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The 7 Cent Vermillion Stanton Envelopes / 2 |
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Bob Markovits |
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Collectors Club Philatelist, March-April 1993 |
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A Brief Look at Other Rates(continued from part 1) |
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The actual use of the 7 cent envelope, rather than its intended use, was primarily for the closed mail via England treaty rate. The Baltic Lloyd 6 cent rate that covered "Germany, Austria and Luxemburg" according to the July 21, 1871 announcement and extended to Norway on August 2nd was not involved. |
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As stated, the 7 cent closed mail rate included Germany, Austria, and Luxembourg. This also meant such places as Heligoland, parts of Poland occupied by Germany or Austria, Hungary (under the Austro-Hungarian customs union), etc. A notice of December 12, 1871 added Denmark, effective January 1, 1872, while on March 14th, the rate was extended to Greenland and the Faroes. |
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The November 1871 United States Mail & Post Office Assistant (USM&POA) reported a 7 cent newspaper rate to Italy, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Rhodes, Turkey, and other points via NGU closed mail through England. Alexandria, Norway, and Sweden had this newspaper rate direct via the NGU. In June 1872 the newspaper rate covered Denmark, the East Indies, Norway, and Sweden (both direct and closed mails) as well as Turkey. On August 5, 1872, the 7 cent newspaper rate was extended to Spain, Russia, and Constantinople via the English closed mails for the NGU. |
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A third group of possible 7 cent envelope uses involved multiple rates. A 14 cent new open mail rate to Egypt, Tunis, and Tripoli via the Italian mails was announced on January 20, 1871. By November 1871 there was a 14 cent direct mail rate to Greece. A 21 cent rate for the German mails via Brindisi for Aden, Ceylon, India, the East Indies, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Yokohama, Australia, etc., was announced October 12, 1871. Earlier, on October 26, 1870, Blackfan announced a 28 cent rate via NGU mails through Brindisi for the British East Indies, except Ceylon. There were also 28 cent rates to Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay and St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, and much of the Far East during the 7 cent envelope era. Envelopes could just as easily be used for the 22 cent rate to Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador with a 15 cent stamp added or with two 10 cent stamps to pay the 27 cent treaty rate to China. It was also possible to use the envelope as part of a postage and registration fee domestically or going abroad. In sum, there were many opportunities to use the 7 cent envelopes as part of a combined rate using either the 7 cent stamp or other combinations. |
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Essay Evidence |
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The 7 cent Reay envelope should have been available by May 1, 1871 when Terrell made his announcement of "availability by July 1, 1871." However, there is reason to doubt that it was, and it is probable that no exact information on the date has survived. At the top of any specialized collection is the design source of the material - the essays, proofs, and trial colors, if any. Such material is available for the 7 cent envelopes, albeit most of the surviving items are unique. |
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The most spectacular pieces of which I know come from Herman Herst, Jr., discovered sometime in 1967 while he was in Shrub Oak, NY These pieces were reportedly in the effects of the grandson of the person in the Post Office Department who arranged for the 7 cent envelopes, presumably Terrell's grandson or great-grandson. Norman Lurch, who originally acquired the material, was told that the family was from St. Louis, MO, and that there were only five pieces. Three were on card and two on paper. |
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The premier piece is a card proof, approximately 2x3 inches, which has a manuscript notation reading: Changes Suggested June 7, 1871 with the initials "W.H.H.T." affixed at the bottom. The suggested changes included a shortening of the bust at the back and changes in the beard. A second card proof has even more severe beard changes and a sharper cut-back of the bust in the back but is undated and unsigned. Neither change was apparently acceptable to Reay and the original Laubenheimer design remained intact. The proofs have almost complete circles of red ink around the design as if to highlight it. |
