at the British trading post, Grand Portage (later in Minnesota) that, as of the 1783 Treaty of Paris, was in the U.S. Northwest Territory; the British eventually evacuated the post. Donald McKay, a famous Canadian explorer, fur trader and public official, drew the first map of the lower Missouri River, and President Jefferson’s cartographers used the “McKay Map” to prepare Lewis and Clark for their “voyage of discovery.”
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Expenditures and Acquisitions The money I spend related to philately, has evolved as my circumstances changed; nevertheless, I always differentiated between discretionary money and acquisition as an “alternative to cash.” Years ago the amount was $25; today it’s considerably more, but I invariably seek items of significant historical interest, material likely to appreciate from increased future demand, items missed by other collectors for lack of knowledge and to diversify my philatelic holdings. I avoid attempting to acquire every item in a field of interest – “completeness” – because I assess doing so tends to “corner the market” and possibly destroy demand when material is limited and purchase is discretionary. One cent “blue” perforated stamps from the 1860 issue, on cover from plates 11 and 12 are easy to identify – dot in the oval at left – but are seldom encountered as they were only used for about eight months in 1861. Acquiring a very fine example of each type, preferably on cover demonstrating unusual use, appears to be preferable to acquiring every example encountered. ...,......~--~···-"-"·',e,..;~-
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Act of Jan. 2, 1857, effective Jan. 2, 1857 – June 30, 1863, set the circular rate at 2¢ for “two” sheets, and contemporaneous postmasters interpreted guidance as requiring an advertising “corner card” be counted as one circular, and the enclosure as a second one, thus, properly requiring 3¢. This cover, moreover, traveled to Tennessee as the Governor, Isham Harris, began military mobilization, submitted an ordinance of secession to the General Assembly and contacted Confederate officials regarding Tennessee joining the Confederacy.
I would also argue one need not spend substantial money to build an enjoyable and important philatelic holding, but one must spend time researching interests and searching for appropriate material. I spend two-three hours each day reviewing material offered on the internet for opportunistic purchases and, invariably, I create a “census” of select material before spending an “interesting” sum. Today the internet enables one to quickly review material for condition, price and period of sale. Collectors Club Philatelist
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Siegel, Rumsey and other auction firms freely provide substantial historic information related to supply, demand (price realized plus fees) and condition, as does the Philatelic Foundation and American Philatelic Society regarding condition and validity (genuine), via certificate databases. HIP Stamps, eBay and individual dealer websites are also important sources for current supply, demand and condition offers. Most specialized societies now enable online searches of their publications for specific information, and the USPCS hosts an electronic library of key references.
Condition and Overall Appeal: “Eye Candy” I consider stamps and covers to be postal history artifacts and I am but their temporary custodian. Consequently, I seek items in very fine condition that “tell a story.” I assess condition to be critical to the story, as much so as Fredrick Edwin Church’s “Icebergs” is to American history at the National Gallery of Art. Museum curators never exhibit ratty, dirty or damaged paintings. Consequently, why settle for poor quality in a philatelic holding or exhibit? Should an item be historically important or extremely rare, I would argue for cleaning, repair and appropriate conservation. The funds expended seem to me to be well spent when they preserve an item of history and, I would argue, proper restoration is likely to enhance monetary value. One need only examine Pony Express covers; many – if not most – have been cleaned if not “restored” to some extent.
Diversification I seek historic material that is unusual, expands the philatelic horizon and potentially appeals to several collecting interests. A postal history cover with
April 15, 1861, second rate period, Pony Express cover to St. Joseph, Mo., where it entered U.S. Mail, then east by railroad to New London. Russell, Majors and Waddell operated the Pony Express, April 3, 1860, to Oct. 24, 1861, to prove Salt Lake City was a viable route to California.
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March 21, 1889, 12¢ Treaty Rate from New York City to New South Wales (N.S.W.), via San Francisco and Oceanic steamship. The author recorded 16 covers to N.S.W., franked with Large Bank Note stamps, at the 12¢ rate or multiples thereof, but this one may be unique in some respects. The addressee apparently did not collect his letter, and Sydney post office officials “advertised” the letter but it remained unclaimed. Consequently, they returned it to the United States – Washington Dead Letter Office, Jan. 4, 1890, mark on reverse, where U.S. officials marked it (due) “24” for unpaid 12¢ postage “doubled,” per UPU regulation. The absence of postage due stamps on the cover also suggests postage due was not paid. Addressee George W. Hobard was vice president of American Deposit & Loan Co. in 1895, 120 Broadway, New York City, and probably was a financial associate of Hermann Oelrichs, a major businessman, multimillionaire and agent for Norddeutscher Lloyd Steamship Co.
multiple stories should appeal to several collector interests and thus increase in value due to greater demand, while it diversifies my philatelic holdings.
Conclusion I am blessed to have known – and owe much to – philatelists who mentored and helped me evolve from a “closet collector” to “student,” and I encourage readers to consider aiding collectors to expand horizons. Dick Winter brought me “abroad” to the local USPCS chapter in 1989; Jerry Wagshal fostered interest in plating; Dr. Amonette expanded my interest in color and invariably offered encouraging tidbits “where do you get such colors, do you mix your own ink”? Jeff Bonn honed my interest in transatlantic mail; Pat Walker offered key advice for mounting and describing material; Ed Siskin set the example for meticulous research; Ron Cipolla expanded my philatelic horizons and led me to important acquisitions; Cliff Alexander, Mike Plett and Labron Harris unhesitatingly critiqued my research summaries, while Steven Roth willingly shares his experience and opinion. I omit many others due to time and space, but all have enhanced my philatelic and social experience. Personal interests and circumstance dictate one’s path in philately, but they need not limit one’s experience – horizons are unlimited. Thank you for your interest. Collectors Club Philatelist
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Correspondences of the U.S. Independent Mails, 1844-45 David R. Wilcox, Ph.D. During a short 18-month period from 1844 through half of 1845, nine private U.S. independent mail companies produced 23 distinct stamp issues. A comprehensive survey of surviving covers carried by these private posts has been completed.1 Using earlier partial surveys of surviving covers, and also the excellent image records made available recently by search engines offered by auction houses and major expertizing organizations, 1,339 reported covers have been characterized. More than 90% of the covers are illustrated, and this means that the duplicate records that plagued previous survey attempts have been mostly eliminated. From the covers surveyed, 1,270 were reported genuine and 1,005 could be fully dated. The destination of most of these covers could be determined by the address. This article will explore the destinations of the genuine covers included in the survey, with appropriate tables following the article. Two major goals of this study were to try and identify fertile areas for further research and examine them for any obvious patterns of usage. These entrepreneurial companies carried the nation’s mail independent of the U.S. government (which would not issue its own adhesives until 1847). The companies were called the Independent mails, and they were faster, relatively dependable and much less expensive than the U.S. government’s postal service. Again, the adhesives created by these companies came at a time several years before the prepaid postage stamp first appeared in America. The Independent mails still offered mail handling of stampless covers, but they introduced the postage stamp to America, with all of its advantages and potential. The genesis was only four years after Great Britain’s Penny Black appeared, and just two years after the City Despatch Post had experimented with the idea in New York City. The nine companies offered discounts on stamps bought in quantity (generally “20 for a dollar”). The postage was only about 6¢, even without the discount, but the discount added to the attractiveness of this inexpensive alternative to the government system. These private companies became a serious threat to the government’s mail system. Postmaster General Charles A Wickliffe (under President John Tyler) wrote about the impact on government revenues, and Congress finally passed the Act of March 3rd 1845. But while Congress stalled, and prior to this March Act, the independent mails flourished. The new nation’s government was forced to legislate a stop to these posts and forced their demise by June 30, 1845. After that date, it became illegal to carry mail on the postroads, but the government also 340
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had to legislate lower rates. The American entrepreneurial spirit had forced longoverdue changes. Today, the covers that have survived are a mere fraction of the original number mailed. However, those that have survived (perhaps as few as 3%-5%) give us insights into this interesting early history of adhesive stamps and the mails. The companies were privately owned and left no records, unlike those found for the government issues. There were newspaper accounts, but these reports were brief – often advertisements – and sometimes biased and unreliable. The company accounting ledgers would have revealed many of the day-to-day functions of these posts, but not a single ledger has been found. Therefore, any information gleaned from the surviving covers becomes our main source of information.
