July 1955

Vol. 12 No, 3

Essay for the 1800 “Compound”: the extra stamp was intended to pay the Carrier’s fee. See Page 127.

Copyright 1955 by the Essay-Proof Society, Inc

Auction Agenda Foe the Fall

Sept. 13-15

h 24. S-, (BJuiitJt, tfsimhal J'Dhsiqn, CUm

Including Part II of the collection formed by the late Michael A. Dyer of Belmont, Mass., and property of various owners.

Sept. 27-30

u 24. S; GihmailA, SAUi&k, JoJisrixpi

The United States in this sale (Sept. 27) is Part I of the large stock of the Happy Hollow Stamp Co., Louisville, Ky., including many mint sheets.

The practically complete, 30-volume collection of British, Airmails and General Foreign owned by Philip W. Wrenn, Jr., Palisades, N. Y., will be auctioned on Sept. 28-30.

Oct. 11, 13, 14

« 24. S-, (Bhiii&h, 'tjwsihxd J'Ohsdqn

United States, property of various owners, will be offered on the first day. The British and Foreign, also from various owners, will be sold on Oct. 13-14. No sale on Oct. 12.

Oct. 25-27

h tBhiii&k, '$&mhal Joteixpi

Property of various owners.

Ask for catalogues today if not on our list.

HARMER, ROOKE & CO., Inc.

International Auctioneers of Fine Stamps

560 Fifth Avenue, New York 36, N. Y.

The

Proof

Journal

Vol. 12, No. 3 July, 1955 Whole No. 47

Copyright 1955 by the Essay-Proof Society, Inc.

Published Quarterly by the Essay-Proof Society.

Prescott Holden Thorp, Managing Editor Netcong, N. J.

George W. Caldwell. Foreign Editor 5512 Hadfield Street. Philadelphia 43, Pa.

C. M. Jephcott, Ph.D., B. N. A. Editor 323 Rosemary Rd., Toronto 10, Ont., Canada

Subscription Ilate.

$5.00 per year in advance.

Price of Single Copies, $1.50 in advance from Albert H. Higgins, Secretary.

There are still available copies of Nos. 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 17 at $2.00, 2, 4. 5, 7, 12,

13, 14, 15, 16, 18 to date, at $1.50 each.

Nos. 9 and 10 only sold in complete sets. A complete set of No. 1 to No. 36 bound in nine

volumes $72 plus transportation charges.

One sample copy will be sent to prospective members whose address is sent to the Secretary.

Advertising Rates.

Forms for new copy are closed by the Editor on the 15th day of December, March, June, September:

The right is reserved to reject any advertisement offered.

Outside Rear Cover available in sequence on request by full page users $25.00

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Full Page $20.00 Half Page $10.00 Quarter Page $6.00

10 Per Cent. Discount for 4 or more insertions on advance contract.

Contents

The American Bond Detector (A Review) by Julian Blanchard, Ph.D. 115

M arcus Wickliffe Baldwin, Bank Note Engraver, by Thomas F. M orris 120

An Introduction to the Essays and Proofs of United States Stamped Envelopes, by Prescott Holden

Thorp 127

United States Patent Office, continued, by Sol Altmann 134

U. S. Proof Panes in Ackerman Collection, by Clarence JJ . Brazer, D.Sc. 135

An Essay for a North Carolina Confederate Note, by Julian Blanchard, Ph.D. 139

Washington Jubilee Exhibition M3

In Memoriam 1 47

Die Proof Discovery in Australia, by C. E. Norden 14S

Brazer Trophy M9

U. S. XX Century Essay Designs, Models and Proofs, by Sol Glass 150

Government Gift Books of Portraits and Vignettes, by Julian Blanchard, Ph.D. 153

E-P Society Catalog of Essays and Proofs (Newfoundland) 1 57

Society Official Business *69

Reports of Chapter Meetings *69

Secretary’s Report I7I

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 14

The Essay^Proof Society

Directors

J. Blanchard, ’55, V. G. Greene, ’55, A. H. Higgins, '55, Jos. Mandos, ’55 S. Altmann, ’56, H. Gates, ’56, J. F. Gros, ’56, Thos. F. Morris, ’56 C. W. Brooks, ’57, Sol Glass, ’57, K. Minuse, ’57, G. B. Wray, ’57 Honorary Directors C. W. Brazer, C. A. Smeltzer

Officers, 1954-55

President Henry Gates, 61-20D 194 Lane, Fresh Meadows 65, N. Y.

First Vice-President ...Julian Blanchard, Ph.D., 1 Sheridan Square, New York 14, N. Y.

Second Vice-President Thomas F. Morris, 19 West Drive, Larchmont, N. Y.

Secretary Albert H, Higgins, 70 University Place, New York 3, N. Y.

Treasurer Julian F. Gros, Ninth Floor, 136 Madison Ave., New York 16, N. Y.

Appointees, 1954-55

Managing Editor Prescott H. Thorp, Netcong, N. J.

Foreign Editor George W. Caldwell, 5512 Hadfield St., Philadelphia 43, Pa.

B. N. A. Editor C. M. Jephcott, Ph.D., 323 Rosemary Road, Toronto 10, Ont., Canada

Librarian Solomon Altmann, 1 1 1 3 Teller Ave., New York 56, N. Y.

Board Recorder Kenneth Minuse, 1236 Grand Concourse, New York 56, N. Y.

International Secretary Joseph Mandos, 6816 Paschall Ave., Philadelphia 42, Pa.

Standing Committees, 1954-55

Auditing: Charles W. Brooks, Chairman , 301 E. 38 St., New York 16, N. Y., E. Elkins, Thomas F. Morris.

Awards: Julian Blanchard, Chairman , 1 Sheridan Square, New York 14, N. Y., Clarence Hennan, M.D., Elliott Perry.

Catalogue : Clarence W. Brazer, Chairman , Box 70, Flushing, N. Y., Kenneth Minuse, Asst. Chairman, 1236 Grand Concourse, New York 56, N. Y., Fred Jarrett, Eugene N. Costales, Marcus W. White, Solomon Altmann.

Chapters cS5 Units: Kenneth Minuse, Chairman , 1236 Grand Concourse, New York 56, N. Y., Albert P. Bantham, Clarence J. Gruhl, Robert W. Lyman, C. M. Jephcott.

Constitution & By-Laws: Sol. Glass, Chairman, 3311 Powhatan Ave., Baltimore 16, Md., Chester A. Smeltzer, John J. Britt, Vincent Domanski, Jr., A. E. Guenther, Charles W. Brooks.

Editorial Board: Clarence W. Brazer, Chairman, Box 70, Flushing, N. Y., Julian Blanchard, Phillip Rochlin.

Exhibitions : Joseph Mandos, Chairman, 6816 Paschall Ave., Philadelphia 42, Pa., Henry Gates, George B. Wray, Joseph A. Herbert, Julian F. Gros, Richard Bohn, John D. Pope III, Franklin Bruns, Jr.

Finances: Thomas F. Morris, Chairman, 19 West Drive, Larchmont, N. Y., W. H. Kiefaber, Asst. Chairman, 634 Woods Road, Dayton 9, Ohio, Julian F. Gros, Horace F. Hartwell, Philip Spalding.

Library: Solomon Altmann, Chairman, 1 1 1 3 Teller Ave., New York 56, N. Y., Edward P. Babcock, Herman Herst, Jr., George T. Turner, B. Filmore Jumper.

Publicity: Henry Gates, Chairman, 64-20-D 194 Lane, Fresh Meadows 65, New ^ ork, William M. Wylie, Franklin Bruns, Jr., Vincent G. Greene, Richard McP. Cabeen, David Lidman, Max E. Esternaux, George Linn, Charles A. Lott.

Recruiting: Sol. Glass, Chairman, 3311 Powhatan Ave.. Baltimore 16, Md., Robert W. Lyman, Asst. Chairman, 6 Myles View Place, Willowdale, Ont., Canada, Solomon Altmann, Leon Bilak, Alvaro Bonilla-Lara, Lester G. Brookman, Manuel Galvez, Robson Lowe, Bernard Harmer, J. Santiago Rachitoff, Charles Hahn, Fred L. Capo- sella, Vincent G. Greene, Fred Barovick.

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 15

The American Bond Detector

A Review

By Julian Blanchard, Ph.D.

The / American Bond Detector ; / And / Complete History of the United States Government Securi- ties; / Issued under the Sanction of the United States Treasury Department, / And Containing / Superb Illustrations, in Genuine Tints, / Printed at the Treasury Department, from the Original Dies in the Possession of the Government. / Of all the Bonds issued under the Acts of Congress from July 17, 1861, to March 3, 1868, / Together with / A Full Description of All Genuine Plates, / And Complete Rules for the Detection of Counterfeits; Also, / Valuable Plates of Existing Coins, and Important Statistical Tables. / Washington, D. C. : / Published by The American Bond and Currency Detector Company, / To Whom all Orders Should be Addressed. / 1869.

The above title, in many sizes and styles of type, covers the title page of an old and rare book, one that should be of considerable interest to those who have a liking for the kind of engraving seen on our government securities. And that, we think, will include most of the readers of the Essay-Proof Journal.

Including the Introduction, the book contains exactly 100 pages of reading matter, in addition to a List of Illustrations, an Index, and its many beautiful plates. It is noted that the date on the title page is 1869. At the back of the third revised edition of Heath’s Bank Note Counterfeit Detector bearing the copyright date 1870 there is an advertise- ment of the above Bond Detector, repeating some of the same wording of the descrip- tion of the latter in its Introduction. This advertisement is signed by Laban Heath & Co., 30 Hanover Street, Boston, Mass., which identifies this publication as another of Heath’s series of Counterfeit Detectors.

The overall dimensions of the bound volume are approximately gY x lSY\ inches, the book opening on the narrow edge. In the descriptive Introduction it is stated that the plates showing the engravings are 10 x 13^2 inches, but actually the pages measure ap- proximately gl/$ x 12^6 inches. However, we have seen in the hands of a dealer several of the identical plates (possibly proofs) that were more nearly of the size stated. Per- haps they were all printed in this size originally and trimmed down when it came to binding.

In one of the introductory paragraphs we find the following: “The publishers desire to state, for the benefit of bankers and others who may deem this work invaluable, that but a limited number of engravings from the original plates (sufficient only for this edi- tion) have been printed, and that, by a recent change in the law, no more can be printed from the Government plates at the Treasury Department.” The fourth edition of Heath’s Bank Note Counterfeit Detector is not at hand, but in the seventh edition, copy- righted 1877, we see that the above mentioned advertisement in the third edition does not appear. The scarcity of these books today seems to indicate that no large number was printed. Incidentally, it would be interesting to know just what this “recent change in the law” had to say about the reproduction of government securities.

In further description of the work we find in the Introduction the following paragraph :

The illustrations in this work are printed at the United States Treasury Department, from the original dies in the possession of the Government, and are executed expressly for this purpose, by the authority and direction of the Secretary of the Treasury. They are printed upon soft, thick plate paper, which brings out the engraving more clearly and distinctly than the thin paper upon which bonds are printed, thus enabling examinations and comparisons to be made with greater ease and certainty than by the use of other bonds for that purpose.

The use of the expression “from the original dies in the possession of the Govern- ment”, several times repeated, leaves a little uncertainty as to just what was meant. On those plates where the full face of the bond is reproduced, sometimes in two colors, it can hardly be denied that the results look as though the printing had been done from the original plates. In most cases the lines of the vignettes have the characteristic raised

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 1 6

appearance of intaglio (recess) engraving, confirmed by the well-known finger nail test, though some others seem rather smooth, like surface printing. The same observation applies to the lettering, though the engine work borders practically all have the smooth feel. Opinions of some of our associates in this field of collecting have differed on this question. Persons skilled in the lithographic art of the present day have pronounced the vignettes to be intaglio engraved ; others who are experienced students of engraving con- sider the whole work lithographic or part litho and part intaglio. To the writer it does not seem likely that the printing was really from the government’s “original” dies or plates. It seems more likely that some sort of copies were made in metal for this job, or that transfers were made to lithographic printing stones or perhaps some of both procedures used. In any case the reproductions are all very excellent.

With regard to the engravings themselves, another comment in the Introduction is

of interest :

It will be seen that these plates have been carefully guarded from the liability of any possible transfer or misuse, by the adoption of a small segmental mutilation in the form of the letter V, which effectually prevents the counterfeiter, or other designing person, from gaining any advantage from their publication in this work. This method of mutilation has been patented by the publishers for their exclusive use.

These V-shaped mutilations are obviously not slices cut in the engraved dies or plates. They are made up of closely drawn lines, between which bits of the original engraving may generally be seen. It would have been a great deal of trouble to overprint these

mutilating designs, from other prepared plates. Our guess is that they were scratched

on the dies or on the plates used for the printing. In that case the plates or dies could hardly have been the government’s “originals”, but new copies or transfers.

Probably the pictorial contents of this unusual book can best be imagined by copying here its List of Illustrations. This list immediately precedes the Introduction.

Sections of $50, $100 and $500 Coupon Bonds, Five-Twenties of 1862 Plate 1

Full face $1000 Coupon Bond, Five-Twenties of 1862 Plate 2

Full face Counterfeit $1000 Coupon Bond, Five-Twenties of 1862 Plate 3

Reverse of Counterfeit $1000 Coupon Bond, Five-Twenties of 1862 Plate 4

Sections of $50, $500 and $1000 Coupon Bonds, Sixes of 1881 Plate 5

Full face $100 Coupon Bond, Sixes of 1881 Plate 6

Full face $10,000 Registered Bond, Sixes of 1881 Plate 7

Sections of $5000, $1000, $500, $100 and $50 Registered Bonds, Sixes of 1881 Plate 8

Full face $1000 Coupon Ten-Forty Bond Plate 9

Sections of $500, $100 and $50 Coupon Ten-Forty Bonds Plate 10

Full face $5000 Registered Ten-Forty Bond Plate 11

Sections of $10,000, $1000, $500, $100 and $50 Registered Ten-Forty Bonds Plate 12

Full face $10,000 Registered Five-Twenty Bond of 1864 supplementary Plate 13

Sections of $5000, $1000, $500, $100 and $50 Registered Five-Twenty Bonds of 1864 supple- mentary Plate 14

Sections of $100, $1000 and $50 Coupon Five-Twenty Bonds of 1864 supplementary Plate 15

Full face $500 Coupon Five-Twenty Bond of 1864 supplementary Plate 16

Sections of $10,000, $5000, $1000, $100 and $50 Registered Five-Twenty Bonds of 1865

supplementary Plate 17

Full face $500 Registered Five-Twenty Bond of 1865 supplementary Plate 18

Full face $1000 Five-Twenty Coupon Bond of 1865, 1867 and 1868 consolidated Plate 19

Sections of $50, $100, $500, $1000, $5000 and $10,000 Registered Five-Twenty Bonds of 1865,

1867 and 1868 consolidated Plate 20

Distilled Spirits, Beer and Cigar Internal Revenue Stamps Plate 21

Full face $1000 Pacific Railroad Bond Plate 22

Coins of all Nations Supplementary Plates 1 to 8 inclusive

The Essay-lToof Journal No. 47

1 17

Standing Figure of Washington. Signed by the Engraver O. G. Hanks

Used on (i) $10,000 6% Registered Bond, Act of March 3, 1863; (2) $5000 5% Registered Bond dated March 1, 1864; (3) $100 Compound Interest Treasury Note, 1864; (4) 3c 3rd Issue Fractional Currency, 1864; (5) 20 lbs. Tobacco Revenue Stamp, 1871, 1872.