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The existence of the June 7th design, with Terrell's notes on changes, makes it clear that the design had not been finalized when the announcement of issue of the new Reay envelopes was made on May 1, 1871. We have no evidence that it might not have been available in approved format by July 1, 1871. What we do have is a summary of the envelopes "manufactured" in the same fashion that the John Luff records on "Statistics of Manufacture" were compiled for the National Banknote stamps. Ed McGovern compiled this envelope record and it is divided into plain envelopes and those where printing (such as return addresses) was requested. On a quarterly basis of envelopes "issued" to post offices, we have the following: ----------------------------------------------------------- Refer to original article for number breakdown. ----------------------------------------------------------- From this record we know that the 7 cent envelopes were not sent to the post offices until after July 1, 1871, but that they were available for the new October 1871 7 cent via British closed mail rate. We also know that there were only two printings of 11 request" envelopes - in the fall of 1871 and the winter of 1874. |
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In addition to the essays and proofs that came from the St. Louis find, I have written reference to a wax impression from this die as well. William B. Maisel and group updated the classic Mason catalog of postal stationery dies proofs and essays in 1989 but without additional details. |
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A hub die proof does exist. It is 137x115mm and is reportedly unique. Mason originally listed it as no. 56, issue of 1871, and was probably printed between mid-June and late September 1871. It was last publicly offered according to my records in the Carl E. Pelander sale of October 17-18, 1941, where it was lot 617. Lurch attributed it to the Leighton & Wells sales (H.R. Harmer, Inc., April 21-24, 1958) as part of lot 347. The catalog noted the size was 136xll8mm, while the Pelander sale reported 136x115mm. The hub die proof lot in the Wells sale noted a 136xll8mm size. Because of the slight difference, it is possible that two such hub die proofs exist although I doubt it. A similarly described piece is also known in the Lanton sale (Eugene Klein no. 103, January 21, 1938) as lot 299 (Mason no. 56) with a 137x120mm. measurement. Are these all the same piece? I think so. |
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Thorp-BarteIs lists a trial color, struck from an untrimmed die on card, "cerise on white (die 45)" that is probably the finished card item reported among the five essays discussed above. No other pieces are known to any of the current specialists and none appear in the leading stationery auctions, the Barkhausen (Harmer June 14-15, 1955 11 and III sales), the Siegel Marcus White (December 10-11, 1970 and March 3-4, 1971 sales), nor the W. Parsons Todd Part II sale (Siegel January 10-11, 1978). |
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There are Reay design 7 cent specimen envelopes. One is the Thorp-Bartels no. 307 Specimen form 12 (311/2 x 3V2 mm) of the die 45 amber paper size 3, knife 28 square gum, watermark 2, variety B-1. A second type (Thorp-Bartels no. 308) Specimen form 14 (41x4mm) is known. It is knife 29 with the other characteristics being the same so that it is variety B-2. Knife 29 has a 14mm throat in the folding while knife 28 has only l0mm or less. |
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The most recent Haller catalog, Private Printed Franks on U.S. Gov-ernment Envelopes, confirms that the Reay envelope comes with a Wells-Fargo type E imprint (see p. 118), which is not known used. Lurch indicated to me that three mint examples are known with his copy being originally from the Thomas Doane Perry collection (lot 1327 of the December 8-10, 1958 sale). It was illustrated in his 1966 Linn's article and is Thorp-Bartels no. 307 with the imprint measuring 72xl8mm with the legend on the left reading "if not delivered within 10 days, to be returned to." The envelope measures 83x139mm. I have traced it to a Eugene Costales Wells Fargo auction held May 28-29, 1945. |
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There were two imprintings of 500 each (a box) on the Reay envelopes. As noted above, the first was "issued" in the fall of 1871 and the second in the quarter ending March 31, 1874. The legal requirements for imprinting changed by the time of the Reay contract so that the imprint could now not indicate the sender's occupation. This meant that on the 1871 imprinting, if not on both, the government imprints were apparently only the "if not delivered ... return to" variety. Consequently, Wells Fargo imprints could not be done by the government but would have had to be done privately. |