The Summary Tables In this study, covers reported but without a destination indicated – and covers with no image to determine the destination – were eliminated. Conjunctive-use covers, and multiple-franked covers, were considered single covers. In the data collected LlE TilMlllRlE CLASS[QUE on New York City street destinations, covers OBfiEVA PARlS lacking a street designation, of course, were not always counted. However, information At the heart of gathered by searching city directories or other the French covers in the same correspondence was used Philatelic Market… where it seemed accurate. This pared down the survey to 1,187 covers. These were then sorted by addressees, and the clusters of four or more covers were submitted for analysis. ♦
The cutoff point of four to a cluster was somewhat arbitrary, but there seemed to be a fuzzy dividing line there, and this isolated a more manageable study group. This garnered 509 cover addresses to study. They were sorted into 54 different correspondence runs of four covers or more. Of these, 32 were from New York City and the rest from cities all across the upper states, from Detroit, Mich., to Boston, Mass. One major goal was to try to identify fertile areas for further study. However, regional patterns of usage were also possible. Therefore, the 54 correspondences were looked at by the broad comparison of cities east and west of New York City and also inside the city. NYC street addressee results are broken into three Collectors Club Philatelist
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groups (all groups are in Manhattan, since there were no Brooklyn or Staten Island communications of four or more per recipient). The data for all cities in the study has been tabulated in five tables: Table 1, cities west of New York City. Table 2, cities east of New York City. Table 3, New York City South and Front Streets. Table 4, New York City streets running roughly north and south, such as Broadway (except South and Front Streets). Table 5, New York City streets running roughly east and west, such as Wall Street. The cities with the most covers in the study were New York City, with 48%; Philadelphia, with 12%; and Boston, with 11%. As one might expect, the number of clusters with four or more covers to one address followed this same pattern. The information on the NYC clusters in many cases included a street address, so NYC correspondences could also be compared by their street locations. South and Front Streets had the largest numbers of clusters within that city. The decision to separate the data from New York City by the orientation of the street was purely arbitrary and mostly for convenience, since there were so many clusters. However, South and Front Streets were separated from the other northsouth streets due to the number of clusters found there. Also, there was some preliminary expectation of a pattern – in this case only– since these streets had the best access to the waterfront. The independent mails serviced many more cities and streets than reported here, but these are the franked covers that survived and are reported and also met the four-cover minimum. There may be some unavoidable bias here in that the destination of only the four-cover clusters of franked covers is the main focus. Stampless covers have never been surveyed. Also, the full survey was completely dependent on surviving covers, which are, as mentioned, only a small percentage of the original population of both franked and stampless covers. It is hoped, however, the results reflect a larger picture of mail activity 175 years ago. Each table entry contains the following: 1. The name of the addressee on the covers, including additional detail found in city directories. 2. The addressee’s occupation or related information (generally from city directories). 3. The span of the cover dates within each correspondence when written (this should be treated with care, however, as some covers are without dates, and in some cases, the span may be larger). 4. The primary independent mail company(s) delivering the covers to each addressee is followed by other companies that were involved occasionally. 342
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5. The primary originating city(s) for the covers delivered to this addressee is followed by other cities involved occasionally (again some caution here, since the origin of some covers was not known).
Initial Observations and Thoughts A detailed study of all known independent mail correspondence has never been carried out, because the larger study presented in “The Guide”1 is new. Now we have some statistical insights that were – in the past – mostly anecdotal. In addition, the clusters suggest cover groups worthy of a more detailed study. The difficulty, however, as is the case with many postal history studies, is many older covers and folded letters lack their contents. Fortunately, many of these covers are actually folded lettersheets with some information that can still be studied. The content of older letters and invoices is often not published, but a researcher with access to a large number of these covers and letter sheets might find a careful analysis rewarding. One can speculate why some correspondence was kept by their addressees. Love letters are an obvious example. However, the Independent mails apparently survived more on the daily correspondence between people of commerce. Two large groups stand out: merchants and the financial advisors. Both groups had reasons to retain client communications for future sales or interactions. A letter is a relatively small keepsake and is easily filed for later reference. Any business information can, of course, be simply transferred to a company ledger and, no doubt, this was done often. But ledgers are larger than a bundle of letters, and though the information was invaluable to an active company, it had little value when merchants or financial advisors ended their careers. Many ledgers and client lists were likely discarded. Some ledgers have survived, of course, but it would be a daunting task to locate and study them all. Also, as previously mentioned, no independent mail company ledgers have been found, so there are no detailed records of the companies that actually delivered the covers. However, many covers with some content have survived. Much of this is due to collectors being interested more in the cover and its stamp than its content. Postal covers have their own attraction; they can be collected as a hobby. Those with an attractive postal adhesive attached were generally kept simply due to their allure. Stampless covers also have their own admirers. The survival of a cluster of letters depended on pure circumstance and luck, but the preservation after the discovery is many times because of the excitement of the collector. This is why a philatelic cover survey may contain information not easily obtained elsewhere. This survey of covers is critical to our understanding, because so little information has survived about the companies. Therefore, the conclusions drawn from this study may arise with considerable bias. Many times, pure circumstance Collectors Club Philatelist
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led to the survival of the more than the 1,000 that were studied here. This cover study, therefore, is not a comprehensive or balanced sampling, and it never will be. New discoveries are made often, but the vast majority of covers that were carried are now lost forever. Nonetheless, the study has been revealing. In general, a sender used the prominent independent mail carrier in his or her area. Cities in New England received more mail from Hale & Co., Philadelphia received more from American Letter Mail Co. and upstate New York and Detroit received more from Letter Express and Pomeroy Express. However, many correspondences also used other independent mail carriers on occasion and, in some examples, a correspondence shifted to a new company when the original went out of business (for example, Pomeroy and Wyman).
West of NYC (see Table 1 for detail) Four major cities west of New York City had four-cover-plus clusters of addressee mail (map Figure 1a). The largest cluster from one addressee from all 54 studied is the Sidney Shepard & Co. stash of 40 recorded letters in Buffalo (Figure 1b, see example in Figure 1c). His store specialized in hardware, stoves and Japan ware (pottery) on 66 Main Street (Polk’s Buffalo City Directory, 1848-49). The covers mostly originated from Cleveland and Detroit, but also four other cities. Letter Express carried most, but Pomeroy also left its mark. In Detroit, a small cluster was addressed to Richard H. Hall. He was a wholesale and retail grocer on 85 Woodward Avenue (Figure 1d, Polk’s Detroit City Directory, 1850). Although the Hall correspondence is a small cluster of just four covers, it is interesting because the first cover was sent by the sender from New York City using a single Pomeroy Scott 117L6 lake stamp. Almost all Pomeroy 117L6 lake stamps were used from New York City. This cover was marked “ColRocfi'ester
MICHIGAN
Saratoga Spr8'gs
Syr~ 0
NEW YORK
Albany 0
lake Erie
Scranton 0
PENNSYLVANIA OHIO
Figure 1a. Map of correspondences of four or more, located west of New York City.
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Figure 1b. Buffalo harbor, Great Flood of October 1844 (archival print).
lect 6” and was sent in mid-August of 1844 (Figure 1e). Pomeroy would have taken the cover as far as Buffalo, franked with just the one stamp, but to continue on to Detroit required
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Figure 1c. Scott 96L3 black on pink, horizontal pair, Aug. 29, 1844, Shepard, Detroit to Buffalo. The Shepard correspondence discovery included 40 covers. Although issued black on pink, the stamps seldom retained the intensity of the original pink coloring, as seen here. Figure 1d. Detroit, Mich., Woodward Avenue (Barber 1865, archival print).
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the extra 6¢ that Hall likely had to pay when it arrived in Detroit. This, however, is not why the cluster is interesting. What makes it interesting are the three covers that followed and were sent to Hall by the same sender in October. The handwriting of the sender is a bold scrawl and can be easily identified.
Figure 1e (above). Aug. 14, 1844, Hall correspondence, New York City to Detroit. An early cover to Hall using a single Pomeroy Scott 117L6 pen canceled and tied to the cover. Figure 1f (below). Oct. 19, 1844, NYC Hall cover to Detroit. A later cover to Hall by the same sender, using a horizontal pair of Overton 113L1. The “FREE” was believed to have represented stamps on the sheet that the buyer received “FREE” when purchased in quantity (an entire sheet). It is not known why “FREE” is crossed off on this cover.
The NYC sender had apparently learned from the earlier letter that two stamps were needed, so all three of the sender’s letters to Hall in October were j now double-franked (see example Figure 1f). What is interesting is the sender /?J.u-~ 4v changed in October t?cT. /8, /e-1'1' from Pomeroy’s /YliW Yol(I( . Express to Overton & Co. In fact, these three double-franked Overton covers are the only surviving Overton covers with a multiple franking. All other known Overton covers are single franked, and all but one are after the first week of September; most are from October onward (of 22 dated covers in the survey). Then Overton continued to carry covers up until the end
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Figure 1g. Oct. 10, 1844, Wetmore, Scott 117L1 and 117L2, New York City to Detroit. Pomeroy stamps were still honored by Wells in October. There are only three known examples (one on piece) of Scott 117L1 used in combination with a 117L2 (value missing).
of June, when all independent mails ceased operation. Most Overton covers are between New York City and Boston and are single franked. Overton had an office in New York City and would even deliver locally. The question is, “Why did the sender switch to Overton when he had used Pomeroy initially?” The next three covers to Hall from this same NYC sender were all in October 1844 (Oct. 3, Oct. 11 and Oct. 19, each about a week apart). The sender probably bought the Overton stamps in the Overton New York City office to send his letters to Hall in Detroit. The apparent explanation for why he changed to Overton would be that the Pomeroy office in New York City had likely closed. Pomeroy had announced in early August that he was going out of business. (Wells) Letter Express advertised it would carry Pomeroy mail after his closing,
Figure 1h. Albany waterfront, 1844 (archival print).