Following the Introduction, the text proper begins with a chapter entitled “Govern- ment Securities”, in which it is proposed “to give a complete history of the Government Securities issued by the United States, under Acts of Congress running from July 21, 1841, to March 3, 1868, inclusive.” Among the earlier loans of some historical interest listed in this chapter are the following:

Texas Indemnity Loan.—Act of September Q, 1850.

“This act authorized the issue of bonds to the amount of ten millions of dollars, bearing interest at a rate not exceeding five per centum per annum, and redeemable after fifteen years from date, for the purpose of indemnifying the State of Texas for her relinquishment of all claims upon the United States for the debts of the State, and for compensation for the surrender of the ships, forts, arsenals, custom houses, etc., which became the property of the United States at the time of annexation.”

Oregon War Loan. Act of March 2, 1861.

“Th is Act authorized the Secretary of the Treasury, should he deem it expedient, to issue $2,800,000 in coupon bonds, bearing interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, and redeemable in thirty years, for the payment of expenses incurred by the Territories of Washington and Oregon in the suppression of Indian hostilities during the years 1855 and 1856.”

Pacific Railroad Bonds . Acts of July 1, 1862 and July 2, 1864.

“Th ese bonds were issued in aid of the Pacific Railroads, and were awarded to the several companies entitled thereto under the Acts of Congress, at the rate of $16,000, $32,000 and $48,000 per mile, deliverable upon acceptance by Government Commissioners of completed sections of twenty miles of road. The bonds run for thirty years, and bear interest at the rate of six per centum per annum ...” The beneficiary roads were the

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 18

following: Central Pacific Railroad Co., Kansas Pacific Railroad Co., Union Pacific Railroad Co., Kansas Pacific Railway Co. (formerly Union Pacific Co., Eastern Division) Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad (formerly Atchinson & Pike’s Peak Railroad), and Sioux City & Pacific Railroad Co.

Besides these and some earlier loans, the numerous Civil War bond issues are also described, as well as the first issues of United States paper money the “Greenbacks”, known also as “Legal Tenders”, likewise the Postal and Fractional Currency issues up to the date of the book, 1869.

The next chapter is a brief one entitled “Process of Engraving and Printing Bonds, Bank Notes, &c.” This was quoted in full in Journal No. 46, pp. 69-70. It might be mentioned that the “engraving” process there described is etching, by means of a needle and acid, with only slight reference to cutting with the engraver’s burin. As a rule, both of these processes are used for bank note and bond vignettes. Etching is employed more for foliage, background lines, etc., whereas the cutting process is used for the principal portions of the vignette, and almost exclusively for faces, clothing, etc.

This chapter is followed by another short one on the “Art of Detecting Counter- feits, with Rules for General Guidance”, wherein is described the appearance of genuine and counterfeit vignettes, lathe work, lettering, etc. In this chapter is discussed at some length the counterfeit $1000 bond shown on Plates 3 and 4 in the List of Illustrations:

The counterfeit $1000 bond presents one of the finest specimens of bond counterfeiting ever attempted. To an experienced eye it appears equal to the genuine, and it is, in fact, a most dangerous counterfeit when untested by a plate positively known to be genuine. The plates of the counterfeit are supposed to have been engraved by the celebrated counterfeiter, Ulric, who is now serving out a sentence in the penitentiary . . . Competent engravers are of the opinion that the counterfeiter must have been at work upon these plates for two or three years . . . The whole work upon these plates shows conclusively that the art of counterfeiting has reached so high a state of perfection that the ordinary tests are no longer a safe reliance. This consideration has largely prompted the issue of this work.

The great prevalence of the counterfeiting of our early United States securities of all kinds was no doubt an outgrowth of the conditions that prevailed under the old pre- War system of banking. There were then thousands of different designs of notes issued by banks all over the country, a condition that really invited counterfeiting. And besides, since these banks were state chartered and state supervised (what little supervision there was), with the United States Government having no interest in their issues, there was no attempt at prosecution of counterfeiters by the latter, and prosecution by the states seems to have been rather feeble and futile. So the counterfeiters were bold and daring when the new issues of U. S. currency appeared. It has taken a long fight by the Secret Service to cope with them, and some counterfeiting is still going on, as we are occasionally warned by the newspapers.

The last chapter in the bond section of the book is entitled “A Description of the Bonds Illustrated in This Work”. It takes up each issue of bonds and briefly describes the engraving characteristics by reference to the corresponding illustration plates. Most of the bonds, it is stated, were engraved and printed by the Treasury Department, but some were engraved by the Continental Bank Note Co., and some by George D. Baldwin, of New York. It is also stated that “all the registered bonds of 1881, under Acts of July 17 and August 5, 1861, with the exception of the $100 and $50, were engraved and printed hy the New-York Companies.” All others were printed by the Treasury Department.

Coin Section

Following the part of the book relating to bonds are the 22 bond plates. Then comes, as a sort of appendix, a long chapter on “Coins and Coinage”, 30 pages, giving some interesting historical and descriptive account of the coins of the world, ancient and mod- ern, country by country. This is followed by nine plates of coins, “illustrating the obverse and reverse of all the different denominations of Gold, Silver, Copper and Nickel Coins

\\ WN&Vi. CVL

jy.S Ti £ u> m sfuFtb

- \ JO'*

* WmM^

Justice & Shield. Imprint of the American Bank Note Co.

Used on (i) $50 6% Coupon Bond dated June 15, 1864; (2) $10,000 6% Registered Bond, Act of March 3, 1863; (3) $100 Compound Interest Treasury Note, 1864; (4)500 3rd Issue Fractional Currency, 1864; (5) Process or Renovated Butter Revenue Stamp, 1902, 1907.

ever issued in the United States and Territories, and printed in the original colors of the metal; commencing with the first coin (the old Colonial Pine Tree Shilling of 1652), and including the Gold and Silver coins of Spain, Portugal, Austria, The Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Helvetia, Mexico, South America, and the Gold, Silver and Copper coins of Great Britain.” A rather large amount of infor- mation on coins is packed into these thirty pages and plates.

But this isn’t quite all. After the Coin chapter there is one on “The System of National Banks”, written by Hon. E. G. Spaulding, Buffalo, N. Y., who was the con- gressman who had introduced the bill authorizing the issue of United States legal tender notes the controversial greenbacks. A short chapter on “Legal Tenders” comes next, succinctly explaining the necessity for the new system of paper money. Other items in the hack of the book are the following: A “Description of the Treasury Building”, which had just been completed; “Regulations for the Conversion and Transfer of Bonds at the United States Treasury Department”; “Coinage of the Mint and Branches, from Their Organization”, with tables; together with a number of statistical tables covering the debt, revenue and expenditures of the government, and a table of the values of exports and imports from 1790 on. It is truly an amazing compendium.

To the writer the first view of the contents of this book was a most valuable reve- lation. Acquaintance had previously been made with the Government Gift Books of Portraits and Vignettes, and a number of engravings that had been cut out of such books had been gradually acquired. But for the most part, the use that many of these engrav- ings had been put to was totally unknown. It was a great satisfaction, therefore, to find so many of them shown on the faces of these very early United States bonds. The bonds themselves will never be seen by collectors; but here in this beautiful volume is preserved the record for us, in these fine reproductions.

Fame Collections

The most valuable collection of stamps in this country is owned by a gentleman of St. Louis [John K. Tiffany]. The collection numbers 10,105 specimens, including 460 essays and proofs, 626 locals, 205 telegraph stamps and 1076 revenues. The Philatelic Monthly, Philadelphia, July 1876. From research notes by C. W. B.

I 20

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

Marcus Wiekliffe Baldwin Bank Note Engraver

By Thomas F. Morris

(Continued from Journal No. 46, page 84.)

A Visit from Thomas A. Edison

It is unlikely that Thomas A. Edison would have believed when he visited the En- graving Division at the Bureau on March 15, 1916, that he would be honored by two U. S. postage stamps, one thirteen years later (1929) and the second in 1947. Baldwin reports that on the date above, “Thomas Edison, the inventor, came to the Bureau this afternoon and I talked with him about engraving. He was quite interested in picture engraving and asked how I proceeded if the graver made a slip. I explained the manner of removing the line and restoring the surface of the steel. He said it was the way they did on cylinders for their records (by girls). He had been before Congress in the matter of preparedness.”

It is a singular coincidence that on February 12, 1916, he should be assigned the portrait of Abraham Lincoln to be engraved in large size, one of the “Series of the Presidents”. Mr. Smillie was called upon to engrave the portrait of Theodore Roose- velt. Later that same year Baldwin engraved the Washington portrait of the same series. This is the only work executed at the Bureau which carries the name of this engraver. Coming back to the Lincoln portrait, here is an entry from his diary of Feb. 16, 1916:

Went up to the Library of Congress to see some prints for the Bureau in relation to the engraving of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Roberts showed me the prints of Lincoln and told me that Mr. Handy, nephew to Mr. Brady, had the original negative of Lincoln previously used by the Bureau. This original photograph of Lincoln was, he said, taken by Brady in 1864 for Wm. H. Seward [the then Secretary of State] and that Lincoln's son, Robert, considered it the best portrait of his Father. Afterwards I went to the National Gallery and inquired about a picture of Lincoln presented to the National Gallery by Mr. Storey.

Baldwin spent approximately sixty-eight working days on this large Lincoln portrait die to bring it to a finished state.

World War I was being waged in Europe in all its fury. In spite of repeated warn- ings to Germany our merchant ships were being sent to the bottom by German U boats and the situation was viewed by official Washington with much concern. Up to this time the average citizen believed there was little likelihood of our country becoming embroiled in a European conflict. Warnings by President Wilson that this country should be in a state of preparedness brought forth Preparedness Day parades throughout America, and organizations of all kinds cooperated to the fullest extent and thousands of people marched with banners and flags flying and in the usual patriotic manner.

Baldwin speaks about the one held in Washington on June 14, 1916:

Turned out with the employees of the Bureau in the Preparedness Parade. All the Government Bureaus and Departments were represented. The Bureau made a fine showing. Over 1.000 ladies dressed in white marched together. The printers wore white hats and duck pants. The President marched at the head of the procession.

Baldwin did not realize at the time he was given the assignment of engraving a Yosemite Valley scene in November that five years later a portion of this same engraved picture would be used as a basic design for one of the stamps of the 1922 series, which stamp was fully engraved but later discarded. The stamp vignette was a scene of \ ernal Falls and engraved by Baldwin’s cousin Charles Chalmers. The framework on the proof is mutilated and it is impossible to determine the value for which it was originally intended.

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 2 1

Proposed 2c Card using, same Head, not issued. UX29E-A.

On December 14, 1916, Baldwin began surface die No. 9084 for the 1 cent postal card of the Lincoln portrait in profile (issued by the Post Office Department on March 14, 1917). What he accomplished in nineteen hours of work can best be illustrated in the accompanying reproduction of the proof impression of the Lincoln head. Some twelve hours were expended additionally on the work, and Baldwdn reports the portrait finished on January 25, 1917. In June of that year a transfer of the Lincoln surface head was made and the head retouched by Baldwin on June 26th (5/4 hours wTork) for a 2 cents value; the numeral 2 was added similar to the 1 cent postal card then currently used, but this new value design was never adopted and its existence is not generally knowm. Repro- ductions of the Lincoln head and the 2c essay are shown here.

At about this same time he accepted an outside commission to engrave a book plate for Frank A. Vanderlip, the former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. The design is allegorical in character and simple in composition, and the die impression of the finished wrork indicates the point of perfection reached when Baldwfin was given sufficient time for wTork done outside the Bureau.

Portraits of Benj. F. Shively, and of Hunter H. Moss of West Virginia can be added to the long list of Congressional figures he had engraved during his twenty-one years of employment with the Government.

U. S. Enters World War I

Washington in 1917 became a city of intense activity, for in the spring of that year Congress declared wTar on Germany. As a result of war, every department of the Gov- ernment was taxed to its fullest extent. New wTar bond issues, additional currency and new tax stamps placed an extra burden upon the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and its personnel was required to go to longer working hours. In fact, from then on to the end of the wrar the Bureau’s buildings were aglowr with lights burning far into the night; and as early as June word wras received that there wrould be no more vacations for the

122

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

men at the Bureau. However, the longer hours, added to the summer’s heat, were a strain upon a man of sixty-four years, so that Baldwin was permitted during the year to leave his desk for two brief spells and spend this time to enjoy the sea breezes at Ocean Grove.

We find Baldwin never lacking interest in attending functions of either a national or of a civic character. He never tired of viewing parades; he would give up hours on a Government declared holiday for honoring a national figure, or for the funeral of a national hero. He was what might be termed a hero worshiper; he loved the blare of the trumpets, the marching men of the Armed Services and the sound of the horses’ hoofs of the cavalry hitting against the street pavements. There is little wonder that when the announcement was made that all Government offices would be closed on Janu- ary 20th to honor Admiral Dewey, whose death occurred three days previously, he planned to see the procession of mourners with Dewey’s funeral cortege and its accompanying cadets from Annapolis and the U. S. Marines out in full force with the cavalry.

In March of the same year he witnessed the sixth Inaugural parade up Pennsylvania Avenue since he became a resident of Washington. He scarcely realized as he sat with his relatives in the reviewing stand on the south side of the Treasury building that this spectacle would be the last one he would see.

A tremendous effort was made by the Bureau personnel to produce quickly the new Liberty Loan bond issue, and many had a part in it. Baldwin’s role in the work was the engraving of the figure of Liberty Enlightening the World to appear under the de- scriptive part of the bond. While it was being designed, engraved and printed, Liberty Loan bond drives were being conducted in all parts of the country to insure the sale of the issue. Sales were conducted by patriotic citizens on street corners, in theatres, in fact at every place where people gathered. House to house canvassing was one of many ways employed by all agencies to stimulate and arouse the people to the necessity of putting the bond drive “over the top”. Baldwin volunteered with others to do just this, and their team, in performance of their patriotic duty toward the war effort, effected the sale of many bonds during their several evenings’ work of solicitation.

Bureau Engravers assembled for Liberty Loan Parade.