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Other than the unused Wells Fargo imprints, at least five used imprinted covers are known (one is a late favor use) and several unused. In private correspondence to me, Lurch estimated that 25-50 covers were imprinted by Wells Fargo. However, Calvet Hahn suggested that with three survivors this appears to be too low and that a figure of a half box is more likely, if not a fall box. He was also the first to comment upon the relationship between the imprints and dates of issue, noting that the first 500 imprints were knife 28, and that uses would more likely be 1871 or 1872 than 1873. He added that the survival ratios of imprinted covers is in the ballpark of one percent, which fits other cover survival patterns fairly well. All used imprints and the Wells Fargo are knife 28. There is an unused knife 29 imprint. |
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In reviewing the draft of this manuscript, Hahn also observed that although the knife numbers were assigned arbitrarily based upon date of discovery, there did appear to be a sequential use, at least in the case of the Reays's (over 10 cent) and that knife 29 was not used on the 1, 2, and 10 cent. It appears to have been used on later printings of the remaining values, e.g., Specimen 14, etc. He concluded that the earliest uses come from knife 28 and the first imprinting should be from that knife exclusively. There is an unused knife 29 imprint. |
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The 7 cent Reay envelope is known both as an amber shade (knives 28 and 29) as well as a rare very light amber shade (knife 29). A used example of the very light amber is known on a cover from stamp dealer Durbin (of Durbin & Bogert), posted in Philadelphia on April 2, 1875, and sent with a 3 and 10 cent banknote to a stamp dealer in Brighton, England, registered. A possible very late use of the very light amber (Thorp-Bartels no. 308a) is found on a registered printed matter cover to Belgium in 1908. The in-period use cover suggests the light amber was probably the 250-envelope printing by Reay issued by September 30, 1874. The light ambers are knife 29. |
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The description Of Thorp-Bartels no. 308a is "exceedingly light shade of amber, almost white"; the covers described above are of an amber shade. However, there is another item allegedly on "white paper." In a note I have located on an envelope wrapper marked J.M.B. (J. Murray Bartels), it is described as really creamy white, not pure white. In the William Weiss, Jr. sale of December 1, 1990 (lot 371) is an apparently white Reay 7 cent envelope imprinted privately by the Star Stamp Co. of Reading, PA, "Established 1869." This is an apparent previously unrecorded type, for it is not "very light amber." A used example was apparently sent to Denmark in the summer of 1874, so this would have been printed earlier. |
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Mr. Hahn drew my attention to the previously overlooked preceding lot in the same sale that contained two Reay 7 cent "official" sized envelopes, using knives 25 and 26 (sizes used for no. 2, or "lady's" sized covers). While it is likely that part of the description is wrong, the envelopes are on "white paper" as is the Star Stamp item. All three items would most likely be from the later Reay printings. |
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A New Contractor |
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Nesbitt, who lost his printing contract to Reay, died April 7,1869 and thus was unable to intervene personally when the Reay contract was rescinded and then reinstated late in that year. Reay, in turn, lost his contract to the Morgan Envelope Co. in 1874. In accord with government policy, bids for a new contract were advertised in the summer of 1874 and Morgan, Reay, and the Nesbitt Company all bid; however, all were rejected for not meeting the contract terms. |
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A new set of bids was called for and opened September 18, 18 74. In this bidding there were six firms entered including the George Plimpton Manufacturing Company of Hartford, CT. The Plimpton firm won and a new contract was signed October 4, 1874. |
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Reay protested the award, reporting Plimpton would have the actual work done at the Morgan company's plant in violation of the terms of the contract. It was true that the Morgan company was furnishing Plimpton with machines in place of Reay's. Further, the new contract called for deliveries beginning October 1, 1874 - an impossibility for a new contractor. As of October 9, 1874, not a single proof of a Plimpton die had been seen by the Post Office Department and Mr. Reay was refusing to turn over his dies or release the engravers that he had under contract - he had signed up most of the key engravers. (judge Spence had ruled in September 1874 that the dies and master hubs were Reay's property.) |
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On October 12th, some temporary and defective dies were approved for the lower-valued envelopes and production began Tuesday the 13th. Delivery of the first Plimpton envelopes was to take place Thursday October 22nd, but the deliveries actually began the day before. At this point the 1, 2, and 3 cent values were going into production and dies for the 6 and 12 cent had been approved. Back orders were already at 11 million by October 23rd when the government purchased large stocks of envelopes from Reay. |