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Figure 1i. Philadelphia daguerreotype of Girard Bank, N.E. corner of Dock and Third, May 1844.
and the black on yellow is found on covers into mid-October. In fact, there is a letter to Wetmore in Detroit dated Oct. 10, 1844, and, like the Hall covers, it originated in New York City (Figure 1g). The Wetmore cover is franked with two of Pomeroy’s black-onyellow stamps. So, the sender to Hall using Overton stamps could have sent his October covers double-franked with Pomeroy stamps just as the Wetmore cover of Oct. 10 was sent. The simplest explanation is that Wells honored Pomeroy’s mail only if it was franked with stamps that customers of Pomeroy had purchased earlier, before Pomeroy’s office closed. This makes sense, since Wells had his own Letter Express stamps to sell if someone needed new stamps. These covers support that Wells apparently only honored outstanding Pomeroy stamps purchased earlier by previous Pomeroy clients. It seems likely from this example that Wells never actually sold Pomeroy stamps. From the larger survey, it was discovered that, in general, the single-color Pomeroy issues ended before the Pomeroy offices closed.3 This suggested that perhaps the single-color stamps were sold only when the Pomeroy offices were open and possibly not sold to the public to take home. So, when Wells offered to honor the black-on-yellow Pomeroy stamps on covers carried after Pomeroy’s closing, the single-color issues stopped appearing.
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My running hypothesis is that Pomeroy clients still had some of the blackon-yellow stamps, but had none of the single-colored issues. Again, one might reason that these were not sold to customers directly to take home, or they would have had a supply to use for Wells. This is a hypothesis that deserves more research, and the Hall correspondence seems to support the idea. The interest in the details of this interaction between Wells and Pomeroy arises because no one has yet determined why Pomeroy used single-colored issues (blue, black, red or lake on white paper). Determining why the single-color stamps suddenly stopped when Pomeroy’s offices closed might hold the secret to their function. Clusters in Albany (Figure 1h) included comptroller Azariah C. Flagg (eight covers) at 123 Washington Street, John Townsend’s “iron store” (five covers) at 64 State Street, and William W. VanZandt, a chief bank clerk and auditor (all from Hoffman’s Directory, 1845-46 and from the covers of VanZandt). Note, however, that John Townsend’s five covers were all simply addressed “John Townsend Esq, Albany NY.” There are other John Townsends in the directory, including the president of two Albany banks, a druggist and a physician, so the true Townsend addressee remains unclear. Philadelphia (Figure 1i) had a large cover discovery in the Frederick Porter find of 16 covers. Porter was the secretary of the American Sunday School Union (ASSU) on 146 Chestnut Street. There are also four surviving covers to James Meeks on Nassau Street in NYC, an agent for the same ASSU as Porter. This might make a nice study (see NYC north-south streets for the Meeks’ covers). Another large Philadelphia find included 14 covers addressed to Cornelius & Co., with a retail store on 176 Chestnut Street, and manufacturing of lamps and chandeliers at 4 Franklin Street. In fact, these lamps are well-known collectibles today. Also in Philadelphia was a cluster of 11 covers to Charnley & Whelen at 9 South 3rd, and seven covers to Steinmetz and Justice at 5th and Commerce (McElroy’s Philadelphia Directory, 1845). These last two were a pair of stock and exchange brokers, and a hardware supplier. A study of the Philadelphia clusters might give good insight into both commerce and investment in the Philadelphia community at that time. Of course, the contents will also have to have survived for a complete history, but there are likely also newspaper reports on the companies. There are also five covers addressed to David Sands Brown at 38 South Front Street, and he may have had some ties to the American Letter Mail Co. with offices apparently in Philadelphia.3 Also a small cluster of four covers each were found for S.C. Brace (at the “Office of the North American”) and Curtis and Hand, a hardware store at 41 Commerce. The North American was a daily paper founded in 1839 (with roots to 1771) that changed hands several times. Brace was one of its founders. Collectors Club Philatelist
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East OF NYC (see Table 2 for details) Merchants were common addressees in cities west of New York City, and the pattern continued with the six clusters studied east of New York City (map Figure 2a). There is a good-size cluster addressed to Sileston and Hollingsworth, care of Peter C. Jones Figure 2a. Map showing locations east of New York City. in Boston (15 covers). All were involved in “paper” stores at 116 State and 14 Water, Boston (example Figure 2b). Almost all of these covers originated in Philadelphia and were carried by ALM ~v&/1/Vl.: 1,/t7i ~;.J.7t,,tA,.., (American Letter Mail Co). ,9~/4-~~
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for Boston (Figure ..·!,; ~ 2c of the Boston Figure 2b. ALM Scott 5L2, on March 22, 1845, cover from Sileston & Hollingsworth, railyards): Silas Philadelphia, to Boston. The “Am Mail Co” cancel is unique. Note the two ALM handPeirce a wholesale stamps, one from Boston and one from Philadelphia, are different although they were from the same company.
Figure 2c. Boston & Providence and Boston & Worcester RR crossing in the Back Bay 1844 (archival print).
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Figure 2d. Hartford Flood & Rockwell Store Fire 1862 (archival print).
dealer on 22 Elm (10 covers and sometimes spelled Pierce); G.W. Simmons, an apparel company at 34 Ann (five covers, and a Google search suggests it is now an empty lot); and Chas and Nate Thayer, commission merchants at 32 India (five covers, with a couple from New Bedford and a couple from Nantucket, from Stimson’s Boston Directory, 1845). These last three were almost all carried by Hale & Co. Taken all together, they might make an interesting study of the Boston environment of 1844 and 1845.
Figure 2e. Newburyport waterfront, 1845 (archival print).
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Figure 2f. New London, 1813 (archival print).
In Hartford, Conn.; New London, Conn.; Newburyport Mass. (Figures 2d, 2e and 2f); and Providence, R.I., only one correspondence cluster is known for each city: Ripley & Co’s iron store at 98 Front St., Hartford (five covers, Geers Hartford City Directory, 1847); P.C. Turner, a cashier in New London (seven covers); and Seth Padelford & Co., merchants in Providence (four covers). A detailed etching of Providence’s Market Square in 1844 when the independent mails were active is seen in Figure 2g. Eben Hale in Newburyport could not be located and may be one of the few individual communications (four covers in care of Lucy).
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Figure 2g. Providence, R.I., Market Square, 1844 (archival print).
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Figure 2h. Springfield (Cabotville), 1844 (archival print).
In 1844, Springfield, Mass., was called Cabotville (Figure 2h). Today it is at the heart of the city proper and is now called Chicopee Center. It was developed earlier in the 1830s and 1840s “as an area where mid-level employees of Chicopee’s mills and factories lived, between the simpler tenements and boarding houses of the lower classes, and the elite mansions of the proprietors and top-level managers” (Wikipedia). Two cover clusters were in Springfield: G & C Merriam booksellers (eight covers) and William A Davis, a doctor (six covers). G & C (George & Charles) Merriam was established in 1837, and the company is known for publishing and revising Noah Webster’s American Dictionary beginning in 1847. The firm bought the rights to the volume when Webster died in 1843 (shortly before these letters were sent). It exists today as Merriam-Webster booksellers. Hale & Co. carried most of the Independent mail covers in this correspondence, but Brainard & Co. carried three (example Figure 2i).
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Figure 2i. Brainard, Scott 24L2, Feb. 8, 1845, Merriam, Troy ,N.Y., to Springfield, Mass. One of only 19 known 24L2 blue Brainard covers.
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East-West Streets
North-South Streets
(List top is to the north)
(List top is to the west)
Spruce (1)
Washington (1)
Fulton (1)
Broadway (1)
John (1)
Nassau (2)
Fletcher (1)
Broad (2)
Maiden L (2)
William (1)
Pine (2)
Water (1)
Wall (3)
Front (7)
Exchange (1)
South (5)
(toward Battery Park)
(toward the shore)
Figure 3a. New York City streets, Bird’s Eye View of New York, Manhattan 1865 (John Bachmann from Kimmell & Foster). Letter clusters found are separated by streets and shown in parentheses.
New York City South and Front Streets (see Table 3 for details) Figure 3a shows the streets of New York City with small clusters of correspondence discussed following. With so many clusters located on NYC streets, the addressees were arbitrarily divided into north-south and east-west streets. All the streets with independent mail clusters for this study were addressed east of Broadway, the wide thoroughfare down the center of the city (Figure 3b). South and Front Streets are separated out from the other north-south streets and are discussed first.
Figure 3b. Union Square, looking south down Broadway (archival print).
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Figure 3c. Scott 75L5, no date, Howland & Aspinwall, Boston to New York City. This was part of a 23-cover cluster carried by Hale, ALM, Brainard and Pomeroy. Here the Hale stamps are cut to shape, not an uncommon practice.
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Figure 3d (below). Dec. 7, 1844, Heckscher, Richmond, Va., to Lennox, Mass., pelure paper. It represents the largestknown multiple of Hale Scott 75L1 on cover.