It was not uncommon to read the morning paper and learn of huge parades taking place in cities and towns in which men and women marched behind music and flying banners, the idea being to stimulate bond purchases. On September 4th of that year men and women in the Government departments put on a parade in Washington, of which the Bureau employees were a part. Preliminary to the time of march, the engrav- ing division formed their section in the yard of their building, and while doing so, Baldwin took a photograph of the group, which is shown here.

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Baldwin engraved the first Thrift stamp placed on sale by the Government, which, when a sufficient amount had been bought, could be exchanged for a Government security.

Progress Proof of 1018 2c Postal Card.— UX30E-B.

Later the same year Mr. Rose, Superintendent of the division, sought Baldwin's services in cutting the small Jefferson head for the U. S. postal card. He began work on October 26th (Die No. 9519) and spent 4.1^ hours cutting the head. A proof repro- duction, dated November 9, 1917, shows the progress of the work up to that period.

Baldwin either completely engraved, or partly finished during that year, portraits of Senator Jonas Clark of Arkansas, Hon. Harry Lane of Oregon, Hon. D. W. Comstock and Hon. David E. Finley. Among other work attributed to him was the portrait of Conant used on a Philippine bank note, and the vignette “Tractor Plowing” which em- bellished the Farm Loan bond, as well as the portrait of Luis M. Rivera for a cigar stamp.

A New Director of the Bmresiri

Joseph E. Ralph, Director of the Bureau, having served for twenty-five years in several capacities at the Bureau, resigned his position in early October, 1917, and James L. Wilmeth was appointed in his place. During the period of the war, salaries of the engravers did not keep pace with the higher costs of living and this caused great dis- satisfaction among the Department’s personnel. It was a constantly annoying problem to Baldwin and his immediate associates to have to badger, so to speak, the Director on the matter of wages, but little could be done singly, so it was decided that a committee be appointed to discuss the situation with the new Director. Baldwin speaks of it in the following manner on January 18, 1918:

Went with the Engravers Committee to talk with the Director, Mr. Wilmeth, and was well received, and think he will make conditions better for us. The Committee was Messrs. Weeks, Warren, Hall and myself.

Baldwin had to wait until July 1st before any action was taken, and then received but a $200 per year increase.

First U. S. Air Mail Stamp

Baldwin engraved the first air mail stamp used in this country. Thirty-four years passed before proper recognition was given him for engraving the vignette of this 24 cents stamp. When writing on the subject, philatelic writers checked the Bureau records and found that other engravers had been accredited the work and so published it. Definite proof that Baldwin engraved the airplane vignette and Edward M. Weeks the balance of the stamp is contained in two pages of Baldwin’s diary record. The 24 cents stamp has an added interest and attraction because of its colorful history in the discovery of one printed sheet of the stamps in a Washington Post Office with the airplane inverted and its subse- quent purchase by Col. E. H. R. Green, and the fabulous sums of money since paid for certain position blocks of the stamp. It is somewhat of a coincidence to find that Baldwin, a few years previously (date unknown) had designed and engraved a book plate for Col. Green.

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The vignette for the first U. S. Air Mail stamp (1018) was engraved by Baldwin The frame and lettering were engraved by Edward M. Weeks.

Original sketch drawn by Baldwin for Book Plate for Col. E. H. R. Green.

(Reduced one-half.)

Baldwin can be credited with the engraving of a Virgin Islands stamp (small Arms of the U. S. and Wreath, Die No. 9662), which took hivu seven and one-half days to finish.* Also in May and June of 1918 he executed the portraits of George and Martha Washington for the U. S. 2 cents Reply Postal card issued that year.

Death of His Friend Hidden

Earlier in this story mention was made of William E. Hidden, the bank note designer, when in the early seventies he and Baldwin -were apprentices in the business in lower Broadway, New York. While still a young man, Hidden abandoned a bank note career for a more lucrative profession by entering the field of mineralogy. Over the years he had widely traveled in search of treasures and had built up a reputation second to none. The early friendship of Hidden and Baldwin continued as a very close one, and brought them together at least once or twice a year, usually during the summer months when both were vacationing on the New Jersey shore. Memories of the past association extending now nearly four decades made these meetings much more pleasant in their later periods of life. They were planning to come together sometime during the sum-

* The Virgin Islands group constituting the Danish West Indies were purchased by the United States from Denmark in 1916. We know of no stamp of the nature described issued by the United States.

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mer of 1918, but due to restrictive measures still in effect on vacations at the Bureau, Baldwin knew not when this would take place. He was working on the portrait of the Hon. Brady of Idaho when on June 15th word came to him that his “old time friend William E. Hidden” had died. Receiving such distressing news was a terrible blow to Baldwin, for he had no knowledge of his friend’s illness. Hidden will be remembered and his name can he inscribed on the pages of philately as the youthful designer of some of the U. S. Proprietary stamps and also as a friend of Emperor Dom Pedro II of BraziL

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Essay for 3c Postage Stamp

One week prior to the year end (1918) Baldwin began an engraving of the portrait of Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, for a 3 cents U. S. stamp. Max Johl has recorded that the Post Office Department requested the Bureau to prepare this stamp because it was anticipated at the time that favorable consideration would be given to establishing the telegraph under the authority of the P. O. Department, and the stamp was to be used by way of a fee in the transmission of messages. The writer has no knowledge whether the stamp was fully engraved, but it will be of interest to reproduce an essay found in Baldwin’s records.

Other work executed during the year 1918 were portraits of W. Gordon Thayer and Hon. Wm. Hughes, an eagle for a War Savings stamp cover, and an allegorical design, “Success Crowning Science.”

Baldwin did not realize himself when he started his tracing for the U. S. 3 cents “Goddess and Victory” stamp (P. O. Die 669) on January 21, 1919, that he would be engraving his last U. S. postage stamp. The design of the stamp had been prepared by C. A. Huston and presented a standing figure of Liberty Victorious, with a background composed of the American flag and at the left of it the flags of Britain and Belgium and at the right the Italian and French flags. Baldwin finished his engraving on January 29th, having spent forty-eight hours on the work. The die proof was approved on Feb- ruary 7th and the stamp issued on March 3rd.

The Salary Question Again

Baldwin and others in his department were still not satisfied with their wage payy and the same committee again called upon Director Wilmeth to discuss the matter of an increase. No action was taken until four months later, when a number of men “received promotions" and Baldwin was passed over. He vehemently protested to his superior, George Rose, and then two days later wrote a second letter to the Director asking for $6,000 salary per annum, telling him if the Government did not grant his request he would resign his position. He had three weeks vacation coming to him, and within a few days he packed his bags and set out for Ocean Grove and then to his cottage at Lake George to try to put behind him the unpleasantness of the past few months and the increas- ing antipathy that was building up within him because of the treatment he had received. His two weeks stay at the Lake ushered in for himself hours of relaxation and days of great happiness and he was able to forget temporarily the disappointments and the trying times of the past year and a half.

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When he returned to the Bureau in early September he was informed that a small increase in salary had been granted, but it was so insignificant that from that period on he lost all hope of obtaining a salary commensurate with his ability and talents as a steel engraver. Some Bureau engravers found other employment; and it became evident to those in higher places that a survey on wages and conditions of the various art workers in the engraving and lithographic firms of New York and other eastern cities should be undertaken. Baldwin was appointed by the Engravers League to serve on the Governing Committee and as such was selected to make such a survey and to collect data on wages and conditions of employees in similar crafts throughout the industry, and upon completion submit a report to the Commission on Reclassification.

Baldwin spent approximately thirty days collecting information from every available source and returned to Washington with a great deal of material and data gathered from bank note, printing, publishing, lithographic and engraving firms. With the assistance of members of the Committee of the Engravers League, a report on his findings was compiled and submitted to the Commission on Reclassification for its report to be filed with Con- gress in January. Little, if anything, was accomplished that was of benefit to Baldwin, as will later be pointed out.

It will be of interest to record that Baldwin makes note in his diary, dated October 29, 1919, “The King of Belgium visited the Bureau today and was conducted to our division and examined our work.” On that day Baldwin was engraving the portrait die of Hon. Jacob E. Meeker of Missouri.

His engraving work for that year also included a figure of a blind man on a war vessel for the embellishment of a certificate issued by the Navy Department to lenders of binoculars and eye glasses, after a sketch by Gordon Grant, the figure of “Victory” for a Government bond after a painting by G. F. C. Yohn, a figure of “Justice”, and portraits of Hon. Wm. A. Jones of Virginia, Hon. Benj. R. Tillman of South Carolina, Edward E. Robbins and Hon. Charles Martin of Illinois.

(To be concluded.)

The Bank of England Note

Book Review

The Bank of England Note. By A. D. Mackenzie. Cambridge University Press, 1953 (32 East 57 St., New York, N. Y.). 176 pp., 16 plates. $3.00.

Considering the vast research and study which Essay-Proof Society members have accomplished in the fields of engraving, printing and papermaking in the United States, the very thorough account by A. D. Mackenzie of the development of England’s paper currency in his book “The Bank of England Note” should be enjoyed and prized by anyone who can get his hands on a copy.

There is no other book on the subject, and Mr. Mackenzie was asked to write this history by the Bank of England. As he was an official of the Bank for many years, he has written with an intimate knowledge both of its organization and procedure and of the technology of bank note printing.

The chapter titled “The Inimitable Note” is a fascinating account of the problem of the prevention of forgery, and immediately brings to mind the same problem in the United States at the time when counterfeit detectors were important publications to every banking house.

This authoritative history is one of those rare occasions when the author has made an absorbing story of what could have been a dry accounting of facts, vet has accomplished his task in a scholarly manner, using footnotes to good advantage and providing an excellent bibliography and index. W. J. Harrison.

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An Introduction to the Essays and Proofs of United States Stamped

Envelopes

By Prescott Holden Thorp

Illustrations courtesy of If. Parsons Todd.

It has been previously pointed out (E.P.J. No. 39, “Our First Stamped Envelopes”) that in all probability only one design was essayed by Nesbitt for the first issue of our stamped envelopes. There is no record other than the brief comment in The Scientific American of February 5, 1853, which stated that “G. F. Nesbitt has shown the Post- master-General an embossed stamp for prepaid envelopes which has been accepted."

It is interesting to note that the only known essays are of the 6c stamp, of which Thorp-Bartels lists the one design struck in green (the issued color) on both white and buff papers and the same design in violet-brown struck on buff paper. The essay very closely resembles the actual issued stamps, the only marked difference being that on the essays there are four strands making up the braided work at the sides while on the issued stamps there are but three strands in the braids.

Strangely enough, there are no trial color printings nor are any proofs of this issue known. There was just the one essay which the Postmaster General approved, and without further fanfare production was immediately started.

We do not know even if this sole essay design was the actual article shown to the PMG, or if this was something that Nesbitt had worked up and changed himself before submitting a design for approval. The three items listed in Thorp-Bartels are, of course, rare, but I do not believe that they are unique. I am under the impression that duplicate copies do exist.

It is interesting to speculate on how this first design was arrived at. We can only speculate, for there are no records to which to refer. Obviously Nesbitt sought to dupli- cate as nearly as he could the design of the current 3c adhesive stamp. There was no 6c adhesive stamp so the design of the 3c was apparently adopted as suitable for both denomi- nations ordered for the envelopes. Incidentally, the lack of a 6c adhesive stamp is, of itself, a very interesting conundrum. This denomination, to meet a specific rate, first appeared with the 1853 issue of stamped envelopes. For some reason unknown to the writer a 6c adhesive stamp was not added to the various issues until 1869! During all of those years, from 1853 to 1869, through various changes of designs a 6c stamped envelope was always with us. It was with us in green and red for the 1853 issue; in red for the i860 issue; in pink for the 1861 issue, and in both pink and purple for the 1864- 65 issue. Yet during that entire period no adhesive 6c stamp was ever issued!

Now if we will study the designs of the adhesive stamps that were current in 1852- 53 it will easily be seen why Nesbitt selected the 3c design after which to pattern his 3c envelope stamp. The design presented pure simplicity, a feature much needed if it were to be adopted to the medium Nesbitt had in mind embossing. There were but three elements: a bust of Washington, a simple frame, and the lettering to indicate the denomi- nation. He even dropped the words “U. S. Postage" from his design.

For seven years thereafter this single design proved eminently satisfactory for the three denominations in which stamped envelopes were issued, viz., three cents, six cents, and ten cents. Nesbitt did not attempt to copy the complicated design of the 10c adhesive

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Pig. 1

The issued envelope with lc stamp of the essay design.

stamp when, in 1855, it became necessary to add this denomination to the envelope series. There are no essays of a 10c design, and none, so far as I am aware, were requested. Nesbitt simply received an order to produce ten cent envelopes and went ahead according to his own discretion.

In passing, it may be said that the sheer simplicity of the design marks it to this day as one of the most beautiful and pleasing of our envelope stamps.

It is not to be supposed that the advent of stamped envelopes was of such common- place significance that it passed unnoticed. Records prove quite the contrary. The New York Times and the National Intelligencer both soundly berated Nesbitt for putting his advertising seals on the back flaps of the new envelopes. The public, also, protested loudly and a full-fledged scandal was narrowly averted by the prompt action of the Post Office Department in ordering that the seals be removed.

Strangely enough, apparently no one noted the omission of the lettering “U. S. Postage” or the fact that the name of our country did not appear anywhere in the design. Perhaps this was because many people were used to seeing stamps of England without benefit of a name of country of origin and accepted the similar lack on the new envelope stamps as nothing out of the ordinary.

Quite probably Nesbitt’s first design would have sailed merrily on if it were not that in i860 it became necessary to issue a one cent envelope. A glance at the ic adhesive stamp reveals the utter impossibility of adapting those whirligigs to the embossing process.

Nesbitt essayed a new design with a bust of Franklin which, apparently, was just as promptly accepted as had been his earlier design for the first issue. He apparently never bothered to essay the 3c design. So far as we have material from which to study, the 3c stamp of this new series “just grew”. He did essay a bicolor 3c design made by pasting a collar containing the lettering and denomination around the already adopted 3c design!

As to the ic design which was “essayed”, wTe are again left to conjecture just which of the three dies all of which were actually adopted and put into use was the “essay.”

In the first issue of The Essay-Proof Journal, Dr. Clarence Brazer set forth the definition of an “Essay” as follows:

“ESSAY any design, or part of a design essayed to or produced by a government

(or established mail carrier) for a stamp and differing in design in any particular

from an officially issued stamp." (The italics ours. Ed.)

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Fig. 2

The compound envelope essay. Note lc stamp is the so-called essay design.

This is a clear and concise definition that has stood the test of time. To be an essay the design must in some particular differ from the adopted and issued stamp. If it does not differ in any particular then we have a stamp and not an essay.

Hence if we had an impression of an envelope stamp which in every respect was identical to the issued stamp, even to the actual paper on which the stamp was issued, it would be an issued stamp. If cut square it would be merely classified as a cut square. If entire it would be an entire.

H owever, if we had such an impression on an entire envelope in some size that was not issued, then we would have an essay of an envelope, but not of the stamp.