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A departmental circular of December 10, 1874 finally announced the change of contract and contractors, with the new envelopes to be supplied beginning January 1, 1875 with a new price schedule. January 1, 1875 would, therefore, be the date for the new 7 cent Plimpton envelope release (Scott nos. U185 and 186). The actual dies, including the new 7 cent Plimptons, were examined and approved October 30, 1874 by Mr. Casilear, who had been sent by the Post Office Department to Hartford for this task. |
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Mr. Reay was very upset about losing the contract and sought to hamper Plimpton's ability to meet the contract as much as possible. Not only did he tie the master engravers up in contracts, he also refused to surrender his master dies. Finally, under heavy pressure, he agreed to turn over the dies but hearsay has it that he wrapped the dies in a cigar box that he gave to his wife with instructions to dump them overboard while crossing the ferry from Brooklyn to his New York office. Reay died shortly after this incident. |
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It has been subsequently reported that Reay's son turned over both hubs and printing dies to Postal Inspector G.E. Doran April 3, 1937. These were recorded and destroyed; however, examination of the record shows these were only miscellaneous dies, some of which were essays. The disposition of the dies actually used still remains a mystery, and the hearsay story may well be true. |
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The Seven Cent Plimpton Envelope |
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There are no examples of the Plimpton envelope used in the period of the 7 cent rate. In fact, only one used envelope has surfaced to date; it was used in November 1878. The easy key way to differentiate the Reay and Plimpton 7 cent designs is to look at the "7" that has a tail in the Plimpton design and not in the Reay. The Plimpton design also has the hair curling in the back of the head so that it looks like a laurel wreath while the beard flows downward to a greater extent. |
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The Plimpton envelope was issued during three quarters of the year ending June 30, 1875, with only a few issued during the first quarter. Two qualities of paper were used. The first is an amber of the regular grade (not third grade as in the Reay's), with a 39 knife. This envelope has a 14mm throat in back and measures 82x138mm in size. Based upon the difference in quality of paper, I would suspect that this was the envelope produced in the first printing of 750 examples. It is quite rare with an example selling as lot 385 in the first Marcus White sale (Siegel, December 10-11, 1970). |
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The second Plimpton type is on the same quality amber paper as the Reay's, e.g., third quality, and is knife 41 (a 17mm throat in back). It also uses a square gum as do all the regular Reay and Plimpton 7 cent envelopes. The envelope is a touch taller, measuring 83x138mm in size. Several unused examples are known with lots 386 and 387 of the aforementioned White sale being represented. I believe one of these un photographed items is ex-Barkhausen (Harmer, June 14-16, 1955, lot 270). |
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A third Plimpton variety has long been mislabeled. It is Thorp- Bartels no. 768 that is on "white paper." In a note I located on an envelope wrapper marked J.M.B.* (J. Murray Bartels), it is noted it is really creamy white, not pure white. No envelope is known on white paper; however, Lurch had a full corner, allegedly white, which probably came from a "SPECIMEN" envelope. This item is from the Marcus White sale of March 3-4, 1971 (lot 1103), ex-Worthington. Thorp wrote it up in Stamps, May 7, 1944, p. 228. Lot 146 in the William Weiss, Jr. sale of December 1, 1990 has a second cut square of this rarity - also a full comer (Scott no. U185). There are other cut squares of this specimen. I record a total of about five. Sheriff 11 (Siegel June 18, 1986, lot 246) is the ex-Juhring copy, which sold to Karen (3308mm). |
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The howling rarity of the 7 cent envelopes is the special Plimpton issue for the 1876 Centennial. It is Thorp-Bartels no. 767a with a 41 knife (17mm throat) in the third quality amber but with round gum rather than square. These were issued both with and without return imprint corner cards. It is unknown if there were six envelopes (three of each) or six sets (12 envelopes) made. Each and every item was "specially printed." The British collector and author, Gilbert Harrison allegedly received a complete set of all denominations from Philadelphia dealer Bogert, of Durbin and Bogert, but cut them up before realizing what he had. Inroads by cut-square collectors may have reduced the number of existing 7 cent entires to one or two. |