In New York City, one striking discovery is seen with the five addressee cover clusters on South Street on the city’s east side. All five were merchants. This is not a complete surprise with their direct access to the waterfront. Large cover clusters for Howland & Aspinwall at 54 & 55 South (23 covers), Buck and Peters at 29 South (23 covers) and Chastelain and Ponvert at 36 South (11 covers) are known to be addressed to South Street. Also, there are six more to Nesmith & Walsch at 27 South and seven to Charles Heckscher at 44 South (Doggett’s New York City Directory, 1845). Howland & Aspinwall (cover example shown in Figure 3c) was founded “in 1826 as G.G. & S. Howland by Gardiner Green and Samuel Shaw Howland (Mayflower descendants). In 1832 William H. Aspinwall (a brother-in-law) joined the firm and it became Howland & Aspinwall between 1836-1837. The Howlands retired in the 1850s, but the company continued through 1895 in name only” (see Kenneth Blume’s book, Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Maritime Industry). Collectors Club Philatelist
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Figure 3e. View of South Street, from Maiden Lane, New York City, 1834 (William James Bennett, The Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Doggett’s New York City Directory indicates Charles Heckscher was a consul to Mecklenburg at 44 South Street (cover example shown in Figure 3d). Mecklenburg is just east of Hamburg, Germany. “Charles August Heckscher (born 1806 in Paris, France; died October 30, 1866 in New York City, N.Y.) hailed from an influential, well-to-do, and sophisticated Jewish family of merchant-bankers in Altona (part of Denmark until 1864) and the nearby, independent city-state of Hamburg. In 1829, he emigrated from Hamburg to the United States to become a successful merchant and entrepreneur. He acquired wealth by opening a trading house in New York City and later used his personal capital to invest in anthracite coal mining and transportation operations in eastern Pennsylvania. By the time of his death shortly after the end of the Civil War, he
Figure 3f. No date, Woodruff, unknown to New York City. Here a “Cluster of Stars” fancy cancel ties the Scott 5L1 to its cover.
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was one of the leading colliery (coal) operators in the nation” (www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org). Heckscher was, therefore, both a liaison and coal merchant. It is also noteworthy that nearly all the cluster letters arriving at South Street, and many at Front Street, were sent from Boston. Given the location on the waterfront, this likely reflects the continual use of sailing ships and steamboats between Boston and New York City. The South Street Seaport Museum lists 1844 as “the beginning of the Clipper Ship era.” The docks were no doubt bustling with goods entering and leaving the city (Figure 3e), and the merchants were right there ready to be of service. It would not be a surprise if many of these incoming letters were invoices or requests for goods. There is a wealth of information waiting from letters to Front Street. This parallel street is just one street inland from South, and here there is a large cluster of covers to merchant Elijah P. Woodruff (he received 21 covers and was at 44 Front and 14 Coenties Slip, which is just off Front Street). Also noteworthy were merchants Dater, Miller & Co. (Philip Dater, 15 covers, grocers at 161 Front), merchant Hiram N. Peck & Co (15 covers at 130 Front) and merchant E.D. Morgan (12 covers at 68 Front). Three more Front Street merchants are listed in Table 3: commission merchant R.M. & Benjamin G. Ropes, care of Frenham & Co. (six covers at 101 Front), iron merchants Egleston & Battell (four covers at 257 Front and 166 South) and merchant Willet C. Ward (four covers at 105 Front). Note that all seven of these active users of the independent mails were merchants. Elijah Woodruff (Figure 3f) apparently had passed away by the time the 1845 New York City Directory was published, since his widow Margaret is listed in the same directory. Albert Woodruff is also listed at that Front St. and Coenties Slip address, and the company was now named E.P. & A. Woodruff. Egleston and Battell is listed in the city directory as having entrances on both Front and South Streets. One cover is specifically addressed to Front Street, but another has the South Street address added, apparently by a postal clerk, for delivery. The main entrance, therefore, is unknown, but for this study it is taken to be on Front Street. In summary, this means numbers 27, 29, 36, 44 and 54 South Street (numbered south to north) along the city’s waterfront were being served by the independent mails. In fact, there are three other merchant addressees (any size correspondence) serviced in 1844 and 1845 by the independent mails within that area also. This brings at least eight businesses receiving mail between Broad Steet and Wall Steet located along South Street. This is only a short four-block portion of one of New York City’s main thoroughfares. Manhattan received 303 covers of the 509 in this limited study of independent mail correspondence clusters (60%). The five major South Street correspondences alone received 70 covers (23.1%). If we then include Front Street, which is the next street inland, there are 12 businesses with four or more Collectors Club Philatelist
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Figure 3g. Nearly a third of the covers across America studied in this analysis arrived at a small, four-block section of lower NYC’s east side, bordering the East River (half of all independent mail covers that were entering Manhattan). All covers were received by merchants that had easy access to the waterfront. Many arrived by ship from Boston. (Manhattan 1865, John Bachmann from Kimmell & Foster).
correspondences receiving 48.5 % (147/303) of the recorded independent mail entering Manhattan. This is almost one-half of the four-cluster covers surveyed that entered New York City (Figure 3g). This is also nearly a third of all covers surveyed in this study (147/509) that the independent mails serviced all across America’s New England and Mid-Atlantic States – all funneled into these four blocks on New York City’s east side. It is likely these orders led to a significant volume of the goods exchanged in America during 1844 and 1845.
NYC East and West Streets (see Tables 4 and 5 for details) More clusters appear further inland. For example, on Broad Street are the commission (consignment) merchants Dwight Johnson (16 covers at 104 Broad, Figure 4a) and Clark & Coleman (15 covers addressed to 125 Broad, although the 1845 directory lists them at 18 South suggesting the company moved, Figure 4b). The Johnson correspondence revealed a great deal about the Letter Express adhesives, and the Clark & Coleman correspondence was almost entirely carried by the Hartford Mail Route post. Lyons wrote on the Johnson cluster focusing only on the covers carried by the Letter Express into New York City.4 Pomeroy and Hale were also involved. There is likely a great deal yet to learn if only the contents could also be located. Both of these Broad Street companies may provide fertile areas for future study. Other addressees studied, moving inland on generally north-south streets, are copper suppliers Hendricks & Bros (Henry, Montague and Uriah Hen358
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Figure 4a. Letter Express Scott 96L4 in conjunctive use with Pomeroy’s Scott 117L1, Oct. 5, 1844, Johnson correspondence, Monroe, Mich., to New York City.
dricks, six covers at 93 Water), importers J. & J. Stuart & Co. (James & Joseph Stuart, six covers at 52 William), a lawyer and a Bible society agent Joseph Hyde (five covers at 115 Nassau), an agent of the American Sunday School Union James C. Meeks (of which Frederick Porter in Philadelphia was secretary, four covers at 152 Nassau), a doctor Benjamin Brandreth (at three addresses, seven covers) and a commission merchant Eli Hart & Co. (six covers at 175 Washington). Benjamin Brandreth, M.D., was apparently a supplier of pills. He gave addresses in the directory as 241 Broadway, 274 Bowery and 289½ Hudson. Therefore, he had “stores” across Manhattan, but was also receiving letters from distant cities such as Baltimore, Albany and even Watertown, N.Y., which is in northern New York, near the St. Lawrence Seaway. It is not known if he was supplying pills to these distant cities or these were personal communications, but this might be an interesting question to research.
Figure 4b. Hale & Co. Scott 75L5, used conjunctively with Pomeroy’s Scott 117L1, Aug. 22, 1844, Clark & Coleman correspondence, Hartford, Conn., to New York City. There is an “H” cancel on the Hale stamp. The “Southern” cancel on the Hartford stamp is a precancel.
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Table 5 illustrates more NYC addressees, generally running east-west. Two major correspondences were to Wall Street stockbrokers Hopkins & Weston (Edward M. Hopkins and Edward Weston, 26 covers at 54 Mercantile Exchange, which became Exchange Place just south of Wall Street, cover example Figure 5a), and broker George S. Robbins (14 covers at 52 Wall, cover example Figure 5b). The extensive communication between Daniel M. Robinson (Philadelphia) and Hopkins & Weston (NYC Wall Street, Figure 5c) has been studied for both the common black ALM (American Letter Mail Co.) issue Scott 5L25 and the uncommon blue ALM issue Scott 5L3.6 W. Wyman’s post carried several letters to George Robbins, apparently many from the same sender, with stamps all from a single sheet. This communication to Robbins lead to a proposed format for the Wyman printing plate.7 The Robinson to Hopkins & Weston correspondence between stockbrokers was carried exclusively by ALM from Philadelphia to New York City and lasted several months. There were likely several responses from Hopkins & Weston back to Robinson, but these, sadly, seem not to have survived. The known letter content
/ Figure 5b (above). ALM blue, Scott 5L3, June 7, 1845, Hopkins & Weston correspondence, Philadelphia to New York City. “DB” canceled and tied by a faint “PAID.” A number of Scott 5L3 appear on cover in the final months before ALM went out of business. Figure 5b. Wyman’s Scott 149L1, Dec. 31, 1844, Robbins, Boston to New York City. This cover was apparently carried by Overton, who bought out Wyman.
360
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Figure 5c. Wall Street, looking from Broad Street, 1846 (archival print).
discussed stock purchases and the market in general. It shows the invaluable information that these financial partners shared through the independent mails about the markets in their distant cities (the telegraph was still in its infancy). Postal patrons could buy single stamps or full sheets. Robinson was an example of a client who apparently benefited from purchasing full sheets, because he wrote to Hopkins and Weston nearly every week about the markets in Philadelphia. The plating of the black 5L2 ALM stamps on the Robinson covers suggest he used two sheets of these ALM stamps. Based on the stamp plating and the dates on the covers, the stamps appear to have been removed from the sheets sequentially from top to bottom and then on to the second sheet. This may seem a trivial discovery, but it reflects how little we know about the public’s response to this new invention we now call a postage stamp (some called them “labels” then). A third cluster of cover correspondences on Wall Street went to a cashier, Ogden, Esq. (eight covers). Naturally, a large city such as New York City had many banks. Doggett’s 1845 City Directory lists 14 different banks on Wall Street alone. Nicholas G. Ogden is listed as cashier at the Phenix Bank at 45 Wall Street, and this matches the cover addresses. A fourth cluster of Wall Street covers went to bankers Prime, Ward and King (Edward Prime, John Ward and A. Gracie King, four covers at 54 Wall).