It is necessary when considering essays of United States stamped envelopes that we keep these definitions clearly in mind.

Th us when the statement is made that Nesbitt “essayed’’ a ic design for the i860 series, all we have at hand is an envelope in an unissued size, of unofficial paper, on which is printed a ic stamp in a design identical with that on an envelope that was issued.

The issued design on an issued envelope is as shown in our illustration (Fig. 1). The envelope bears the corner card of The American Express Co. (Quite possibly this is the earliest use of a corner card on a U. S. stamped envelope.) The presence of the corner card gives us a clue as to what possibly took place, which will be explained later.

First it should be understood that this is the only “issued” envelope on which this particular die of the ic stamp was used. (It is clearly identified by the bust of Franklin which touches the frame both front and back) Second, that all known copies of this envelope are believed to carry the corner card as illustrated. It is not a rare envelope, being in reasonable supply both unused and used and even more common with a Specimen overprint.

Now, with this clearly in mind, we come to the “compound” envelopes, i. e., the envelopes issued in December of i860 on which there appeared a 3c plus a ic stamp. (Fig. 2). H ere we have three very rare envelopes with the stamps in opposite corners, which are quite clearly essays. Postmaster John A. Dix of New York, in a letter to Third Assistant Postmaster General, A. N. Zevely, wrote that the manufacturers had sub- mitted some envelopes with the stamps in opposite corners but that this idea was objection- able because it would require the clerks to cancel each envelope twice once for each stamp.

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There are but three examples of this envelope known: one on white, one on buff,

anil a third on buff with an almost invisible overprint of very fine safety lines on its face.

On these three envelopes there is also evidence of some chemical treatment of the paper which would tend to ruin the envelope under certain conditions. (Here we have evidence that Nesbitt was not unmindful of possible future competition from the bank note com- panies who were making attempts to induce the government into further “security” mea-

sures against counterfeiting.) 3 he copy of the letter from Postmaster Dix which I saw did not comment on this chemical treatment effort.

The Same 1c Die Used

Now the interesting feature of these three envelopes is that the ic stamp is from the same die used for the American Express company envelopes. (Fig. 1). Also interesting to note is that this same peculiar die was used on the envelope essay (Thorp-Bartels No. 2).

Fig. 3

The “compound” as finally issued but with the rare lc “essay” design which had actually been used on an issued envelope. See Fig. 1 .

Now, still considering the “compound’’ envelopes, we come to three additional enor- mously rare envelopes with both stamps in the usual position at the upper right hand corner. (Fig. 3). These envelopes are as follows: the small size 2 with Patent Lines (Knife 8), the regular size 3, both on white paper, and the size 3 on buff paper.

Existence of these envelopes was noted by Tiffany, Bogart & Rechert in their monu- mental work published in 1892. T. B. Sc R. did not think well of them and commented as follows: “Recently a pair of envelopes knife 2 buff, and knife 8 white, with this Die [the compound] have turned up abroad, the history of which is unknown to us. They present a different combination from those enumerated. . . . The impression of the Die 12 [the ic die under discussion. Ed.] is far clearer than any known impression of the Die. Unmistakable evidence that the envelopes originally struck with Die 9 [the 3c die Ed.] have been opened and the new impression from either the original die or a wonderful reproduction of it, leads us to believe the specimens to be of recent origin.”

Quite obviously 3'. B. Sc R. did not like these envelopes and left the impression that

they might be counterfeits. However, the solution to the riddle was quickly supplied bv the late Sir Gilbert Harrison wTho reviewed the T. B. & R. book in the London Philatelist. Sir Gilbert mildly commented that T. B. & R. had not given much attention to his many

suggestions and that in so far as these compound envelopes were concerned he had the

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two mentioned and that they had come to him via a third party direct from Postmaster A. N. Z evely. Sir Gilbert also commented that he believed there were others. In a later edition of the Lotidoji Philatelist covering the Nesbitt envelopes these particular items were not included, but a note explained that in view of Sir Gilbert’s remarks the omission was intentional, as these envelopes were quite “obviously essays.’’

Much later the Knife 2 on white was discovered and all three were listed in Bartels 1 9 1 1 catalogue as Type 5 of the five types of the compound envelopes that were issued. All five types of the “compounds were illustrated on the “Frisch Plates” which accom- panied some of the Bartels 1911 catalogues. A fewT years ago Marcus W. White (E. P. S. 20) acquired at auction still another example (on buff paper) of this exceedingly rare envelope.

It has previously been mentioned that the presence of the American Express com- pany corner card on the issued envelope (Fig. 1) presented a clue as to what possibly took place.

If we assume that the first use of this die was on the envelope essay (Thorp-Bartels No. 2), then we may assume that this envelope was submitted to the Department and approved. Nesbitt then proceeded to make working dies to produce envelopes, all of which, because of the crude methods of making dies, of course wrere very different from the die which had been approved. (More correctly let us say “the design which had been approved”). For some reason this approved die was kept aside and not put into production. Then, when it became necessary to submit designs for a 3-cent plus i-cent envelope, he got out this unused die to produce his first essays- the stamps in opposite corners. These being rejected, he overcame the objection by placing the stamps close together and to produce his samples used this die which was not in production. Clearly we have here an essay design albeit an approved essay design. Now at some time in this story of conjecture Nesbitt received an order for envelopes with a corner card at left. This was a special order (even as today), so not desiring to disturb his production he got out the approved, but so far unused, die and put it to work. The die was no longer an essay. It wTas an issued stamp! It is clearly evident, I think, that at the early stages the Post Office Department did not require each working die to he approved before it could be used. It seems to me that only the design was submitted for approval and from there on the manufacturer was allowed the greatest latitude in producing wffiatever working dies he might require.

Now somewhere along the line there has been considerable fuzzy thinking about these envelopes. T. B. & R. suspected them to be possible counterfeits. Sir Gilbert Har- rison proved them to be genuine by revealing their source, yet dropped them from his own list as “obviously essays.” Bartels picked them up and listed them as one of the types of the issued envelopes.

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All three of these sources seem to have lost sight of one very pertinent fact. The ic die with the bust of Franklin touching back and front had been used on a regularly issued envelope.

Bartels ignored the fact that this ic die had long been recognized as a major variety in his own and all other catalogues, and merely buried this compound as one of the five varieties. When he did so he also buried the extreme rarity of the envelope.

As late as 1950 when the writer acquired the Missbach collection, this rare envelope wTas merely considered “an elusive item.” The Missbach collection turned up a cut square both stamps of wffiich had been mutilated with a punch hole. (See Fig. 4.) When making a visit to my home, W. Parsons Todd (E. P. S. 134) noted this cut square and admired it, so it became his property. Both Mr. Todd and myself were of the opinion that these things must exist somewhere, but neither he nor 1 had ever seen one. Inquiry revealed that no one else had ever seen these envelopes other than the three entires wffiich reposed in the Barkhausen collection. (These three have since been acquired by Mr. Todd.) Later, Marcus White wras to secure his copy of the buff entire. Envelope collectors began to compare notes and the great rarity of these became increasingly evident. The three entires and the cut square, now owmed by Mr. Todd, and the Marcus White entire are the only examples knowm to exist.

The academic question remains to be discussed: Are these envelopes “obviously essays”, as stated by the late Sir Gilbert Harrison?

We get back to the definition of an essay as noted in the beginning of this article. It w-ould seem that they are not essays, for both stamps are in the identical design as the issued stamps and on officially issued envelopes.

It wfill be argued that because at least twTo of the entires wTere presented to a friend by a Post Office official and that this ic die was never used on a wffiite or buff paper envel- ope other than on these compounds, they are, ipso facto, essays.

Yet such an argument is, in this waiter’s opinion, specious. It is to be borne in mind that neither the Post Office Department nor the manufacturers either designated, or w^ere interested in, wffiich die was used on which envelope and wre come up with the quite obvious fact that the envelopes could have been, and still can be, used for the payment of postage. (The compounds were never demonetized.) The fact that the manufacturer showred a combination of stamps from two dies the 3c plus the ic both of wffiich had been approved and put into production, but when he came to production of the compound envelopes used two other dies, is a matter of manufacturing convenience and not intent. H owever, the facts are set dowm as they exist and the argument will probably go on into infinity.

It is a most interesting situation, but once again indicates that George Nesbitt had the greatest latitude in the production of our early envelopes and apparently selected whatever designs he considered appropriate.

It was not until the advent of the bicolored designs of 1861 that we have evidence of any serious attempt to essay a design for our stamped envelopes. Here Nesbitt produced six different design essays and made trial colors in a variety of combinations of each. This must have been an experiment prompted by Nesbitt himself to get the government to use two-color stamps, for, with the very next issue the 2-cent “Black Jacks” we find no essays. He merely adapted to the 2-cent stamp an essay he had previouly made for a 15-cent denomination. He did essay color trials of the 2-cent Black Jack in the rare Die B, but apparently these w^ere satisfactory and he was authorized to go ahead with production. And wffien he did go into production he apparently changed the design willy- nilly. For some reason known only to himself (at least unknown to collectors) he changed the open figure “2” design of what wre know as “Die B" and produced a closed figure “2”. Then he apparently had difficulty making working dies which spelled out

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1 33

the words “U. S. Postage” and so shortened it to read “U. S. Post.” Then he widened this latter die simply, it would seem, to suit his manufacturing process. 1 have found no evidence that he sought, or obtained, permission to do these things. He just did them.

The unadopted essay for official Post Office correspondence.

Envelopes Are Containers

All this brings up an interesting sidelight on envelopes which is usually completely overlooked. The important thing about the envelope and the reason for its introduction at all was that it was a container which, by law, could not be used again. The stamp on the envelope was, and still is, of minor importance. Such stamps may not be cut off and re-used. Nor may a damaged envelope be re-used. It is the same principle as the whiskey or a tobacco container. The container may not be re-used. It was clearly recog- nized that if mail was to be permitted to be carried by private concerns “outside of the mail”, then some sort of a “non-refillable bottle” had to be devised a container that once used could not be used again, i.e., an envelope. The stamp on that envelope was merely an indication that the tax had been paid.* It didn’t matter too much that extensive means be used to print the stamp by some method that would be difficult to counterfeit. That stamp was only of use if it were impressed on an officially authorized and never before used envelope. From the very beginning the Postmaster General was authorized “to provide . . . . suitable letter envelopes, with such watermarks or other guards against counterfeits as he may deem expedient, and with one or more suitable postage stamps .... printed or impressed thereon.” The very wording clearly indicates that the envelope should be safe- guarded against counterfeits.

* Note that when the envelope was used by an express company or other private carrier the stamp on the envelope became a tax. It merely indicated that the proper amount of postage had been paid to the government even though the government had no part in the delivery of the letter. The express company charged its own fee from which it deducted and paid to the government the cost of the stamp. A common Wells Fargo envelope cost the user ten cents, for which W. F. supplied the envelope and delivered the letter. The government collected its “tax” in advance, of course. Flowever, express companies often would drop the mail into the Post Office at the termination of their routes and, thus force the government to complete the delivery.

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I his premise probably accounts for the apparent lack of interest in the stamps Nesbitt selected to impress on the envelopes. So long as they were presentable no one gave them much thought.

By 1868, however, Nesbitt was pressed by competitors and he, along with the bank note companies, began to essay designs for stamps. Such designs were often made into actual envelopes and printed in a variety of colors. Nesbitt was hard pressed by the bank note companies who, promoting their “security” methods of printing, produced in quantity some truly beautiful line-engraved designs. These also were struck off on complete envelopes. While the bank note companies were unsuccessful in obtaining the contracts, Nesbitt finally lost out to the very beautiful designs produced by George Reay. From Reay through the Plimpton issues and to this day the story of essays of designs for our stamped envelopes is rather vague.

We are presented with a well defined group of drawings and design essays for the Columbian issue, and in some of the later issues, especially the 1899 and the 1907 series, there are numerous essays and sketches leading up to the adopted design.

Probably the most ambitious essays were the very beautiful designs proposed for official correspondence of the Post Office Department. The illustration shows one of these envelopes on which the designs were embossed in red, blue or brown, on complete envelopes made up of especially watermarked paper showing the letters “U. S. A." and a large eagle. The series of envelopes of various sizes runs to some eighty different items as listed in Thorp-Bartels. The idea was never adopted.

United States Patent Office

By Sol Altmann, E. P. S. 25 (Continued from Journal No. 45, page 41)

E. Harmon 41,505 h eb. 9, 1864

Postage and Revenue Stamp.

J. P. Herron 39,147 July 7, 1863

Device for Preserving Postage Stamps.

J. P. Herron 43,989 Aug. 30, 1864

Mode for cutting Envelopes from sheets of Paper.

S. Lenher and

H. H. Spencer 97,628 Dec. 7, 1869

Improved Mode of Preparing Paper for Printing Postage and Reve- nue Stamps.

E. A. Locke 93,39 1 Aug. 3, 1869

Improvement in Revenue Stamps for Barrels.

F. Mills 91,473 June 15, 1869

Postal Currency Envelope.

C. Rowland 117,818

Improvement in Card-Envelopes.

Aug. 8, 1871

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 35

U. S. Proof Panes in Ackerman

Collection

By Clarence W. Brazer, D.Sc.

Senator Ernest R. Ackerman died October 18, 1931. He had been a New Jersey state senator and in 1919 was elected to Congress. From 1878 to 1883 he had been a stamp dealer in New York, then joining the Lawrence Cement Co. at Plainfield, N. J., of which he eventually became President. He never lost his avid interest in stamps and his collection was enormous.

The nineteenth section of his Will dated November 9. 1929 (Probated October 29, 1931) states, “/ give and bequeath to the Library of Congress of the United States of America all Proofs of United States Stamps which shall be owned by me at the time of my death.” Only about three volumes of common, mostly single, proofs mounted in three albums were received about 1937 by the Print Department of the Library of Congress, where they have been seen in the Print Room.

There was also inventoried a collection of Llnited States and foreign special printings, reprints, essays, color trials [proofs], specimen stamps, etc., Vols. or P’k’gs. 16 $60,207.00.” These were mostly U. S. proofs but were appraised as “special printings, reprints, essays, color trials,” etc. It included a complete 1903 book of small die proofs and 5 albums of 21 1 pages that contained 51 postal card color essays, 11 accepted designs printed on envelopes, 44 entire envelope essays, 15 color Penalty envelope essays, 25 envelope essays cut square, 47 envelope trial color proofs. The inventory also listed many singles and blocks up to 40 of unidentified items valued up to $2400 each, totaling about $8,000. But most important were 238 sheets of 10 to 400 U. S. India paper plate proofs of all postage issues from the 1851 to the 1893 Columbian issue, including all the official department proofs, 1851 carriers, 1885 to 1893 special delivery, 1875 and 1879 Newspaper sets, 1879 to 1893 Postage Due sets, and Official Seal proofs. It also included 215 panes of 20 to 150 each of the printing of U. S. cardboard plate panes which I fully described and listed in the American Philatelist for October, 1941 under the title “Where are the Earl of Crawford and Senator Ackerman Sheets of U. S. Plate Proofs.” The total estate appraisal of these items in Folio 85 was $87,672.45 in 1932. Appraisals of estate properties are generally very moderate in order to escape high taxes, so the actual retail value today would probably be three or four times this amount. For instance the 16 sheets of 100 Columbians on India paper were appraised at only $200 per sheet, except 3 sheets, while the $5 sheet appraised at $300, now catalogs $2200 as singles and $3000 as blocks of four.