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The complete special printing 7 cent envelope can be recognized by the round gum and at least half of them by the Centennial imprint. Bartels states the amber paper "by transmitted light, has a slightly greenish tint." Of course, unless the piece is a cut square, the easiest way other than the imprint is the use of "round gum." Just prior to the Centennial, Plimpton developed a machine that would apply gum to the top flap in addition to printing and folding the envelope. Prior to this date, the gum was hand-applied and the outside edge was in a straight line. The felt pad used to apply the gum in the machine process printed" gum on the flap so that the ends were "round" consequently termed "round gum" by specialists to differentiate the later Plimpton items from the earlier. |
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One Centennial envelope of the 7 cent value was sold as lot 518 in the Barkhausen sale (Harmer, June 14-16, 1955) to Marcus W. White and resold as lot 388 in the White sale (Siegel, December 10-11, 1970). This item probably was the same shown in the Court at Honor at the Columbian show in Chicago, May 1992). |
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Used Seven Cent Envelopes |
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Historically, in the old Bartels and other price lists, used copies of these envelopes were rated at six to ten-twelve times higher than mint ones. Probably the reason is that the original printing was not used much because of the changes in the originally-intended use, and the fact that when the envelopes were finally ready, there were lower rates to the major destinations. |
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A collection of used postal stationery entires has rarely been exhibited and most of the great collections contain very few examples, especially within the true period of use. Truly nice collections of used Nesbitts have been reported. Beyond that, collections are sparse except for a few farsighted people who have plucked these gems from the great holdings and the strays offered by various dealers over the years. Even dated cut squares are virtually impossible to locate. Fancy cancellations, other than New York foreign mail (NYFM) uses, are few and far between on Reay envelopes. When Lurch showed one frame of 7 cent material, Thorp commented that the 7 cent envelope used New York primarily as a point of embarkation so it was only natural that they would have NYFM cancels, which were in vogue during the currency of the envelope. While NYFM cancellations rarely appear on postal stationery, the 7 cent envelope is the second most-often seen envelope with such cancels. Thus, it is not surprising that I record three used entires and two cut squares with these cancels - all different. The Waud-VanVlissigen book gives dates of use of the various cancels that is helpful in dating the 7 cent items, or in confirming dates. To date, I record the following covers with NYFM cancels: Type NYC Date Waud-VanVIissingen EKU LKU A8 Sept4,1874 Jan 10, 1874 June 1, 1875 G3 Mar 8, 1875 Feb 23, 1875 Mar 20,1876 G25 Feb 19, 1873 Feb 15, 1873 Feb 15, 1873 I also note two cut squares that are undated in the William Weiss, Jr. exhibition collection, which is one of the collections for which photocopies are made available through the US Philatelic Classics Society. One, a cut square of Scott no. U88 with G5, the reverse wheel design, bears a foreign mail marking used from October 2, 1873 - November 14, 1875, so that it is both within and without the proper period for correct use. The second cut square is from the Lurch collection, ex-Leighton & Wells sale of April 21, 1958 (lot 332). It bears type W5, which was only used late (August 9, 1875 - September 28, 1875) so that it is out-of-period. |
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Too often the rate specialist takes a "who cares" attitude, not seeking a postal stationery use or combination use paying the rate being illustrated. Too often these are classed as "back-of-book" items and deemed not worthy of the finest collections, or are fronts rejected even when rarity indicates a full cover may not be located. Somehow judges do not mark down these exhibits for lack of completion when the completing item is postal stationery. |
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The great envelope auctions contained very few 7 cent used envelopes. Barkhausen contained three (but no photo) and these probably ended up in the Marcus White sale that also had three - one of which was not illustrated (lot 361 in the White 11 sale). Perry had three, although he only reported two; Slawson had none. There was only one - to Denmark - in the Daniel Weiner sale (Ivy July 8-9, 1983, lot 1171), which is one of the three known uses to that country. His was a major used envelope sale - perhaps the most important ever held -inasmuch as the young man was an intelligent and effective collector and gatherer of this type of material. His cessation of collecting is a tragic loss to the field. |