Collectors Club Philatelist
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TABLE 1: WEST OF NYC (12 correspondences 4+)
II (addressee 4+)
Location
Addressee (covers)
Occupation
Dates (dated covers only)
Carrier(s)
Origins(s) (if known) II
ALBANY (3)
Flagg, Azariah C. (8)
NYS Comptroller
JUL to AUG '44
all Pomeroy
Buffalo NY, Dunkirk NY, NYC, Rome NY
Townsend, John (5)
iron store (or Bank Pres. possible)
JUL to DEC '44
Pomeroy & ALM
NYC, PHIL, Rochester NY, Syracuse NY
Vanzandt, William W. (5)
chief bank clerk, auditor
JUL '44
almost all Pomeroy (+ Hale)
all NYC
BUFFALO (1)
DETROIT (1)
PHILADELPHIA (7)
Shepard, Sidney & hardware, stove & Co. (40) Japan ware
JUN to NOV '44
almost all Letter Express (+ Pom)
most Detroit MI & NYC (+ Bellville, Fairport, Painsville OH & Milwaukee WI)
retail & wholesale grocer
AUG to OCT '44
Overton & Pomeroy
all NYC
Porter, Frederick Secretary American MAR to NOV '44 (16) Sunday Sch Union
almost all ALM (+ Hale & Pomeroy)
BOS, New Bedford, Northampton, Racine WI
manufacturer of JUN '44 to MAR '45 lamps
ALM, Brainard, Hale, Pomeroy
almost all Albany (+ BOS, NYC, Providence RI)
Hale & ALM
almost all NYC (+ Portland NH)
Hall, R H (4)
Cornelius & Co (14)
Charnley & Whelen stock & exchange JUN '44 to APR '45 (11) brokers
almost all ALM (+ Steinmetz & Justice hardware supplier MAR '44 to APR '45 Hale) (7) Brown, David Sands, Co (5)
manufacturer & sale of linens
Brace, S.C. (4)
Office of the North NOV '44 to FEB '45 American
Curtis & Hand (4)
hardware supplier
FEB '44 to MAY '45
SEPT to DEC '44
NYC & BOS
ALM & Hale
Providence RI & BOS
all Hartford Mail
all Newington CT
all Hale
PROV RI (+ New London CT)
Other correspondences to the heart of the city included not only the financial concerns of New York City’s Financial District, but also on east-west streets heading northward in order were lithographer Nathaniel Currier (later of Currier and Ives fame, four covers at 2 Spruce), merchants Abraham Bell & Sons (nine covers at 117 Fulton) and a commission drug merchant Seth Low & Co. (six covers at 8 Fletcher). This is not the Seth Low that became mayor of New York City, but the grandfather the mayor was named after. This Seth Low was described in an 1833 letter sent to Seth Low & Co. and (sold by Abe Books on the internet), as “the eponymous merchant who created an international trading business through the ports of New York, 362
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TABLE 2: EAST OF NYC (10 correspondences 4+) Location
II (addressee 4+) BOSTON (4)
Addressee (covers)
Occupation
Dates (dated covers only)
Carrier(s)
Origins(s) (if known)
Sileston & Hollingsworth (15) care of Peter C Jones
paper store
FEB '44 to APR '45
almost all ALM (+ Hale)
most Philadelphia PA (+ NYC)
Pierce, Silas, & Co wholesale goods (10)
JUL to DEC '44
Bangor ME, almost all Hale (+ Northampton MA, ALM & Pomeroy) NYC, Philadelphia PA, Worcester MA
Simmons, G W (5)
clothing
AUG '44 to FEB '45
all Hale
New Bedford MA, Northampton MA, Portland ME, Worcester MA
Thayer, Chas & Nath (4)
commission merchants
Nov '44 to Jan '45
all Hale
New Bedford MA, Nantucket MA
HARTFORD (1)
Ripley & Co (5) Edwin & Phillip
iron store
AUG to DEC '44
Hale & ALM
BOS, Conway MA, NYC
NEWBURYPORT (1)
Hale, Eben Esq (4) to Lucy
Ͳ
SEPT '44 to APR '45
all Hale
all BOS
cashier
OCT to DEC '44
Hale & ALM
almost all Norwalk CT (+ BOS)
merchants
AUG to NOV '44
all Hale
NYC (+ Warren RI)
NEW LONDON (1) Turner, P C, Esq (7)
PROVIDENCE (1)
SPRINGFIELD (2)
Padelford, Seth, & Co (4)
Merriam, G & C (8)
booksellers
NOV '44 to MAR '45
Hale & Brainard
New Bedford, Pittsfield MA, Troy NY, Westfield MA, Worchester MA
Davis, William A., MD (6)
doctor
OCT to DEC '44
almost all Hale (+ ALM)
Springfield & BOS
Salem, London and Canton.” This Seth Low was a “civic force in Brooklyn, and the father of Harriet Low one of the first American women to live in China.” This 1833 letter sent to this Seth Low by Jacob Hulle & Co. in London quotes prices on “vanilla, oleum, cacao, quicksilver, semen (probably bull semen), cassis, indigo, opium, ‘gum Senegal’ and camphor.” The letters to Seth Low & Co. in this study carried by the independent mails probably had some similarities, although sent a decade later. Two more clusters were found on Maiden Lane and two on Pine Street: importers John Hyde & Co. (John E Hyde’s Sons, six covers at 11 Maiden Lane), a broker Joseph Goddard (five covers at 91 Maiden Lane), commission merchants Garner & Co. (Thomas Garner, seven covers at 33 Pine) and importers Renauld & Francois, Peter A.H. Renauld and Emanuel Francois (Four covers were addressed to 30 Pine in July 1844, but listed in Doggett’s 1845 directory as 18 Broad, so the company likely had moved from Pine.) Collectors Club Philatelist
Volume 102, Number 6
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TABLE 3: NYC South and Front St (12 correspondences 4+) NYC Street (addressee 4+)
Addressee (covers)
Occupation
Dates (dated covers only)
Carrier(s)
Origins(s) (if known)
NYC South Street (5)
Howland & Aspinwall (23)
merchants
JANͲFEB '45
most Hale (+ ALM, Brainard, Pomeroy)
all BOS
Buck & Peters (23)
commission merchants
APR '44 to JUN '45
ALM & Hale
most BOS (+ Bangor Me, Frankfort ME, Philadelphia PA
Chastelain & Ponvert (11)
commission merchants
FEB '44 to JAN '45
most Hale (+ ALM)
most BOS (+ Baltimore MD)
Heckscher, Charles August (7)
consul., coal merchant
MAR '44 to APR '45
all Hale
most BOS (+ Richmond VA)
Nesmith & Walsh (6)
commission merchant
SEP to DEC '44
most Hale (+ Overton)
BOS, Hartford CT, Philadelphia PA, Salem MA
Woodruff, Elijah P & A (21)
merchants on Coenties Slip
FEB '44 to MAR '45
Hale & ALM
almost all BOS (+ Marblehead MA)
NYC Front Street (7)
Dater Miller (15)
merchants, grocers
JUL to OCT '44
almost all Pomeroy (+ Letter Express & Hartford Mail)
Buffalo NY, Cleveland OH, Detroit MI, Rochester NY, Lockport NY, Middlebury CT,
Peck, Hiram N, & Co (15)
merchant
MAY '44 to FEB '45
almost all Hale (+ Overton & Wyman)
all BOS
Morgan, E D (12)
commission merchant
MAR '44 to JUL '45
Hale & Pomeroy
BOS, Salem MA, Rochester NY (+ Springfield MA)
all Hale
most Salem MA (+ BOS)
Ropes, R M (& B G) care of Frenham & JUN '44 to JUN '45 (6) Co
Hartford Mail, Egleston & Battell iron merchants (& AUG '44 to MAY '45 Letter Express, & (4) South St) Pomeroy
Painesville OH & Hartford CT
In this study of correspondence, 15 NYC streets received covers from the independent mails involving four or more covers per addressee. When the entire survey of 1,270 covers is considered, including the single-cover correspondences, the independent mails brought mail to 33 different NYC streets (and 137 other covers had no street address indicated, so the number of streets served just by the surviving covers is probably higher). When we consider that this is just a small fraction of the covers that survived, it is likely there were very few NYC streets in Manhattan not touched by the independent mail deliveries. 364
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Collectors Club Philatelist
Volume 102, Number 6
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TABLE 4: NYC other northͲsouth sts (8 correspondences 4+) Origins(s) (if known) most Cleveland OH (+ Buffalo NY, Monroe MI, Norwich CT)
Addressee (covers)
Occupation
Dates (dated covers only)
Carrier(s)
Johnson, Dwight (16)
commission merchant
JUL '44 to APR '45
Letter Express & Pomeroy (+ Hale)
Clark & Coleman (15)
commission merchants
AUG '44 to FEB "45
almost all Hartford Mail (+ Pomeroy)
all Hartford CT
BROADWAY (1)
Brandreth, B, MD (7)
pills (doctor)
JUN '44 to Jun '45
Hale & Pomeroy
Baltimore MD (+ Albany NY, Watertown NY)
NASSAU (2)
Hyde, Joseph (5)
lawyer (agent of bible soc)
SEP '44 to FEB '45
all Hale
Danvers MA (+ BOS, Northampton Ma)
Meeks, James C. (4)
agent of American Sunday Sch Union
FEB to MAR '44
all ALM
BOS & Philadelphia PA
WASHINGTON (1)
Hart, Eli, & Co (6)
commission merchant
JUL to SEP '44
WATER (1)
Hendricks & Bros (6)
copper supplies
JUN '44 to APR '45
all Hale
all BOS
WILLIAM (1)
Stuart, J & J & Co (6)
importers
JAN to APR '45
all ALM
all Philadelphia
NYC Street
II (addressee 4+) BROAD (2)
Pomeroy (+ Letter Buffalo NY & Penn Express) Yan NY
Conclusion Fifty-four correspondences (of four or more covers) from nine independent mail carriers of 1844 and 1845 were analyzed. The addresses were identified by city and, in the case of New York City, even by the street. A number of possible areas for further research are suggested. The correspondence clusters were divided into regions to look for patterns. The general conclusion is that merchants dominated the independent mails. This was seen as a general observation, but it is particularly true for addresses along the East River waterfront of New York City. There may be some bias in the data, since it may be that merchants were more likely to have had cover hoards preserved and discovered years later. Even so, the prominent presence of the merchant correspondences is undeniable. Cities in New England received more mail from Hale & Co, Philadelphia received more from ALM and upstate New York and Detroit received more from Pomeroy Express. However, many correspondences also used other independent mail carriers on occasion. Recipients had their favorites, but were not averse to receiving mail from other independent mail companies. 366