Official Distribution of Plate Proofs

There can be no question that all the U. S. India paper plate proofs are “proofs of U. S. Stamps” as bequeathed, and not “special printing” or “reprints” as appraised in the inventory, as they were printed contemporaneously with or before the stamps. The U. S. Post Office Department at various times distributed sets of proofs on India paper in small envelopes. On one of the official circulars describing the April 1870 issue, and enclosed in an official Post Office Department envelope containing a set of plate proofs on India paper is written “India proofs Compliments of / W. H. H. Terrell / 3d. Asst. P. M. Gen.” The complete set of 92 department plate proofs on India paper were also distributed in nine small envelopes on the face of which is printed, “United States / Official / Postage Stamps / 1873. / India Proof Specimens / Department of Agriculture.” The 1875 set of 24 U. S. Newspaper plate proofs on India paper was also distributed in small envelopes printed on the face with “Uffiited States / Newspaper and Periodical / Stamps / 1874 / India Proof Specimens.”

x36

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

The proofs on cardboard are also officially designated as “proofs.” In 1879 the Post Office Department distributed sets of 177 U. S. plate proofs on cardboard of all issues of postage stamps prior to that date, each of the 17 sets contained in small envelopes on the face of which is printed “United States / Postage Stamps / 1847 / Proof Specimens.” and a letter on Patent Office Department stationery presenting these, which was in my col- lection, is dated Nov. 21, i879> and states “Enclosed I send you the proofs promised on Wednesday. I hope you will like them.” It is signed by “A. D. H.” (A. D. Hazen).

In 1885 another printing of 184 plate proofs on thin cardboard of all U. S. Postage stamps issued prior to that time was distributed in 17 small envelopes on each of which was printed the same inscription as on the 1879 distribution. I also have a photostat of a letter that transmitted these proofs, written on official Post Office Department letterhead, dated “Oct. 3, 1885.”, from which is quoted “I take pleasure in sending you herewith a complete set of the proof specimens of the United States postage stamps of the several series issued from 1847 to the present time.” It is signed by “Madison Davis, acting Third Assistant Postmaster General.”

Similar distributions of U. S. plate proofs on cardboard were distributed in 1890, January 1893 and May 1893. I have the original letter on official Post Office Department I hird Asst. P. M. G. letterhead dated May 18, 1893, transmitting these 21 1 card proofs in 19 envelopes, from which is quoted “I note your request for the Columbians, and with this enclose you set of proofs of the adhesives.” The letter is signed “A. D. H.” (A. D. Hazen, who was then Third Assistant Postmaster General) and was mailed in a Post Office Department official business envelope.

After these cardboard proofs were printed by the American Bank Note Co. the plates were returned “Some weeks prior to July 1, 1894” to the Post Office Department, and after the Bureau of Engraving and Printing obtained the contract in 1894 all the stamp plates produced by the private companies were destroyed. Since then no plate proofs of prior issues can be printed.

The Ackerman Cardboard Sheets

The complete set of sheets of cardboard proofs from the Ackerman collection match in shades of color and in thickness of the cardboard with the cardboard proofs presented with the letter of May 18, 1893, quoted above. The whole lot of 215 sheets of cardboard proofs, as formerly in the Crawford collection, is listed and described in detail with plate num- bers and number of proofs in the sheets, in my article in the American Philatelist for October 1941, to which those interested are referred. This list checks fairly correctly with the Ackerman inventory, except the 1847 reproductions, which are missing in the inventory but were included in those offered for sale. The card proof sheets of 1869 “inverts” were cut up by the Nassau Stamp Co. and were not in the Ackerman collection, except the plate number blocks of eight illustrated in the sale Catalog.

That article was written in May, 1937, shortly after I investigated the proofs deliv- ered to the Congressional Library and saw the will and inventory at Trenton, N. J., but publication was delayed until 1941.

About the time the story was published, a New York dealer showed me the entire lot of the Ackerman U. S. plate proofs on cardboard and I examined them carefully and was able to identify them as from the 1894 final printing. They were offered for sale but no one would buy them, as they were considered the property of the Library of Congress. In the meantime Mr. Ackerman’s wife, sister and brother died and I understood sometime ago that these proofs were to be returned to a more distant heir, a young man who had no interest in them, until such time as a court decision might clear the title to ownership.

Senator Ackerman no doubt appreciated the great value of all these proofs to philatel- ists and probably wished to place them permanently in a public library where philatelists

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

*37

might study them for plate varieties, etc. He well knew the Congressional Library as a proper depository for such a bequest. There is no other collection known of U. S. proofs in complete sheets that can even feebly compare with it. Even the Post Office Department does not possess such records, but there are some faded and soiled cardboard sheets in the Smithsonian Institution that were deposited there after having been exhibited at several large Expositions. That lot is not complete, as some sheets were stolen at the 1900 Paris Exposition and cut up, most of which were retrieved by Government Agents after long search in Europe, and each single replaced in the sheets.

The Ackerman panes of cardboard proofs were sold March 28, 1950 by Harmer, Rooke & Co. whose Catalog illustrated six sheets. That sale realized about $20,500. or about one-fifth Scott’s U. S. Catalog value. The India paper panes were sold at auction by the same firm on June 5, 1951 and the sale Catalog illustrated seven of the sheets. The total realization of this sale was about $33,500. for a Scott’s Catalog value of about $185,000. Photos of 37 lots between 1 and 114 exist.

Before, or about the time, the sheets of cardboard plate proofs were offered for sale after 1939 or 1940, I understand that all the India paper sheets of plate proofs were offered to another New York dealer. The sheets of India paper proofs are probably from different plates, all now destroyed. These sheets of proofs are most important to philat- elists as the India paper proofs show every minute detail of the engraving, and being printed before the stamps are in the finest possible condition. The list below was copied from the inventory at Trenton, N. J. in 1937.

1851-1860 Late [Sheets of 100 probably Value

1875

plates of lc, 3c, 10c

and 12c]

Type 1

15c

sheet

of

100

500.00

Value

[Above

is probably Type 3]

lc

sheet

of

100

500.00

Type 2

15c

sheet

of

100

150.00

3c

sheet

of

100

500.00

24c

sheet

of

100

150.00

5c

sheet

of

200

600.00

30c

sheet

of

100

200.00

10c

sheet

of

100

300.00

90c

sheet

of

100

500.00

12c

sheet

of

100

300.00

1870

lc

sheet

of

200

300.00

24c

sheet

of

200

1000.00

2c

sheet

of

200

300.00

30c

sheet

of

200

1000.00

3c

sheet

of

200

300.00

90c

sheet

of

200

1200.00

3c

sheet

of

200

300.00

1861

First design

6c

sheet

of

200

300.00

10c

sheet

of

200

1000.00

7c

sheet

of

200

300.00

1861

Regular issue

10c

sheet

of

200

300.00

lc

sheet

of

100

200.00

10c

sheet

of

200

300.00

3c

sheet

of

200

400.00

12c

sheet

of

200

300.00

5c

sheet

of

100

150.00

15c

sheet

of

200

300.00

10c

sheet

of

100

150.00

24c

sheet

of

200

400.00

12c

sheet

of

100

200.00

30c

sheet

of

200

400.00

24c

sheet

of

200

500.00

90c

sheet

of

200

400.00

30c

sheet

of

200

500.00

1873

lc

sheet

of

200

400.00

90c

sheet

of

200

500.00

2c

sheet

of

199

398.00

1862-66 2c

sheet

of

100

200.00

3c

sheet

of

200

400.00

15c

sheet

of

200

400.00

7c

sheet

of

200

400.00

1869

lc

sheet

of

150

150.00

12c

sheet

of

200

400.00

[Probably 1880 reissue]

15c

sheet

of

200

400.00

lc

sheet

of

300

300.00

1875

2c

sheet

of

200

300.00

2c

sheet

of

300

300.00

5c

sheet

of

200

300.00

3c

sheet

of

300

300.00

1879 ABNC 30c sheet

200

400.00

6c

sheet

of

300

300.00

1882

5c

sheet

of

200

200.00

10c

sheet

of

300

300.00

lc

sheet

of

200

300.00

10c

sheet

of

300

300.00

6c

sheet

of

200

300.00

12c

sheet

of

300

450.00

10c

sheet

of

200

300.00

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

Value

Value

1883

2c

sheet

of

200

300.00

Agriculture

4c

sheet

of

200

300.00

lc to 30c 9

sheets of

100

900.00

1887

2c

sheet

of

200

300.00

Executive

3c

sheet

of

200

300.00

lc to 10c 5

sheets of

100

550.00

1888

4c

sheet

of

200

500.00

Interior

30c

sheet

of

200

500.00

lc to 90c 10

sheets of

100

1000.00

90c

sheet

of

200

600.00

Justice

1890

lc

sheet

of

200

600.00

lc to 90c 10

sheets of

100

1125.00

lc

sheet

of

180

540.00

Navy

[lake]

2c

sheet

of

200

600.00

lc to 9 0c 11

sheets of

100

1125.00

[carmine] 2c

sheet

of

200

600.00

P. O. D.

3c

sheet

of

200

600.00

lc to 90c 10

sheets of

100

1000.00

3c

sheet

of

200

600.00

State

4c

sheet

of

200

600.00

lc to 90c 11

sheets of

100

1125.00

4c

sheet

of

200

600.00

$2 to $20 4

sheets of

10

185.00

5c

sheet

of

200

600.00

Treasury

5c

sheet

of

200

600.00

lc to 90c 11

sheets of

100

1100.00

6c

sheet

of

200

600.00

War

6c

sheet

of

200

600.00

lc to 90c 11

sheets of

100

1100.00

8c

sheet

of

200

600.00

Franklin Carrier

sheet of

100

125.00

10c

sheet

of

200

600.00

Eagle Carrier

sheet of

200

200.00

15c

sheet

of

200

600.00

1885 Special Del.

sheet of

100

250.00

30c

sheet

of

200

600.00

1888 Special Del.

sheet of

100

250.00

90c

sheet

of

200

600.00

1893 Special Del.

sheet of

100

200.00

1893

lc

sheet

of

100

200.00

1865 Newspaper 5c sheet of 20

10.00

2c

sheet

of

120

240.00

[cardboard] 10c sheet of 20

10.00

2c

sheet

of

100

200.00

2 5c sheet of 20

10.00

3c

sheet

of

100

200.00

187 5 Newspaper [$3 missin

g]

4c

sheet

of

100

200.00

2c to $60 23

sheets of

100

2700.00

5c

sheet

of

100

200.00

1879 Postage Due

6c

sheet

of

100

200.00

10c black-brown

sheet of

200

150.00

8c

sheet

of

100

200.00

3 0c black-brown

sheet of

200

150.00

10c

sheet

of

100

200.00

5 0c black-brown

sheet of

200

150.00

15c

sheet

of

100

200.00

187 9 Postage Due

•30c

sheet

of

100

200.00

lc to 5 0c brown 7

sheets of

200

1050.00

50c

sheet

of

100

200.00

1891 Postage Due

$1

sheet

of

100

200.00

lc to 50c claret 7

sheets of

200

1400.00

$2

sheet

of

100

200.00

Official Seal

sheet of

100

75.00

$3

sheet

of

100

200.00

9 odd cardboard

sheets of

100

1005.00

$4

sheet

of

100

250.00

$5

sheet

of

100

300.00

Frame Designs of Papua’s 1932 Issue

The frame design common to the vertical-format stamps of Papua’s 1932 issue is attributed to F. E. Williams by Alec A. Rosenblum, writing in the November 1951 issue of The Australian Stamp Monthly. These depict native carvings found on canoes of the Delta district. The corner emblems are adaptations of the emblems carved at prow and stern of their canoes, according to Williams.

Paul Boesch, Swiss Designer

Paul Boesch, designer of a number of Swiss stamps, was born in 1889 and since 1916 has resided in Bern.

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

139

An Essay for a North Carolina

Confederate Note

By Julian Blanchard, Ph.D.

During the past few years there has developed a rapidly increasing interest in Con- federate Currency as a matter of fact in all sorts of paper money. It extends to our colonial issues, the obsolete pre-Civil War bank notes, and the subsequent U. S. notes that displaced them. Partly as a result of such interest, and partly stimulating it, a grow- ing literature in this field is making its appearance. Most notable, perhaps, have been two publications actually illustrating valid United States notes, by special permission of the Secretary of the Treasury. Several good catalogs and listings of Confederate paper money now exist, and it may surprise the non-collector to learn that certain Confederate notes are now worth much more than they ever were during the life of that government.

It has been said, and it seems to be correct, that the State of North Carolina put out more varieties of paper money than any other member of the Confederacy. Its last but one issue, dated Jan. 1, 1863 (the last was exactly one year later), was a long one, con- taining fourteen denominations, from five cents to fifty dollars.

N. C. $50 Confederate Note of 186*1. Printed from a Lithographic Stone

Proof of Portion of Design for $50 N. C. Note, llecess

Engraved.

(Essay)

140

The Essay-Proof Journa 1 No. 47

I he $50 note of this issue is shown in the accompanying illustration. It has as its central vignette a portrait of Zebulon B. Vance, the State’s war governor. Below this is a rectangular block of engine work forming the stencil-like word FIFTY in white. This block is in red and was printed first, as it can be seen that the black printing covers the red. All the printing was from a lithographic stone.

The reason for showing this note is for comparison with our illustration of what appears to be an essay in the development of the note. It is a part only of the design of this note, omitting the portrait and the block of engine work mentioned. The imprint on the essay and the issued note is the same, Engd. & Lithod. by J. T. Paterson & Co., Augusta, Ga. While the issued note is obviously printed from a lithographic stone, the essay is just as obviously a print from an intaglio engraved plate. So we have here the secret of how some, at least, of the Confederate notes were produced. The designs were first engraved on steel or copper plates, and then transferred by the method in vogue to a lithographic printing stone.

The portrait missing from our essay was no doubt separately engraved on another plate (or die) and separately transferred to the stone. The same portrait was used in practically the same position on the somewhat similar $20 note of this series.

It can be said that the figure of Justice at the left is not well engraved. Even on the proof impression the eyes and mouth appear to be hardly more than dots, and the hands and fingers are poorly formed. Such features as these are tests of a good engraver and show that the artist here was not top notch. The lettering, however, is quite creditable.

No other copies of this essay have been seen by the writer and it is not known whether it has been previously reported elsewhere. It was discovered as a sort of “sleeper” in a large auction lot during the current year, the lot consisting of a miscellany of what was mostly “junk”.