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Frankly, the study produced far more used envelopes than I originally anticipated; I was also surprised by the scarcity of used Plimptons. I thought I might be able to establish the earliest known use well back in 1871, but in this I have been most disappointed. The earliest dates I can prove are mid-1872 with some earlier ones possible. |
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That few philatelists play in this field is not surprising. Seymour Kaplan, late chairman of the Philatelic Foundation's expert committee, had alerted me to the dearth of this material over 25 years ago. Many auction describers have also indicated the number of covers is small. The Christie's sale of September 16, 1982 (lot 404A) speculated that only about 12 in-period covers existed. The estimate is too low but close enough to the mark. |
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In most fields of philately, several can play. In my opinion, in this field only two people can exhibit material at any one time, and I doubt if three frames (36 pages of smaller size) could be mounted by the two given the availability of material. While crossovers into several fields are considered a bane in philatelic exhibiting, this field is so small that to even display one in-period cover adds stature to the exhibitor or collector. |
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Report Covers |
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Writing about the 7 cent adhesive, J.W. Sampson noted the stamp is almost never seen bearing the postmark of any small town in New England or the South, but the names of country (farm) towns and villages in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin frequently appear. This seems to be so because these were settled by a large proportion of the 2.6 million German emigrants who left Europe between 1823 and 1873 to settle in the United States. A million or so settled in our larger cities and a large percentage of Cincinnati postmarks show their arrival. Also, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Baltimore follow in order of commonness when we omit New York. The same holds true for the envelopes. |
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At present I record some 35 covers (one may be a duplicate), three fronts, and three cut squares. The most incredible use is a gem from the Seymour Kaplan collection that was then in the Steven Albert holding before being privately sold. It contains a 7 cent National (Scott no. 149) in combination with the 7 cent envelope used to Pesen, Germany. It is the only such combination use reported. Several other 7 cent envelopes are known with various adhesives: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 10 cent denominations. These make intriguing combinations, but it is necessary to be very careful to check usage before assuming the combinations are in period. |
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I was recently offered an example with a 5 cent Taylor combination that was quite pretty, but its date was 1876 and consequently out-of period so is of interest primarily to the true specialist of the Taylor. As with a number of other late uses, it is probably philatelic, tied in with a shipment of stamps to England, such as was often done by G.B. Calman, L.W. Durbin, R.E. Bogert, or other early dealers. In fact, I record in-period uses from both dealers to M.D. Russell in Birmingham, England, who was a client. Neither cover pays the 7 cent rate for which the envelope was designed. |
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I record more uses to Germany than to England; however, England is second even though there was no 7 cent rate. Denmark is the next most popular destination followed by Switzerland. I note uses to Austria and the Netherlands, as well as a couple of domestic uses, one with the 8 cent registry fee in the proper period. I cannot repeat it enough; if one is a purist, and I believe one should be in the case of early used postal stationery, it is important to check the dates or match up ship sailing so a huge premium is not paid for the high-catalog 7 cent envelopes with out-of-period uses. |
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There are six in-period uses by stamp dealers of the 7 cent envelope on correspondence to England. All are by Durbin of Bogert and Durbin (late examples by Durbin and Calman are also known). As one example could be the earliest known use based on ship sailings, it is important to consider that the remainder are concentrated in 1874-76, so that the other item is probably from the same period. |
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In reviewing my draft manuscript, Calvet Hahn offered several observations that should help in dating. First, based upon the fact that imprints were made on only two occasions in the quarter ending September 30, 1871, and again in the quarter ending March 31, 1874, 1 have assigned all but the obviously late imprint covers to the earliest appropriate date in those cases where several alternate dates appear possible. Second, Mr. Hahn observed a sequential use of knives 28 and 29 in production with knife 29 being in use in 1874. Thus, the earliest uses are probably exclusively knife 28. |