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TABLE 5: NYC eastͲwest sts (12 correspondences 4+) Carrier(s)
Origins(s) (if known)
all Hale
BOS (+ Philadelphia PA, Springfield MA, Salem MA)
almost all ALM (+ Brainard & Hale)
BOS, Philadelphia PA, Troy NY
ALM, Hale, JAN '44 to JAN '45 Pomeroy, Hartford Mail, Wyman
Baltimore MD, BOS, Buffalo NY, Providence RI, Hartford CT
SEP '44 to FEB '45
Hale, Hartford, Letter Express, Overton, Wyman
BOS (+Chicago IL, Hartford CT)
broker at 91 Maiden L
SEP '44 to FEB '45
Hartford Mail (+ Hale to Pearl St)
all Hartford
Garner & Co (7)
commission merchant
JAN '44 to APR '45
Hale (+ ALM, Wyman)
BOS & Baltimore MD
Renauld & Francois (4)
importers
JUL '44
all Pomeroy
ALB & Buffalo NY
SPRUCE (1)
Currier, Nathan (of C & Ives) (4)
printers
JUN to SEP '44
Hale (+ Wyman)
all BOS
WALL (4)
Hopkins & Weston (26)
stockbrokers (Exchange Place)
SEP '44 to JUN '45
all ALM
all Philadelphia
Ogden, Nicholas G. (8)
cashier, Phenix Bank
JUL '44 to JUN '45
Hale & Pomeroy
Albany NY, BOS, Buffalo NY, Danvers MA, Portland ME
Prime, Ward & King (4)
bankers
APR to NOV '44
ALM, Hale, Pomeroy
NYC Street (addressee 4+)
Addressee (covers)
FLETCHER (1)
Seth Low & Co (6)
FULTON (1)
Bell, Abraham, & Son (9)
JOHN (1)
Jessop, William (& Sons) (9)
importer of steel
MAIDEN LANE (2)
Hyde, John, & Co (6)
importers
Goddard, Joseph (5)
PINE (2)
Occupation
Dates (dated covers only)
commission drugs MAR '44 to APR '45 merchants
merchant
JAN '45
Watertown NY & Philadelphia PA
NYC streets nearest the water received large quantities of mail from Boston, apparently delivered at the docks on the east side of New York City by ship. Many of those receiving mail were merchants, especially along the active delivery areas on South and Front Streets, but inland also. Not surprisingly, stockbrokers and bankers were nearer the Financial District further into the city. A thin strip of New York City’s east side, including both South and Front Streets appears to have received nearly half of the independent mail delivered Collectors Club Philatelist
Volume 102, Number 6
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into New York City and a third of all surviving mail delivered by the Independent mails across America during 1844 and 1845. The U.S. Government deserves credit for what it was doing, but for a brief period in the mid-1800s, the private sector kept many Americans communicating and the country growing. Unfortunately, the government took note of its lost revenue to the independent mails, and this led to their downfall. Endnotes 1. David R. Wilcox, A Guide to Local and Carrier Posts (an image library) Volume 1 : The Independent mails, Book1One printers, 2023. 2. Ibid. 3. David R. Wilcox, “Part 13: The American Letter Mail Company: The Mysterious New Owner,” Penny Post 27:4, pp. 36-58. 4. Larry Lyons, “The Dwight Johnson Correspondence carried by Well’s Letter Express,” Penny Post 12:3, pp. 47-51. 5. David R. Wilcox, “Part 7: The American Letter Mail Company: A Customer’s Perspective,” Penny Post 26:3, pp. 24-66. 6. David R. Wilcox, “Part 9: …Robinson’s Blue Eagle ALM Covers,” Penny Post 26:4, pp. 42-68. 7. David R. Wilcox, “W. Wyman: Survey Reveals Possible Plate Format,” Collectors Club Philatelist, Sept.-Oct. 2023, pp. 2023.
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► Chile 1854, Gillet printing 5 centavos burnt siena strip of four used with 2nd. London printing 5 centavos brown-red and Desmadryl 10 centavos blue on cover from Caldera to Valparaiso. Provenance: Joaquin Galvez (1979) Jean Dupont (1981)
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► Lübeck 1859, 1 shilling orange (2) together with 2 shilling brown and 4 shilling dark green on cover to Reval in Estonia (Russia). Provenance: Rarities offer W. van Arkel (1920s), John R. Boker Jr. (1986).
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J:▲ Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1864, ¼ groshes orange in a pair with 3 groshes brown on postal stationery cover 1 goshes pink from Neustrelitz to Theodore Rondel to Paris. Provenance: Gaston Nehrlich (62. Heinrich Köhler, 1929), Max Oberländer (1950)
START PRICE: EUR 100,000
HAMMER PRICE: EUR 230,000
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Morocco and the United States; The Suprising Similarity in the Color of Inks and Their Meaning Maurice Hadida, FRPSL, member of the Académie de Philatélie The six colors of ink used to obliterate the octagonal and circular Maghzen stamps (formerly called cachets) are: violet, black, blue, red, green and orange. The rarest colors are green and orange. Figure 1 shows a reply postcard written at Tangier on Nov. 15, 1893, which explains the operational model used by the Sherifien post and the absence of any particular significance for the use of the different color inks. It specifically sets out that the employees of the Sherifienn post used whichever color ink was available to them when striking the Sherifien stamps.
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Figure 1. Reply postcard from Tangier to Germany, dated Nov. 15, 1893, from Roque Laischew, which explains the procedure used by the Sherifien post: “When letters passing through the Moorish post are a little heavy they charge you an extra penny more or less & they stamp the envelope twice. The colours of the stamp is nothing, its according to the bottle of ink they buy, sometimes black & others blue etc. It is very difficult to obtain you two complete sets of the Moorish envelopes. Should I manage to obtain them at some future time I shall forward you them.”
372
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Figure 2. The six colors of ink used for striking the octagonal and circular Maghzen stamps. From top to bottom (left), octagonal: El Ksar, Saffi, Azemmour and Tangier; circular (right): Tetuan and Rabat.
Collectors Club Philatelist
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I Les couleurs d'encre utilisees pour obliterer 1
I les timbres-poste des Etats-Unis en 1847 et 1878
--..~r ·,t,,,r ~~ ~ ' Figure 3. The colors of the obliterating inks used in the United States in 1847 and 1878.
During the course of a lecture given in 2020 by Wade Saadi of the Collectors Club via Zoom, I learned about the colors of inks used in the United States to cancel stamps of the issues of 1847 and 1878. Figure 3 gives us an overview. As can be readily seen, the color of the obliterating inks used in the United States in 1847 included black, blue, red, green and orange. I was most astonished to find that five of these six colors of ink were used 45 years later for striking the Maghzen stamps, produced pursuant to the Royal decree of Nov. 22, 1892, which established the Sherifien Post. The violet ink appeared in 1878, as can be seen on the postal card with a datestamp and a star within a circle (this type of obliteration is known as a “fancy cancellation”). The relative rarity of the colors of the obliterating stamps in the United States, as explained by Saadi, indicated that the rarest colors are green and orange. He stated that the colors on the United States postmarks did not have any particular significance: the postal staff used the color ink that they had on hand. Morocco was the first country to recognize the independence of the new government that became the United States. From that to realizing that the ink colors used 45 years later, their relative rarity and their lack of any particular significance would be identical in all respects, was a step that I had not imagined possible. They are indeed surprising and amusing similarities. There is no historical foundation to support the theory advanced in recent years that suggests that each of the six colors corresponded to a different day of the week from Saturday to Thursday, Friday being a holiday. Indeed, if one delves into the files of the Morocco postal service, which are housed in the French Diplomatic Archives in Nantes and La Courneuve, one can state – on the basis of official documents – that the Rekkas worked seven days a week, as did some of the agencies of the four Imperial post offices in Morocco, notably Tangier, which was open to the public every day of the week, including Sunday. 374
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CCP—NOV-DEC 23
If you want to know if your stamp or cover is: Genuine… Send it to the PF. Free from faults… Send it to the PF. A scarce variety… Send it to the PF. Reperfed or regummed… Send it to the PF. Graded accurately… Send it to the PF. The Philatelic Foundation’s 75-plus years of expertise and experience and more than 599,000 certificates issued means…
You can have confidence when you do. Thousands of satisfied collectors, dealers and auction houses means…
You can have confidence when you do.