J. T. Paterson Sc Co,

The story of this firm, whose imprint is found on the above specimens, has been gleaned from August Dietz’s great work on “The Postal Service of the Confederate States of America”, 1929, and from his C. S. A. Catalog and Handbook, 1945. As told in the first-named book, J. T. Paterson was a resident of Richmond, a jeweler and a man of means, a friend and patron of Charles Ludwig, of the lithographic printing firm of Hover & Ludwig. About the time of the threatened investment of Richmond by McClelland’s army, in 1862, Hoyer & Ludwig sold part of their equipment to Paterson, who removed it to Columbia, S. C., as a measure of safety. He had secured a contract for the printing of some of the Confederate notes. According to the Dietz Catalog, “Upon the passage of an act increasing the Confederate letter-rate from five to ten cents, in April, 1862, a pressing need arose for larger quantities of the ten-cent denomination. Hoyer & Ludwig were not equipped to meet this sudden demand for a greatly increased output, whereupon the Department commissioned the firm of J. T. Paterson & Co., of Columbia, S. C., to print an order of the ten-cent stamps, furnishing for this purpose transfers taken from the . Hoyer & Ludwig stones . . .

“When the order came to Paterson he was located in Columbia, S. C., but shortly thereafter removed to Augusta, Ga., from which city emanated all the 10-cent stamps, as far as we know.” However, it is stated that a curious erasure on one of his imprints suggests the possibility of Columbia imprinted stamps eventually being found.

Immediately after removing from Richmond, Paterson began printing money for the Confederate government, the work consisting chiefly in lithographing notes that had been engraved by Hoyer & Ludwig, probably being furnished with transfers by that concern just as in the case of the above-mentioned stamps. The early imprints on the notes read “J. T. Paterson”, afterwards “J. T. Paterson & Co.,” the name of his associate not being known. Confederate States $5, $10 and $100 notes of 1862 bear the Paterson

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

141

imprint as of Columbia, S. C., while some of the state notes of Alabama and North Carolina, including the one we have illustrated, show the imprint “J. T. Paterson & Co., Augusta, Ga.”

The Lithographic Process

With the exception of the beautiful notes produced at the start of the war by the New York engraving firms, the National Bank Note Co. and the American Bank Note Co. (or the southern branch of the latter, the Southern Bank Note Co., of New Orleans), most of the notes of the Confederacy, national, state and local, were produced entirely by the lithographic process, by local firms. It is obvious from their flat appearance, to the experienced observer, that they are surface printed. Some collectors may be misled, how- ever, by the imprint “Engraved by .... or “Engraved & Printed by .... seen on most of the later notes and wrongly assume that the word “engraved” refers only to the recess cutting that most of us are familiar with. As a matter of fact, the term may refer either to the recess engraved or to the lithographic “engraved” work that was trans- ferred from the original metal dies or the primary lithographic stones, respectively, onto the printing stone. In the lithographic engraving process there is no cutting of the stone. The process is, rather, a “scratching” through of the special black coating that has been put over the face of the stone, the completed design appearing (in reverse) in sharp, white lines on a black background. After this, the engraving is rubbed with linseed oil, then the black coating washed off with turpentine and water, leaving the clear, greasy design on the stone.

By means of a special transfer paper, a design on either a recess engraved plate or on a lithographic stone may be transferred to the printing stone. Also, by the same litho- graphic engraving process above described a design can be engraved (“scratched”) directly on the printing stone without the use of any transferring. In fact, after such trans- ferring there is nearly always some finishing work necessary to be done by hand.

For the transfer paper, India is most generally used. It is coated with a mixture of starch, dextrine, flour, gelatine, glycerine and water, boiled to a paste. In making a transfer, the washed-off stone is inked with a fatty, black transfer ink by means of a dauber, the stone being kept well dampened. The transfer ink adheres to the lines of the design, having an affinity for the linseed oil, while the dampened area of the stone repels the greasy ink and remains clear. When the transfer paper is pressed onto this inked design it picks up a print a proof of the “engraving”. This in turn can be laid down on the suitably prepared printing stone, thus accomplishing the desired transfer. A similar procedure is followed in transferring from a recess engraved plate or die, except that no wetting of the plate is done, the ink adhering to the unengraved portions of the plate being wiped off, while that in the incised lines remains.

Bank Note Designs Used for Confederate Notes

One more point may be mentioned with regard to the lithographed Confederate notes.. It has been observed that many of their vignettes appear to have been copied from the current bank notes, though the details were not always reproduced wTith great accuracy. In fact, portions of the designs were sometimes considerably altered. How was this, copying accomplished?

In discussing the designs used on Confederate notes, Philip H. Chase in his book “Confederate Treasury Notes”, 1947 (page 130), states that “At the time the firm of Hoyer & Ludwig was engaged by the Secretary of the Treasury in the late Spring of 1861, this firm undoubtedly had in stock a large variety of vignettes, borders, portraits, rosettes and other illustrative as well as decorative material, either in the form of its own engravings on stone, or transfers from the originals of other concerns' engravings.” Such was most probably the case, not only for this firm but printers generally. Some years before the war broke out there were several companies or individuals in the business of selling transfers (on metal or stone) of old bank note vignettes to the printing trade, these

142

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

being used for such work as checks, receipts, bill and letter heads, etc. These designs were some that had been used on bank notes that had gone out of existence, and in many cases from dies obtained from bank note engraving companies that had failed. One of the most prominent of such dealers was W. L. Ormsby, who was in this business by 1852 or earlier, a portion of one of his catalogs being in the possession of the writer. En- gravings procured in this way (and possibly in other ways) are seen to be rather accu- rately reproduced on the Confederate notes that used them.

On the other hand, there are many vignettes on these notes that at first glance seem to be identical with those found on broken bank notes but which, on close inspection, show considerable differences in details. These we suppose to have been copied directly from bank notes by the Confederate engravers. The method probably used was that of placing a thin sheet of transparent gelatine over the engraving to be copied and tracing the design, or a good part of it, on the gelatine by means of a sharp pointed engraving needle. The lines so cut were then filled with a colored chalk and the tracing laid face down on the stone that had been suitably prepared, thus transferring the design to its surface. The engraver thereupon completed the design by hand as he pleased. Of course, this method of copying could not be entirely accurate. In many cases certain parts of the original design would be completely altered in this process, as the substitu- tion of a panel with an inscription for a shield, changing the numeral of value on a shield, etc. It might be mentioned that the same source of designs was being used for the Patriotic Envelopes that were such a fad at the beginning of the war, principally in the North, but also in the South.

46Nothieg More Than A Proof”

By and large a proof is a much rarer item than the regularly issued stamp. Ex- ceptions exist, of course, but they are in minute minority of the whole subject. And an essay is apt to be in even greater scarcity than the proof. These are facts that are incontrovertible and which are widely recognized and understood by all philatelists.

Why then do we repeatedly hear the disparaging comment, “Oh, that's nothing more than a proof!” With the implied, and often spoken, afterthought that as such the proof is only of secondary interest and value?

One can understand the sour grapes attitude of the fellow who doesn't possess the more desirable item. But by all the ghosts of all that is intelligent why do essay and

proof collectors persist in labeling their treasures as second best?

The “nothing more than a proof” attitude has most often been expressed in con- nection with value. Being “nothing more than a proof” the argument follows that it can not be of such great value as the fellow who owns it has been led to believe. As if such an argument changed in any respect the quantity known to exist or in any way the great rarity of the item in question.

The only thing that has been changed is the state of mind. Doubt has been cre- ated that the item is not of great value, that, in fact, because it is “nothing more than a proof” it possesses very little value indeed.

Let us drop out of our literature that damnable phrase let us stamp it out of our thoughts. A proof is the most beautiful, most perfect, and rarest condition in which we

may obtain a stamp. An essay the most desirable and the rarest of all. They are the

greatest gems of all philately and the most valuable. P. H. T.

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

143

WASHINGTON

Jubilee Exhibition

Essay^Proof Society

American Philatelic Congress

©

IBrnreau Issues Association

Washington Philatelic Society

SHORJEHAM HOTEL

Washington, D. C. OCTOBER 20-23

144

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

I lie Washington Jubilee Exhibition

1 he exhibition will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Washington Philatelic Society and the 25th anniversary of the Bureau Issues Association. To mark this event a philatelic show will be held from October 20th to 23rd, 1955 in the spacious quarters of the Shoreham Hotel in Washington. In connection with the Exhibition the Essay-Proof Society and the American Philatelic Congress will hold their annual meetings. Complete with a fine Bourse, Auction, Banquets, and Events galore, the occasion will be the outstanding philatelic event of 1955.

The Exhibition

4 he 250 frame exhibition will be staged in the grand ballroom of the Shoreham Hotel. Franklin R. Bruns, the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., is chair- man of the Exhibits Committee. Exhibits sent by mail or express should be sent to Mr. Bruns, who will answer requests for further information concerning exhibits.

Terms and Rules for the Exhibition

1. The exhibition is open to all collectors exhibiting their own property, regardless of society affiliation.

2. The frames will be 3' by 4', holding 16 standard size (9 x 11^2) album pages, or 9 larger size pages. Only material suitable for these frames can be accepted. There is no specified limit to the number of frames for an individual exhibit, but the Exhibi- tion Committee reserves the right to place such limit, in case of necessity.

3. The entry fee will be $5 per frame, payable with application, and forfeitable upon failure to exhibit. Payment should be drawn in favor of the Washington Philatelic Society. Applications must reach Mr. Bruns at the Smithsonian Institution by Sep- tember 1, 1955, and exhibits must reach him not later than October 10, 1955. Persons planning to bring their exhibits to the show must notify Mr. Bruns by October 10.

4. Exhibits will be insured at $100 per exhibit. Additional coverage may be obtained through the chairman at $.25 per $100 or $1.75 per $1,000. Exhibits will be returned by express, insured for $100, unless the chairman is notified otherwise.

5. No exhibit may be removed from the frames prior to 5:00 P.M. Sunday, October 23, 1955-

6. The exhibition committee reserves the right to make such changes in classifica- tions or awards as exhibition needs may arise, or to decline exhibits.

Exhibition Classifications

I. United States.

Non Bureau Issues.

A. Regular Issues Prior to 1894.

B. Revenues.

C. Confederates, possessions, and other United States.

(Bureau Issues)

D. Regular Postage and commemoratives.

E. Plate Numbers, single stamp specialties.

F. Bureau Precancels.

G. Bureau Issues for possessions.

H. Bureau Issue Specialties: Electric Eyes, Plate varieties, booklet panes,

Revenues, etc.

II. Proofs and Essays.

A. United States.

B. Foreign.

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145

III. Europe and European Colonies.

A. France, Spain, Portugal, Benelux.

B. Germany and States, Italy and States, Switzerland.

C. Scandinavia.

D. Rest of Europe.

IV. Great Britain and Colonies.

A. British America.

B. All other.

V. Latin America.

VI. Independent Asia, Africa, and Others.

VII. Air Mails of the World.

VIII. Postal History.

IX. Specialties, Including Topicals.

A. wards

1. The Washington Jubilee Exhibition Awards: There will be two Grand Awards, one for best LTnited States, one for best foreign. LTnited States material exhibited under Classes II, VII, VIII, and IX will be eligible for the U. S. Grand Award. Fhrst Awards will be available in each of the classes II to X, and in each of the sub- sections A. to H. in the United States class. Second and third awards will be avail- able in all categories. The judges will be authorized to issue duplicate awards as may be needed.

2. The Society Awards:

A. The Bureau Issues Association will award the Walter W. Hopkinson Memorial Trophy to the B. I. A. member judged as showing the best in LTnited States Bureau Issues.

B. The Essay-Proof Society Trophies will be awarded by a special jury.

C. The Walter R. McCoy Award will be given by the American Philatelic Congress for the best Congress Paper. A Congress plaque will he awarded for the best Congress Exhibit.

D. The Washington Philatelic Society will give an award for the best Washington- area exhibit, in addition to special President’s award.

Tlie Jury

A selected panel of judges will make the awards, and their decisions will be final. There will be no assigned basis for judging, but exhibitors will be expected to recog- nize the importance of matters of neatness, comprehension of the subject, and condi- tion of the material.

The Auction

Sylvester Colby, 505 5th Avenue, New York 17, N. Y. will conduct a sale of unusually distinguished material.

The Bourse

Jack O. King, 808 17th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C., will have charge of the bourse of 18 tables. Applications for bourse tables should be made directly to Mr. King.

Hotel Reservations

Reservations may be made directly with the Shoreham or with Mrs. Anna D. Plant, 1831 Belmont Road, N. W., Washington, D. C.

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 46

[Program of [Public Events

Thursday, October 20, 1955, B.LA. Day

i :30 P.M. Opening Ceremonies.

2:00 P.M. Opening of the Exhibition and Bourse.

2:30 P.M. Bureau of Engraving and Printing Panel.

6.00 P.M. Reception and Cocktail Party.

7:00 P.M. B. I. A. Buffet Supper.

Friday, October 21, 1955

10:00 A.M. First American Philatelic Congress Session.

1 :oo P.M. Tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Smithsonian Institution.

1 :oo P.M.— Lad ies’ Luncheon and Fashion Show.

7:30 P.M. Colby Auction.

Saturday, October 22, 1955

11 :oo A.M. B'our of Mount Vernon.

12:30 P.M. Essay-Proof Society Luncheon.

2:00 P.M. Second American Philatelic Congress Session.

7:00 P.M. Grand Banquet.

Sunday, October 23, 1955

9:30 A.M. Philatelic Writers Breakfast.

5:00 P.M. Close of the Exhibition.

OFFICIAL ENTRY BLANK

Shorefaam Hotel, Washington, C, October 20*23, 1955

Franklin R. Bruns The Smithsonian Institution Washington 25, D. C.

Please enter the following exhibit:

Title

Description

Classification

Page Size

No. frames required - at $5.00 each $

Please provide additional insurance in the amount of $ at $1.75 per $1000 $

Total entry fee and insurance premium herewith $

M y exhibit will be sent by

Please return by insured for $

Date

Name and Address (Print or type)

Signature

Club Affiliation

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

!47

In Memoriam

Jere.(miah) Hess IBarr, E»P»S, 176

By Clarence W. Brazer, D.Sc.

Early on Thursday, May 26, 1955, Jere. Hess Barr, of West Lawn, Pa., died in the Reading Hospital. He was born in Columbia, Pa., seventy-nine years ago. Having been repeatedly at the hospital for nasal hemorrhages the past year or so he still kept up the study of stamps and writing about his observations. As late as April twelfth last, he had written to me about the 1870 12-cents stamp of which he sent two photographs showing the Plate Number Position Dot he had noticed and that I had written about in the American Philatelist, circa 1943. His study of the 1870 and the 1873 24-cents stamp was recently published and he was seriously studying all the so called “Bank Note Company stamps.” At one time he was deeply interested in the BARR’S PENNY DISPATCH stamp used from Lancaster, Pa., about 1855, as issued by his grandfather.