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Several items can also be assigned tentative dates based on associated items from the correspondence involved. This applies to some of the cut squares as well as other material. |
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In-Period Listings |
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1. Imprinted cover, New Orleans June 16 and New York June 21 British transit to John Pelton, Stuttgart, Germany, with backstamp D.4 of July 7. Undated, this is assigned to 1872 in light of the imprint. It would have traveled on the NGL Rhein departing New York June 22, 1872, and reached Southampton July 2. An 1873 alternative seems late; such would go on NGL steamer Mosel sailing June 21, 1873, and arriving at Southampton August 1, 1873, The item is ex-T.D. Perry and was lot 1086 in the Harmer sale of December 10, 1958. |
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2. Unimprinted cover posted New Braunfels, Texas July 21, 1872 with sender's handstamp of July 20, 1872, with N.Y. Paid All 7131 British transit as well, addressed to Wiesbaden, Germany, and backstamped AUSC./Aug.14. This traveled on the Hapag steamer Holsatia leaving New York August 1, 1872, and arriving at Plymouth on August 11, 1872. It was a private treaty purchase of Lurch from Herman Herst, Jr. (see no. 21). |
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3. Unimprinted cover from Bangor, Maine July 15? bearing a New York Jul 17 "via Eng. & Oste." Paid All transit and addressed to Frederick Allen in Lucerne, Switzerland. This is one of a series of three covers from Bangor to Allen in Lucerne (nos. 3, 4, 8). It bears a 1 and 2 cent adhesive to make up a 10 cent rate. I have assigned it to 1872 where it would travel to Hapag's Vandalia, departing July 18, 1872, and arriving at Plymouth on July 31, rather than the identical transit in 1871 or the sailing of the Silesia on July 17, 1873. It is backstamped both at Basel and Lausanne on July 31, 1872. |
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4. Unimprinted cover from Bangor, Maine, September 4 with New York 917 "via Eng. & Oste." transit and bearing 1 and 2 cent adhesives to make up- the 10 cent Swiss treaty rate. Addressed to Frederick Allen in Lucerne, this is knife 29, and appears to be the earliest use of that knife. This could have gone on Frankfurt leaving September 7 and arriving at Southampton on September 21, 1871, However, it makes better sense to fit closer to the 1873 use and go on NGL's Weser II, leaving New York September 7, 1872, and reaching Southampton September 18, 1872. An 1873 use doesn't fit. This is illustrated in the Siegel Marcus White 11 sale of March 34, 1871 as lot 360 and either it or the preceding cover was lot 685 in the Laurence & Stryker sale of April 16-18, 1957. The two covers are twins (see nos. 3, 8). |
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5. Imprinted cover New York October 30, 1872 with three 1 cent stamps missing to A. Blokzeyl, Rotterdam, Holland. It is backstamped Rotterdam 10/Nov/1872. This traveled on the Hapag liner Frisia, departing October 31, 1872, and arriving Plymouth November 10, 1872, and is under the Dutch treaty 10 cent rate applicable between February 1870 and June 30, 1875. It is ex-Lurch and is illustrated in his Linn's article. |
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6. Imprinted, knife 28 stamp dealer cover New York December 7 to Carl Hyllested, Copenhagen, Denmark, bearing an untied 10 cent brown (described as no. 161). This was received December 22 and bears a "3" as well as registry no. 5207 and went "via Bremen." The stamp would indicate a use in 1873 or later, but the only one that fits is the NGL Donau departing New York December 7, 1872, and reaching Southampton on December 18. There is a Danish transit of December 22 and Bremen receipt of December 22. 1 conclude thus that this is an 1872 item, particularly in light of the imprint, and that the stamp is a National misidentified as a Continental. This is ex-Howard Lehman and ex-Albert/Kaplan by private treaty. Probably from Durbin as Hyllested was a collector (see nos. 16, 20). |
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7. Unimprinted New York December 12, 1872, Paid All British transit to Student Theodore Haas at Strassburg, Alsace, and redirected to Karlsruhe with both December 24, 1872, and December 25, 1872, German backstamps. This cover went on Hapag's Frisia that left New York on December 12, 1872, and arrived at Plymouth on December 22, 1872. It is ex-Lurch. |
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8. Unimprinted Bangor, Me. January 15, 1873 with New York transit of January 16 to Switzerland and bearing four 3 cent (no. 147) and one 1 cent (no. 145) adhesives to cover the double closed mail rate of 14 cents. This third of the Bangor covers is backstamped January 31, 1873 (see nos. 3,4). It traveled on Hapag's Cimbria leaving New York on January 16, 1873, and reaching Plymouth January 26, 1873. It is ex-Albert and was listed in the Gil Fitton summer 1974 listing as lot 743. |