Send it to the PF… and have confidence. The Philatelic Foundation
353 Lexington Avenue, Suite 804 New York, NY 10016 Tel. 212-221-6555 PhilatelicFoundation.org PFsearch.org
Collectors Club Philatelist
Volume 102, Number 6
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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 Baker’s Dozen of Prince Albert
C$ 260,700 ($188,785)
Eastern Auctions, Bathurst, N.B.: The Brigham Estate – Province of Canada, Part II, Aug. 18, Lot 44. Advertised in CC Philatelist Vol. 102 No. 4. Further details at www.easternauctions.com If you could afford to just buy all the stamps, what would that look like? Well, if you turned to Canada, you might see something akin to the late Ron Brigham’s collection, one of the greatest – if not the greatest – assemblages of Canadian stamps, proofs and key postal history items ever formed. Brigham’s was the only exhibit by a Canadian ever to win an international Grand Prix – which it did twice. “At the height of his collecting and exhibiting, his holdings filled more than 150 volumes,” according to Eastern, which described how Brigham’s “passion and tenacity” began with acquiring key items from three important sources: Sam Nickle (1988 and 1993), the Weill brothers (1989) and the privately sold “Lindemann” collections of Ian Bett (1997). So great was Brigham’s collection that when he sold it off between 2014 and 2016 – retaining the cherished early Victorian Pence and Cents portion – he formed his own ad hoc auction firm to handle the job. So important was it, that when Canada Post planned a 2001 commemorative for the sesquicentennial of the 3 pence Beaver, it was Brigham who graciously lent his original black die proof to work from. After Brigham died in 2022, Eastern began 376
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auctioning off his long-awaited Pence and Cents treasures in four sales over the course of this year and next. Of all the major rarities in the sale, one stands out as representative: the cover shown here, a legal-size (folded) envelope posted in 1858 from Cobourg in Upper Canada (now southern Ontario) to a law firm in Toronto. That it held some weighty legal documents is evident from the astonishing franking of 6 shillings and 6 pence, paid with a block of 12 and a single of the 6 pence greenish grey on wove paper, paying 26 times the letter rate. The block is far and away the largest surviving multiple of this issue; the next-best known is a block of six. The cover’s provenance stretches back to a Harmers sale of 1938, where it made £600. (Realization includes 18.5% buyer’s premium.)
Beethoven at Bando
€ 2,806 ($2,955)
Heinrich Köhler, Wiesbaden, Germany: 382nd Auction, Sept. 18-23, Lot 5546. Advertised in CC Philatelist Vol. 102 No. 5. Further details at heinrich-koehler.de/en Yukio Onuma began collecting the topic of music on stamps as a boy in Japan. As an adult living in London, he became involved with the Stamp Music Circle and its journal, The Baton. In the late 1970s and early ’80s, while living in New York City, he would join other fans of music on stamps for concerts at Lincoln Center and meetings at the Collectors Club. Upon his retirement in 2004, he decided to focus exclusively on building a thematic – as opposed to topical – collection about Beethoven. “Many pieces offered in this special catalogue do not obviously relate to Ludwig van Beethoven at first glance,” Köhler explains in the introduction to this sale. “Some of the pieces … are only really interesting when you study them a second time.” One such piece, whose relevance may not be obvious at first, is a postcard sent from a World War I internment camp in Naruto, Japan, for German POWs captured at Kiauchau. The picture side is a real photograph, almost too fuzzy to discern, which appears to show a shrouded figure accompanied by a pair of chickens. The message side has a message in German and a delicately printed blue-and-yellow adhesive inscribed “Lagerpost/BANDO/2 sn” This was one of Collectors Club Philatelist
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two stamps printed by the POWs – many of whom were active philatelists – for local delivery of their mail; the stamp is even tied by a special camp canceler. The next lot in the sale was a cover with the companion 5-sen stamp. But what is the connection to Beethoven? The Bando prisoners were allowed to form an orchestra in the camp, and one of their favorite pieces was Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which until that time had never been performed in Japan. It proved a hit with the Japanese captors as well and, after the war, the liberated prisoners performed it for an audience in Naruto. The symphony – composed in 1824 based on an 18thcentury poem by Schiller, Ode to Joy – grew in popularity to such an extant that it is now regularly performed by Japanese orchestras, especially at year’s end. (The 74-minute standard capacity of a compact disc, co-developed by Sony, is said to have been chosen to allow the full Ninth Symphony to fit.) So, a tangential connection, but a highly important one. (Realization includes 22% buyer’s premium.)
My Canton for a Provenance
CHF 23,180 ($25,830)
Corinphila, Zurich: Züriberg collection of classic Switzerland, Oct. 6, Lot 7. Advertised in CC Philatelist Vol. 102 No. 5. Further details at www.corinphila.ch/en/ It is always something to behold a true “old-time” collection coming on the market after many decades, its material truly fresh, not only in the sense of being unfamiliar to present-day collectors, but physically fresh after having lain undisturbed in albums for decades. So it is with the “Züriberg” collection of Swiss classics, a family heirloom that was assembled, as far as the Corinphila team could determine, beginning in the first half of the 20th century. Even then, many if not most, of the items were acquired discreetly, almost secretively, so that it was impossible to ascertain any provenance for most of them. Adding to the collection’s mystique, many of the covers it contained would be judged as meeting the highest esthetic standards of today, advancing the argument that beauty trumps rarity in determining an item’s worth. One of the few items whose provenance was able to be determined was the largely mint strip of 10 of the famous 1843 cantonal issue known as the “Zurich 6.” The strip shows types I to V, repeated twice, plated as stamps 71 to 80 from the original sheet of 100, with a double frame line and slight displacement visible between the central pair. The horizontal lines of the underprint are clear, the black printing is sharp and the gum on the back nearly intact on nine of the positions. This magnificent strip was sold by Harmer’s in London in 1934, as Lot 186 in Part 7 of Arthur Hind’s great collection, which rivaled that of several European kings. (Realization includes 22% buyer’s premium.) 378
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Ten Cents a Dance
$ 23,600
Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, New York: Kenneth D. Gilbart collection of the U.S. 10¢ 1861 issue, Sept. 27, Lot 44. Advertised in CC Philatelist Vol. 102, No. 4. Further details at www.siegelauctions.com Ken Gilbart has been widely known as both a collector and an expert on the 1861 issue for more than 50 years, having written several research articles in the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society’s Chronicle, serving as an assistant to the philatelic curator at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum and winning awards for his exhibits of the 1861 issue. Siegel described those exhibits as “the product of decades of determined acquisition and focused study,” noting they have won awards around the world, most recently a Gold at this year’s Napex show in northern Virginia. While Gilbart’s favorite item in this sale of his collection of the 10¢ 1861 stamp was said to have been the ultra-rare imperf-between pair (Lot 35), which busted through its old Scott catalog valuation to fetch $67,850, it was perhaps the 1861 cover with a tragicomic patriotic cachet, shown here, whose realization raised the most eyebrows. The red-and-blue cartoon shows Confederate president Jefferson Davis as a circus performer, flying off a pony and through a paper-covered hoop reading “Union,” only to find himself caught in a noose. The caption reads, “Positively the last appearance of JEFF DAVIS, upon which occasion he will introduce his wonderful feat of balancing himself on a SINGLE STRING ! ! !” (... and we thought multiple exclamation marks were a recent annoyance …) Estimated at $2,000 to $3,000, it was hammered instead for $20,000. Scott Trepel commented, “Great condition and better than the other one like it. In general, patriotic and illustrated covers are hot.” (Realizations include 18% buyer’s premium.)
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Collectors Club Philatelist
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The Stamp That Wasn’t There
£ 9,225 ($11,155)
David Feldman, Geneva: “Arden” collection of King Edward VII, Oct. 3-4, Lot 10206. Advertised in CC Philatelist Vol. 102 No. 5. Further details at www.davidfeldman.com For some time, collectors have been able to admire Graham Horton’s superlative specialized exhibit of essays and proofs of the King Edward VII issue of Great Britain (1902-11) at gbps.org.uk/displays/kevii-essays-and-proofs/. Besides being possibly the finest collection of this material ever put together, the display makes a compelling case that the Edwardian series, far from being a standalone issue, formed part of a continuum in British stamp philately beginning with the Victorian “Jubilee” series of 1887 and continuing into the reign of Edward’s son, King George V. Horton passed away in 2020 and Feldman offered his collection intact by private treaty at a handsome seven-figure price but, absent any takers, announced earlier this year that it would be sold itemby-item under the nom-de-philatelie of ‘Arden.’ “Not since the original sales of the De La Rue archives by Robson Lowe in the 1970s have so many important proofs been offered in one collection. This is thanks to the fact that the vendor was a buyer in those original dispersal sales, so many of the items have not been on the market for nearly 50 years, with other items coming from other famous collections through the years such as the Stothert, ‘Maximus,’ ‘Edwardian,’ ‘Romano,’ Fisher, ‘Aurelius’ and ‘Chartwell’ sales,” according to Feldman. The collection began with paste-up essays using the frames of the Jubilee series, continued with examples of different heads and continued through the famous, unissued 2d Tyrian Plum and a hand-painted essay for the planned Edwardian £5 value, shown here, which, though it was engraved and reached the die proof stage, was never printed. (Realization includes 23% buyer’s premium.)