Jere. had very fine collections of XIX Century U. S. Revenue stamps, Ionian Islands, Lombardy-Venetia, and XIX Century covers. He had long been an ardent collector and leader in philatelic circles and for six years wrote a stamp column for the Reading Sunday Eagle. He joined with Eugene Klein and James Waldo Fawcett in organizing the American Philatelic Congress serving a term as President, as a member of the Council and was Treasurer when he died. He had also been President of the Reading Stamp Club; was a member of the American Philatelic Society, The Collector's Club, the Society of Philatelic Americans, the American Revenue Association and the Essay-Proof Society. Abroad he was a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society of London and the Postal History Society. In business he was a partner in the firm of Essick and Barr, Insurance, since 1908. He had been President, 1921-22, of the Reading Chamber of Commerce, a Director of the former Penn National Bank, First Yice-President of the Reading Industrial and Thrift Co. He helped organize the Reading Musical Foundation and the Reading Insur- ance Exchange. He was a charter member of the Reading Rotary Club, a Scottish Rite Mason and Rajah Temole, Mystic Shrine,

During World War I he served as Berks County Director of the U. S. Public Service Reserve and Director for Berks and Schuylkill Counties Resources and Conservation sec- tions of the War Industries Board.

In 1902 Jere. Barr engaged in work in Harrisburg, Pa., State Office of the Y. M. C. A. until 1908. He also served as Chairman of the Y. M. C. A. committee which sent Secretaries overseas with the American Expeditionary Forces of World War I. He was a member of the Holy Cross Methodist Church and served twenty-seven years as Super- intendent of its Sunday School.

Jere. Barr is survived by his widow, Mabel Light Barr, a son and daughter Elizabeth Ann, wife of John S. Speicher, a Reading attorney, and four grand children. He is also survived by two brothers who shared his interest in stamps, John W. and Horace W. Barr; both of West Lawn, Pa.

Adrian Albert Jurgens

By Stephen G. Rich, Ph.D.

Adrian Albert Jurgens, member of the Essay-Proof Society and the most distinguished student of Cape of Good Hope postal matters, was born in Tamboers Kloof, Cape of Good Hope, a suburb of Cape Town, April 1, 1886. He was trained as an auditor at the South African College, now LIniversity of Capetown, and in later life was in the building business.

In philately, he collected from boyhood until 1906; resumed in 1921 at the instance of Mrs. Jurgens, herself a keen stamp collector. Besides serving the Cape Town Phila-

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The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

telic Society as Secretary in 1932 to 1942, he was a prolific author of articles in philatelic journals. He is best remembered for his two books, however:

The Handstruck Letter Stamps of the Cape of Good Hope and the Postmarks” (1943). This work also included the full report of the making of the 1940 and 1941 proofs of the Cape Woodblocks, done by Mr. Jurgens under authorization from the government.

“The Bechuanalands” (1946).

The first book named won him the Crawford Medal.

Mr. J urgens was a voluminous correspondent, meticulous on stamp and postal history facts. It was my privilege to correspond with him on Cape Triangles over many years, with results which Mr. Meyer and I incorporated in our article on Cape Triangle Proofs in th is Journal. Always urbane, he was nevertheless a penetrating critic of assumptions and a forceful enemy of misinformation.

Mr. J urgens died suddenly on July 11, 1953.

.Die Proof Discovery in Australia

By C. E. Norden

Reprinted from Western Stamp Collector

The philatelic world, like the world at large, still has its unknown and unexplored territories, and fascinating discoveries are made from time to time. Some of them prove to be but rediscoveries, but still are interesting.

Even the early Australian Commonwealth issues still offer opportunities to the student although it might be thought that by now the pioneers should have completely covered this rather limited field. However, such finds are made and they are usually of much greater interest than those relating to more recent issues.

It happened to me recently. A Melbourne dealer was offered some items about which he sought my opinion, and it did not take me long to grasp the significance of what he showed me. The items were actually die proofs of Victorian, Australian and Papuan postage stamps and postal stationery! When I learned that they had been brought to light by the son of the late Mr. Samuel Reading, engraver of the original Kangaroo die, I was even more elated.

Through the intervening years these proofs have remained tucked away in an old box, there for anyone who sought, yet missed by all the students. Naturally, I took steps to ensure that there should be a very thorough search of Mr. Reading’s premises for other philatelic rarities. I was successful. One item is unique!

This is a proof of the Kangaroo die without value plugs, and showing the substituted cliche stage !

I have been a keen collector and student of Australian Commonwealth material for many years, but have never before heard of the existence of such a proof, let alone seen one. I feel quite confident that this item is unique and not just one of a few.

Mr. Samuel Reading’s business premises were situated at 272-274 Lonsdale street, Melbourne, and apart from his work for the Victorian and Commonwealth governments, he did many engravings for well known business houses, particularly in regard to trade marks. His government orders were for dies for both Victorian and Commonwealth postage stamps, postal stationery, and duty stamps. His business card reveals that he also undertook a variety of work other than engraving.

There were many other interesting items included in the find but space will not permit lengthy descriptions of all of them. Among the most interesting are proofs of the fi and £2

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

149

King Edward VII stamps of Victoria (S.G. 505/506). Papuan items include some plate proofs of the frame only, in blocks of four.

Another important item is an essay approved by J. B. Cooke and duly initialled by him to this effect. From this design, one of the stationery dies was later engraved. This die, being used for embossing, was in two parts, one of which is included in this most remarkable discovery.

.Brazer Trophy

Brazer Trophy for United States Essays & Proofs

Dr. Clarence Brazer has graciously donated a handsome special trophy to be awarded for the best exhibit of United States Essays and Proofs at the Washington Jubilee Exhi- bition in October. This trophy stands twenty inches high and consists of a gold cup mounted on a mahogany base. The cup will be inscribed as follows: “Brazer Trophy / For / Best Exhibit / Of / U. S. Essays & Proofs / At / Washington Jubilee Exhibition / October 1955 / Awarded to ’’

The jury for making the award will be selected by the Society’s Committee for Exhibitions, of which Joseph Mandos is Chairman.

Additional trophies will be awarded for the best Essay and Proof exhibit in the show and the best Foreign exhibit in our section.

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The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

U, S. XX Century

.Essay Designs, Models and Proofs

Bv Sol Glass

(Continued from Journal No. 46, page 103.)

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Issue

Three Cents Issued January 15, 1955

1 064E-A. Approved Model C. W. Peale in his Museum

No Rejected Designs.

Designer Victor S. McCloskey, Jr.

Engravers Vignette and Frame, Charles R. Brooks.

Lettering and Numerals, Robert J. Jones.

Design Essayed November 9, 1954 to Arthur E. Summerfield, P. M. G.

Model Approved November 29, 1954 by Arthur E. Summerfield, P. M. G.

Die Proof Approved December 14, 1954 by Arthur E. Summerfield, P. M. G.

Source of Design

A photograph “Peale in his Museum” from a painting, an original self portrait by Charles Willson Peale, in the possession of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. (Photograph *188 by Phillips Studio, 1507 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., and furnished by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

1 lie Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

*5*

Land Grant Colleges Issne

Three Cents Issued February 12, 1955

1065E-A. Rejected Essay Symbols of Learning and Subjects Taught

1065E-B. Rejected Essay Open Book

| FIRST OF THE LAND GRANT COLLEGES |j

FIRSTOFTHE LAN D-GRANT COLLEGES

UNITED STATES POS^t^^|

3+ UNITED STATES POSTAGE 3^

1065E-C. Rejected Essay Open Rook and Symbols of Subjects Taught

1065E-D. Rejected Essay Open Rook and Symbols of Subjects Taught

t AieiMiRAK’f CQLIVGU

Pennsylvania State University

PO.-TMSE 3 -

FIRSTOFTHE LAND-GRANT COLLEGES

MICHIGAN STATE I COLLEGE,

I PENNSYLVANIA I I STATE 1 L UNIVERSITY

NITED STATES POSTAGE

1065E-E. Rejected Essay Open Book and Symbols of Subjects Taught

1065E-F. Approved Model Open Book and Symbols of Subjects Taught

Five Rejected Designs.

Designer William K. Schrage.

Engravers Vignette, Arthur W. Dintaman.

Outline frame, Lettering and Numerals, Robert J. Jones.

Design Essayed December 21, 1954 to Arthur E. Summerfield, P. M. G. Model Approved December 28, 1954 by Arthur E. Summerfield, P. M. G. Die Proof Approved January 14, 1955 by Arthur E. Summerfield, P. M. G.

Source of Design

An original drawing by William K. Schrage.

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The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

Eight Cents Issued February 23, 1955

1066E-A. Original Drawing by W. W. Wood

Torch, Globe and Rotary Emblem

1066E-B. Rejected Essay Torch, Globe and Rotary Emblem

1066E-C. Approved Model Torch, Globe and Rotary Emblem

Two Rejected Designs.

Designer W. W. Wood.

Modeler Charles R. Chickering.

Engravers Vignette, Richard M. Bower.

Lettering and Numerals, George L. Huber.

Design Essayed December 9, 1954 to Arthur E. Summerfield, P. M. G. Model Approved December 13, 1954 by Arthur E. Summerfield, P. M. G. Die Proof Approved January 18, 1955 by Arthur E. Summerfield, P. M. G.

Source of Design

An original Drawing by W. W. Wood.

A Completely Etelied Stamp

Etching is used to some extent in producing practically all line-engraved dies, but complete etching, other than in rotogravure is not usual. Hence the 20 mark stamp (Scott’s design A32) issued by the German Weimar Republic in 1921 is of more than passing interest. According to Baxter, the die for this intaglio-printed stamp was com- pletely etched. As will be noted, the stamp is somewhat novel in its stylized concept. It was designed by E. Scherff, and printed in Berlin. G. W. C.

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153

Government Gift Books of Portraits

and Vignettes

By Julian Blanchard, Ph.D.

We h ave in recent years become well accustomed to the liberality of our Govern- ment; its give-away reputation is known the world around. Nevertheless, there was a time when it gave away some things that it doesn’t give away now. We have in mind those beautifully bound volumes of proof engravings occasionally prepared by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for presentation to certain “V. I. P.’s” some three quarters of a century ago. Several of these books have been acquired recently by members of the New York Chapter of the Essay-Proof Society and have been exhibited at meetings of the Chapter and briefly described in its minutes. We would like here to elaborate a bit on the facts given in those reports.

We have never seen anything in print about the books in question, nor have we received any information privately from anyone in the Government service. What we know, or think we know, has been picked up here and there by observation, comparison, deduction and such like fallible methods of acquiring knowledge. It is not suspected that any of the books were ever made up to be sold. How the recipients of these favors were determined, and just who in the Government was responsible for their presentation, we do not know. In one particular case, however, we do know the name of the receiver. On the front cover of one of these books acquired by the writer there is printed in gold letters, “William A. Wheeler, Vice President”. (He was Vice President with Hayes, 1877.) Fur- ther, between the leaves was found a letter written by ex-Vice Pres. Wheeler, to a friend to whom he was in turn making a present of the book. The letter was dated August 28, 1884, at Malone, N. Y., the ex-V. P.’s home and birthplace. It says in part: “I want to send you something in token of the pleasure, as well as profit, derived from your visit to Malone this summer. In execution of that w ish, I h ave selected from my official spoils a volume of ‘Portraits and Vignettes’ which, aside from being artistically beautiful, is inter- esting as giving pictures & events prominent in our National history. Please accept it with my warmest wish that on you and yours may ever rest a profusion of blessings, temporal & spiritual.” “My official spoils” is evidence enough that this was a “something for nothing”, and we can conclude that people like Vice Presidents were of the sort who received these presents. Maybe some of the more influential senators and representatives were also the lucky ones. It really would be interesting to find out more about who got the books.

This volume with Vice President Wheeler’s name on it eventually landed in a numis- matic auction, whence it got into the writer’s collection. Others, to our knowledge, have been offered at private sale by coin dealers, and still others have been sold by book stores. And some of them have been broken up by print and book dealers and the engravings sold separately, for we have been the purchaser of many such. There is no telling how many books have thus gotten into the hands of collectors, or how many are yet reposing in old bookcases, or attics. It is doubtful, however, if the number available is large, as they are still more or less in the category of accidental finds. There is certainly no such thing as a “stock” of them anywhere.

IDeseriptioii of the Books

The dozen or so of the books that we have seen vary considerably in size, binding, decoration and contents. In fact, no two of them have been alike. The Wheeler copy mentioned is probably somewhat larger than average. Overall, the bound volume measures approximately inches high, f)l/2 inches wide and 2^ inches thick. The binding is

leather over cardboard, tooled and ornamented with some scroll work in gold, and the

154

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

Lot 31 .Morrill,

Secretary or UtcTteosiiry

Wmm\ (£. Jeludl. -TUT- Omi.JU.tfKaUcar.

Frontispiece of a Gift Book about 1876

paper edges are gilded. The title on the spine is “Portraits / and / Vignettes”. It con- tains 1 18 leaves approximately 8jJ x IJ/4 inches, with a frontispiece page illustrated with an engraving of the old Bureau of Engraving & Printing building, and the names of John S. Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury, J. Kendrick Upton, Asst. Secretary of the Treasury, and O. H. Irish, Chief of the Bureau. It is without date, but the date can be approximated by knowing the tenure of office of the persons named. In this case, John S. Sherman was Secretary of the Treasury under President Hayes, beginning in 1877, while Wheeler was Vice President. O. H. Irish was appointed Chief of the Bureau Oct. 1, 1878.

On one of the leaves of this book there are subjects printed on both sides, but all the others contain either one or two subjects printed on one side. The actual printing is on India paper, which adheres very firmly to the cardboard, and no die sinkage is visible (except very faintly on the back). The smaller volumes, of course, would contain only one subject to the page.

Another of the Government books owned by the writer is somewhat smaller than the Wheeler book, measuring overall approximately 2p2 x 8)4 x 9?4 inches, similarly bound and tooled, and containing something over 100 leaves 746 x 9 inches in size. Idle title and method of printing are the same, but with only one subject to a page.

Still another seen recently in the collection of a fellow collector is the largest yet, being probably four inches or more in thickness and containing fairly large pages. This particular volume is outstanding in its beautiful tooling, even the edges of the leaves being

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

155

lightly cut and gilded with an intricate scroll design. When one holds such a book in his hands, and realizes that it is probably a unique specimen (as is the case with each one of these volumes, no doubt), he begins to speculate as to how many hundreds or thousands of dollars of the taxpayers’ money it must have cost!