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9. Unimprinted New York February 19 and NYFM G25 cancel sent to Brimingham, England, where it was backstamped in red on March 3, 1873. This stamp dealer cover overpays the 6 cent treaty rate. It left New York on February 20, 1873 on the Hapag's Harmonia 1I and reached Plymouth on March 3, 1873, for transmission to Birmingham that day. It sold as lot 410 in the Laurence & Stryker sale of November 26-29, 1948, and again as the Albert private treaty through Gil Fitton's summer list as lot 742 (see nos. 19, 25). |
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10. Unimprinted knife 28 cover San Antonio, Texas March 4 with New York British Transit of March 11 to L. Konig, Berlin, Germany. For awhile this was considered a possible earliest known usage. It probably went on the NGL Hansa leaving New York March 12, 1873, and reaching Bremen March 26, 1876. This could be an 1874 cover sailing on NGL's Graf Bismarck departing New York March 11, 1874 and arriving on March 22, 1874, at Southampton. I assign it to the earlier date because of the knife. Probably marked for making a cut square but fortunately spared. It was lot 1686 in the Siegel sale of October 23-26, 1984. |
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11. Unimprinted Princeton, N.J. June 3 with red New York June Paid All Br. Transit to Vienna on front only. There are a number of alternate choices for this: one in 1872, two in 1873, and one in 1874. 1 have chosen 1873 as the most likely. It could have traveled on the NGL's Hannover leaving June 4 and arriving June 16, 1872 in Southampton or Hapag's Silesia departing June 4, 1874, arriving at Plymouth on June 14, 1874, but I prefer to think it went either on NGL's Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm on June 4, 1873, arriving at Southampton on June 17, 1873, or the Adler (Eagle) line's Ernst Moritz Arndt, sailing June 4, 1873, and arriving at Stettin on June 22, 1873. It sold as lot 636 in the m. Sol Salkind sale of April 29, 1972. |
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12. Unimprinted blue Chicago July 21 maltese cross 1873 to George Smith, Brighton, England, where a receipt of August 5, 1873 was struck on the back. There is also a red Chicago backstamp CHICAGO / PAID ALL. This represents a one cent overpayment of the English 6 cent treaty rate. It went on the NGL's Kronprinz Fredrich Wilhelm July 23, 1873 from New York and arriving at Southampton on August 4, 1873. It is ex-Lurch. |
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13. Cut square postmarked Lynchburg, Va posted August 6 to Vienna, Austria. As similar Lynchburg fronts to Prof. Morgan Hart at Leipzig are from 1873 (see nos. 14, 15), this is probably the first of the series. If so, it would have left on the Hapag Thuringia leaving August 7 from New York and arriving at Plymouth on August 17, or on the NGL's New York, leaving August 6 and arriving at Southampton on August 18, 18 73; it could have caught NGL's New York, leaving on August 8, 1873. |
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14. Unimprinted front only postmarked August 11 at Lynchburg, Va to Prof. Hart at Leipzig, Germany. This bears an 1873 pencil date. It went either on the Hapag's Thuringia departing August 14 and arriving at Plymouth on August 25, or on the NGL's New York, leaving New York on August 15, 1873 and arriving at Southampton on August 26. From the Stanley Piller stock. |
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15. Unimprinted front only postmarked Lynchburg August 31 with 1873 pencil date to Prof. Hart at Leipzig. This has British transit markings of September 3 and 4. It would have caught the Hapag's Silesia leaving September 4, 1873, arriving at Plymouth on September 14, 1873. From Piller stock. |
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16. Unimprinted knife 28 cover postmarked October 1; N.Y. PAID ALL Via Hamburg with corner card label of stamp dealer Durbin, addressed to Carl Hyllested at Copenhagen, Denmark. This pays the 7 cent treaty rate via Hamburg from 1872-75. It could have transited in 1872, 1873, or 1874. 1 have put it at the latest date where it could have gone via the NGL steamer Rhein, leaving October 17, 1874 and reaching Southampton on October 27, 1874. It should have left on Hapag's Cimbria departing New York on October 17, 1872 and arriving at Plymouth on October 27, or on the Silesia, departing October 16, 1873 with arrival at Plymouth on October W, 1873. The cover sold as lot 2286 in the Siegel sale of December 10, 1984. Richard Winter does not record the Hamburg marking on this cover, but the comparable Bremen marking is only known in 1874: (see nos. 6, 20). |
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(continued in part 3) |
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e-mail: bob markovits |
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copyright © 2000-04 fran adams |
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