380
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Upcoming Auctions at Stanley Gibbons The Academic Collection Part I Coming 19 October 2023
R Revenue & Telegraph Stamps of the World Coming 31 October 2023
The Cyriax Collection of Great Britain Coming 1 November 2023
Stamps & Covers of the S World Feat. British Africa W Coming 14-15 November 2023 C
Stamps & Covers of Asia S Coming 7 December 2023 C
The Phillips Collection T of Great Britain - Part II o Coming soon! C Please contact - 1ঞomvŠ|_;v|u-m7ĺ1ol or call +44 (0)20 8092 5856 or visit |_;v|u-m7ĺ1ol Collectors C lll ec Co ecto tors to rs Club Clu lub b Philatelist P illaattel Ph elis ist
Volume Vo V olu olu lum me e1 102, 02 0 2, Nu N Number umb ber 6
38 381 81
Deborah Friedman 1946-2023 Matthew Healey Debby Friedman, who was widely admired not just for her expertise and dedication to Latin American philately and aerophilately, but also for her tireless efforts to encourage and mentor youth and beginner collectors, passed away at her home in New York City on Oct. 22. She was 77. Her success as a collector and exhibitor was widely acknowledged, and included gold medals at Ameripex ’86, Stockholm ’86 and Capex ’87. She was author of numerous articles on Colombian air, railroad and riverboat mail, postal stationery, postal history, revenue stamps and “cubiertas,” special labels applied to official mail. Her exhibit of cubiertas won an American Philatelic Society Research Award. She first joined the Collectors Club in 1970, one of only a handful of women to do so at the time; she also belonged to the APS, the Royal Philatelic Society, London, and numerous specialty groups. She was a co-founder in 1983 of Copaphil, the Colombia-Panama Philatelic Study Group, and served as its president for about 20 years. According to Bob Breuer, her husband of 45 years, Friedman spent many hours over a span of years in the Collectors Club library researching books and journals to compile records of widely scattered references in her specialty area. That collection of bibliographic information became an important 2001 publication: A Philatelic Bibliography for Colombia and Panama, 1865-1999. She followed up its publication with presentations of her findings at several shows. Her collection of Colombian airmail postal history was offered in 2007 in a “name” sale by Cherrystone Auctions. In 2011, the APS honored her with its Kehr Award for contributions that help guarantee the future of the hobby. Those contributions included leading regular programs of teen and beginneradult groups that met at the Collectors Club in Manhattan, for which Friedman was awarded the club’s President’s Medal not once, but twice, under successive leaders. She and Breuer would visit scout troops in New York City to recruit young people for the group. One of the group’s alumni went on to become a Young Philatelic Leaders Fellow under the auspices of the APS, and a couple of them exhibited at the Great American Stamp Show this year in Cleveland. Deborah Friedman was born in the Bronx and raised in Peekskill, N.Y. She was a collector from an early age, and her stamp collecting developed into a major pursuit. Although her degree from the State University of New York at Albany was in education, she decided against a teaching career and, instead, joined the state Civil Service Department, helping localities around New York meet the requirements of civil service laws and prepare for testing and inspections. 382
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She became president of her local stamp club in Troy, N.Y., while she was still in her 20s, but was unable to join the more prestigious philatelic society in nearby Albany because it still refused to admit women well into the 1970s. Breuer recalled that he and Friedman met in the mid-1970s, when both were working as greeters and tour guides for the state capital region in Albany. They began chatting while waiting for their respective tourists to arrive by bus, and she gave him her phone number. “She was a very independent woman,” Breuer recalled. “She owned her own house, although she had trouble getting a mortgage because many banks at the time would not lend to single women.” Friedman and Breuer married in 1978 and had one son, Harrison. After she retired in 2007, they moved to Manhattan. One of her delights was bringing new people into the hobby. She started a youth stamp club at the Colonie, N.Y., library and ran it for 19 years until moving to New York City. There, she found that the youth group at the Collectors Club had fallen dormant, so she started her own group along the lines of the one she had run near Albany and persuaded the club to host it and provide a modest stipend. She ran it for more than a decade, adding a parallel club for adults starting or returning to the hobby. Friedman was also tapped to oversee the youth area at World Stamp Show-NY 2016. Perhaps her most remarkable “get” for the hobby was a casual acquaintance of hers named Ted Chapin, who was active in New York theater. When Friedman learned his full name, Theodore Steinway Chapin, a light went on. Wondering if there was anything he could share of his famous grandfather’s philatelic legacy, she invited Chapin to visit the Collectors Club, which he had never done. Upon entering, he was greeted with his grandfather’s portrait. Friedman organized a special “Steinway night” in October 2018, during which the Chapin brothers – Ted and Miles – brought a number of items from the family collection for show-and-tell and shared personal recollections of their grandfather. Friedman had uncovered a recording of a 1938 radio program, Calling All Stamp Collectors, in which the senior Steinway had talked about his collection of music on stamps, and excerpts were played at the meeting. Recalling Friedman’s stamp group, Breuer reminisced that “she approached stamps creatively. She wasn’t just teaching people to fill spaces.” Often, meeting discussions were attuned to the news of the day. For example, during the Iraq war, Friedman brought stamps of Iraq and retrieved reference books on Mesopotamia and Iraq from the philatelic library. “She encouraged the kids to tell stories about their stamps, pick the ones they liked and mount them on a page.” With her background in education, Friedman tried to instill stamps’ educational aspect in her charges. Several of her youth- and adult-group alumni recently paid tribute to Debby online. One wrote: “Debby was always a kind and supportive mentor both in my interest in stamp collecting and my academic career from the time I was 12. I’ll always carry fond memories of meetings with the youth stamp club she ran…” Another wrote, “Her Collectors Club Philatelist
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breadth of knowledge was incredible and each time we chatted I learned something new.” According to her husband, Friedman also pursued a variety of things besides stamps. She amassed a collection of mid-century dinnerware, and another of 19th-century American patent models. An item from each of these collections was selected for inclusion in two separate exhibitions at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her son, Harrison Breuer of Liberty Hill, Tex. Breuer has requested that in lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Deborah Friedman’s name to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center at: mskcc.convio.net/goto/DeborahFriedman.
The Collectors Club Membership Update: Aug. 30, through Oct. 24, 2023. Approved by the Board of Governors: Sept. 26, 2023 Non-Resident: Lera, Thomas Schorn, John Stauber, Ronald L.
Orlando, Fla. Silver Spring, Md. Rhinebeck, N.Y. Oct. 24, 2023
Resident: Heller, Michael
Mount Kisco, N.Y.
Non-Resident: Russo, Craig A. Carrera, Francisco Liano
Clairemont, N.H Alvarado, Veracruz, Mexico
We regret to inform you of recent deaths of the following long-time Collectors Club members: Weiss, Jeffrey K. Friedman, Deborah (Debby)
Aug. 20, 2023 Oct. 22, 2023
We extend our profound sympathies to their families and loved ones. Debby was the guiding light and key supporter of Collectors Club youth activities. If you would like to update your contact information, please contact Executive Secretary Andrea Matura at: info@collectorsclub.org. We look forward to seeing you in person at the upcoming Washington National Postal Museum event, and at Chicagopex later in November. Our ongoing 2023/24 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 384
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Collectors Club Philatelist
Volume 102, Number 6
385
Index to Advertisers Page
Advertiser
Page
Advertiser
327
Colonial Stamp Company
331, 341
Le Timbre Classique
332-333
Corinphila Auctions Ltd.
375
Philatelic Foundation
369
Eastern Auctions, Ltd.
Inside Back Cvr.
Schuyler Rumsey
365
David Feldman
Back Cover
Robert A. Seigel
381
Stanley Gibbons
386
Minuteman Press
Inside Fr. Cvr.
H.R. Harmer, Inc.
328
Vidiforms Co., Inc.
370-371
Heinrich Köhler
Please Remember ... Those who advertise in the Collectors Club Philatelist are supporting both our organization and the hobby in general. 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 IN NEED OF STAMPS AND POSTAL HISTORY!
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Cape of Good Hope Cover to Hungary, Realized $52,250
Samoa Express Combination Cover, Realized $57,500
THE TIME IS NOW TO SELL INDIVIDUAL RARITIES OR ENTIRE COLLECTIONS. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A GROWING MARKET, A PROFESSIONAL CATALOG AND PROMPT PAYMENT. PLEASE CONTACT US DIRECTLY SHOULD YOU HAVE ITEMS FOR CONSIGNMENT OR DIRECT SALE.
Please visit our website at: www.rumseyauctions.com email: srumsey@rumseyauctions.com
•
Schuyler : Rumsey :
• Ph ilatelic • • Auctions :
47 Kearny Street Suite 500 San Francisco California 94108 t: 415 781 5127 f: 415 781 5128
the brian m. bleckwEnn collection of united states first issue revenue STAMPS The collection of Civil War Revenue stamps formed by Brian M. Bleckwenn over the past 50 years is the pinnacle of beauty, rarity and quality.
For online listings and sale information, go to siegelauctions.com 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