Contents

As mentioned above, it seems that no two of the books have the same contents, though the general pattern is much the same. They nearly all contain the Presidents of the United States. Then there are the V ice Presidents as a rule, most of the cabinet members, some senators and representatives, a few ambassadors, and a sprinkling of military heroes and other public characters. The portraits generally make up the greater part of the contents. Then come the vignettes, with the usual symbolical figures of Justice, Liberty, Agriculture, Art, etc.; and miscellaneous subjects like sailors, soldiers, farmers, animals, eagles, ships, buildings, views and scenes, etc., with a few reproductions of historical sub- jects such as the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Landing of the Pil- grims, the Surrender of General Burgoyne, etc. In addition a few of the books very few, apparently contain some specimens of lathe work and lettering, usually arranged in some attractive pattern on the page. One of the handsomest examples seen has been one of this type.

Frontispiece of a Gift Book about 1890

i5 6

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

Identification of Vignettes

When the pages of one of these beautiful volumes is turned by the uninitiated, ques- tions like these are sure to arise: What was the reason for making the engravings? For what purposes were they used? On what government documents, papers or securities, if any, did they appear? For many of the engravings the answers to such questions are still not known, and for some we can merely guess. On the other hand, there are many that we have learned something about. To one who is a collector of U. S. currency and is acquainted with the illustrated paper money catalogs by Limpert and by Friedberg, who collects U. S. revenue stamps including the not so well known “tax paids”, and who is familiar with Laban Heath's “American Bond Detector” to such a person a book of “Portraits and Vignettes” will present innumerable old friends. For it seems that practi- cally all the portraits and vignettes used on our old large size bills, on most of the large tax paid revenue stamps, on federal licenses for which fees were charged, and on the early bonds and notes of the United States Government practically all can be found in some of these gift books. It was from this mass of engraved material accumulated by the Bureau of Engraving & Printing that the books were composed, plus a few extra pieces of othe^ sorts now and then. It is for this reason that they are so attractive and useful to paper money collectors and to stamp collectors. The why and wherefore is simply this: We have here some of the most perfect tie-in material possible! And superlative die proofs at that! Cut out a selected vignette, trim it to an appropriate size, and mount it on the same album page with a note or a stamp showing the identical or a similar vignette, and obtain a result that is well nigh irresistible. To the collector and layman alike the combi- nation is most appealing. For these select engravings alone the books are well worth hunting for; the other subjects can be put aside.

Dates

None of these Government Gift Books are dated, so far as known, but their dates may be approximately determined from the names of the officials appearing on the frontis- piece. These names usually include the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chief of the Bureau, or the Director, as he was later called. As an aid in thus fixing the dates, the acompanying table is copied from the “History of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing” by Thomas F. Morris, published in The Stamp Specialist for 1943 (the Gray Book), giv- ing the names of all of the men who have administered the affairs of the Bureau since its establishment in 1862. Some of the later names and dates, which will not be needed, are omitted for lack of space.

N am e

Title

S. M. Clark

S. M. Clark .

George B. McCartee

Henry C. Jewell

Edward McPherson

O. H. Irish

Thomas J. Sullivan .... Truman N. Burrill .

Edward O. Graves

Edward O. Graves ... William M. Meredith Claude M. Johnson ... Claude M. Johnson ... T homas J. Sullivan ... William M. Meredith T homas J. Sullivan Joseph E. Ralph

Chief Clerk, Treasury Dept.

Chief.

Chief..

Chief.

Chief..

Chief..

Acting Chief.

Chief..

Acting Chief.

Chief

Chief

Chief-

Director

Acting Director

Director

Director

Director

Date of Appointment

Aug. 22, 1862 Dec. 1864

Dec. 1864 March 1869

March 18, 1869

Feb. 21, 1876

May 1, 1877

Oct. 1, 1878

Jan. 28, 1883

April 1, 1883

May 20, 1885

June 1, 1885

July 1, 1889

July 1, 1893

--July 1, 1896

May 11, 1900

.Nov. 24, 1900

July 1, 1906

May 11, 1908

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 57

The E^P Society Catalog of Essays and Proofs

Actually Seen by the Catalog Committee

Clarence W. Brazer, Chairman Kenneth Minuse, Vice Chairman

All essay and proof numbers are based on Scott’s Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue numbers with suffix of E for Essay and P for Proof, plus a capital letter for each design and a small lower case letter for varieties. Illustrations are ip2 natural size.

Our Definitions. See Journal No. i, p. 31.

Color numbers are from Ridgway’s Color Standards, with Brazer’s color names. See Journal No. i, p. 34. The previously named dismal set are now named dingy.

Values where given are about 20% above current retail prices. Pricing is relative.

The Committee will welcome any information as to values of items listed and submis- sions for listing and illustration of all foreign essays and proofs not previously listed herein, and also any U. S. essays and proofs not now listed in Brazer’s nor Scott’s U. S. catalogs. Submissions should be sent by registered mail with self-addressed and stamped envelope for return. It is hoped that we may gradually accumulate a list of all known in private ownership.

Identifications may be given by number only, thus 87E-A 3 i/i, which can be trans- lated into correct color name by use of chart on page 38 of Journal No. i.

Note India paper when printed is pressed on card board backing and many impres- sions are found adhering to this original cardboard backing. All listings are imperforate unless otherwise stated.

C Canceled E Essay P Proof

X Normal color proof TC Trial Color proof S Specimen overprint.

plus type A, etc. v. vertical reading up

ABBREVIATIONS

h. horizontal d. diagonal t. top

b. bottom

c. center 1. left

r. right

1 die print large margins

2 die print small margins 8 plate print on India paper

4- plate print on cardboard

5- plate print on stamp paper

imperf.

G plate print on stamp paper perf.

7 plate print on experimental

Newfoundland

(Continued from Journal No. 13, page 38.)

By Perkins, Bacon & Co., London 1 856

1E-A. 1 Penny & 5 Pence.

Large die essay of lathework ro- sette used for background of lp & 5p.

a. On stiff white wove paper

69 o/5 black $125.00

1 TC. 1 Penny.

Steel plate 12x10, 120 subjects, la. Trial color large die proof on India paper.

69 o/5 black 125.00

4. Trial color plate proof on card-

board.

.015" thick.

69 o/5 black 12.00

69 o/5 black, block of 4 60.00

1 E-C. 1 Penny.

See Journal No. 13, page 34, add. c. 7 i/1 dim deep red-orange 2 5.00

lE-Ba. 1 Penny.

See Journal No. 13, page 34, add. 1 i/0 deep red 25.00

3 7 m/1 dim dusky b-ggreen 25.00

4 8 11/ 1 dim v. dusky m.

b-g-blue 25.00

6 3 m/1 dim dusky red-

violet 25.00

2E-Ba. 2 Pence.

See Journal No. 13, page 3 4, add.

158

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 i/0 deep red 25.00

37 m/1 dim dusky b-g-

green 25.00

4 8 11/ 1 dim v. dusky m.

b-g-blue 25.00

63 m/ 1 dim dusky red-violet 2 5.00

2TC. 2 Pence.

Steel plate 5x4, 20 subjects.

2. Trial color small die proof on India paper on card, .015" thick, 2mm

margins.

69 o/5 black 75.00

4. Trial color plate proof on card- board .015" thick.

69 o/5 black 40.00

69 o/5 black, pair 90.00

69 o/5 black, block of 4 200.00

3E-A

3E-A. 3 Pence.

Die essay without outer line to central trefoil.

a. On India paper cut close.

69 o/5 black 125.00

b. On 21 d/3 dingy pale o-y-yellow stiff wove paper .007" thick stamp size.

69 o/5 black 125.00

3E-B. 3 Pence.

Numerals in corners missing, illus- trated in Journal No. 13, page 3 5.

c. 19 09 ? On stiff semi-transparent white wove paper .004" thick.

5 h/0 m. deep o-red 30.00

3E-Ba. 3 EJence.

See Journal No. 13, page 35, add. 1 i/0 deep red 25.00

3 7 m/1 dim dusky b-g-green 25.00

4 8 n/1 dim v. dusky m.

b-g-blue 25.00

6 3 m/1 dim dusky red-

violet 25.00

3 TO. 3 Pence.

Steel plate 8 pairs x 5 pairs, 80 sub- jects. Types I & II occur in each square pair.

4. Trial color plate proof on card- board, .015" thick, type I & II.

69 o/5 black 15.00

6 9 o/5 black, square pair

type I & II 35.00

69 o/5 black, block of 4 75.00

5. Trial color plate proof on white

wove paper .005" thick.

71 o/5 slate-black 50.00

4E-Ba. 4 Pence.

See Journal No. 13, page 35, add. 1 i/0 deep red 25.00

3 7 m/1 dim dusky b-g-green 2 5.00

4 8 n/1 dim v. dusky m.

b-g-blue 25.00

63 m/1 dim dusky red-

violet 25.00

4TC. 4 Pence.

Size of die sinkage 51 plus x 6 2 mm. Possibly on same die with an- other denomination.

Steel plate 5x4, 20 subjects.

la. Trial color large die proof on India paper, die sunk on card.

69 o/5 black 200.00

lb. On India paper about 3 8x4 5 mm.

69 o/5 black 150.00

4TC2S. 4 Pence.

See Journal No. 13, page 35, add. 7 i/0 deep red-orange (N) 25.00 63 m/1 dim dusky red-violet 20.00

4TC. 4 Pence.

4. Trial color plate proof on card-

board, .015" thick.

69 o/5 black 40.00

69 o/5 black, pair 90.00

69 o/5 black, block of 4 200.00

5E-Ba. 5 Pence.

See Journal No. 13, page 3 6, add.

1 i/0 deep red 25.00

37 m/1 dim dusky b-g-green 25.00 4 8 n/1 dim v. dusky m. b-

g-blue 25.00

6 3 m/1 dim dusky red-viol 25.00

5TC. 5 Pence.

Steel plate 8x5, 40 subjects.

2. Trial color small die proof on India paper on thick card, 2 mm margins. 69 o/5 black 75.00

4. Trial color plate proof on card- board, .015" thick.

69 o/5 black 20.00

6 9 o/5 black, pair 4 5.00

69 o/5 black, block of 4 100.00

6E-A. 0 Pence.

Line above “SIX” extends into left 6 and top oval extends into “STA” of postage.

a. Die essay on India paper on card- board.

69 o/5 black 150.00

1 he Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

159

6E-A

6E-B

6E-Ba. G Pence.

See Journal No. 13, page 36, add.

1 i/0 deep red 25.00

4 8 11/ 1 dim v. dusky m.

b-g-blue 25.00

63 m/1 dim dusky red-violet 2 5.00

3 7 m/1 dim dusky b-g-green 25.00

6TC. G Pence.

Size of die sinkage 4 7x64 mm. Steel plate 5x4, 20 subjects.

la. Trial color large die proof on India paper, die sunk on card.

69 o/5 black 200.00

lb. On India paper about 3 8-4 5 mm.

69 o/5 black 150.00

4. Trial color plate proof on card- board .015" thick.

69 o/5 black 40.00

69 o/5 black, block of 4 200.00

7E-lla. G*2 Pence.

See Journal No. 13, page 3 7, add. 1 i/0 deep red 25.00

3 7 m/1 dim dusky b-g-green 2 5.00

4 8 n/1 dim v. dusky m.

b-g-blue 2 5.00

63 m/1 dim dusky red-

violet 25.00

7TC. G Pence.

Steel plate 5x4, 20 subjects, la. Trial color large die proof on India paper, die sunk on card.

69 o/5 black 200.00

4. Trial color plate proof on card- board .015" thick 6 9 o/5 black 40.00

69 o/5 black, block of 4 200.00

8E-I5a. 8 Pence.

See Journal No. 13, page 37, add.

1 i/0 deep red 2 5.00

3 7 m/1 dim dusky b-g-

green 25.00

4 8 n/1 dim v. dusky m.

b-g-blue 2 5.00

6 3 m/1 dim dusky red-

violet 25.00

8TC. 8 Pence.

Steel plate 5x4, 20 subjects.

la. Trial color large die proof on India paper, die sunk on card.

6 9 o/5 black 2 0 0.00

lb. Trial color large die proof on India paper about 3 8-4 5 mm.

69 o/5 black 150.00

4. Trial color plate proof on card- board .015" thick 6 9 o/5 black 4 0.00

69 o/5 black, block of 4 200.00

OE-A

9E-A. 1 Shilling

Lines in four corner triangles in- stead of leaves.

a. Die essay on India paper on card- board, 2 mm. margins.

69 o/5 black 150.00

9E-B. 1 Shilling.

Numerals in corners missing. Il- lustrated in Journal No. 13, page 38.

e. 19 09 ? On stiff white semi-trans- parent wove paper .00 4" thick.

5 h/0 m. deep o-red 3 0.00

9E-D. 1 Shilling.

See Journal No. 13, page 38, add. Die essay with scar cancellations on top corner numerals and value label erased with acid.

b. Large die essay with 6 2x7 9mm. diamond sinkage with rounded cor- ners on 19 g/2 dull v. faint y-o- yellow semi-transparent wove pa- per .0035" thick 74x102 mm.

3 3 m/0 dusky g-y-green 40.00 9TC. 1 Shilling.

Size of die sinkage 47x63 mm. Steel plate 5x4, 2 0 subjects.

la. Trial color large die proof on India paper die sunk on card.

69 o/5 black 200.00

lb. Trial color die proof on India pa- per about 40x5 5 mm.

69 o/5 black

125.00

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 60

4. Trial color plate proof on card- board .015" thick.

69 o/5 black 40.00

69 o/5 black, block of 4 200.00

(To be continued.)

By Perkins, Bacon & Co., London.

24E-A.

1866

24E-A. 2 Cents

Engraved by Charles Henry Jeens. Probable suggestion for the subject of vignette. See E. P. Journal No. 4 2, page 9 3. Was used on bank note 193 8 prior to destruction of the die. Large die essay on India paper on card about 68x4 2 mm. (2 known)

69 o/5 black $25.00

By American Bank Note Co., New York

24E-B

Without numerals in upper corners.

1 866

24E-B. 2 Cents.

Size of design 2 9x2 0 mm.

Die essay on India paper on card 4 3x33 mm.

69 o/5 black 175.00

24E-C. 2 Cents.

Design adopted for the 10c value without top label. See 2 5E-C.

Die essay on India paper.

69 o/5 black

24TC2. Trial color small die proofs cut from American Bank Note Co. col- or sample sheets. (See Journal No. 5 cover.)

a. On bond paper .004" thick. Other colors exist. No exact duplicates known.

3 d/1 dim pale o-red 25.00

35 k/2 dull dark green 25.00

4 5 k/3 dingy dark b-g-blue 15.00

b. On 17 g/2 dull v. faint o-yellow soft wove paper .00 2 5" thick. Prob- ably about 100 different colors, no exact duplicates. Color removal ex-

periments exist.

1 d/0 pale red 15.00

1 i/1 dim deep red 12.50

1 k/0 dark red 1 k/4 smoky dark red 1 m/0 dusky red 15.00

3 b/1 dim light o-red 12.50

3 h/1 dim m. deep o-red 10.00

3 i/1 dim deep o-red 12.50

3 j/0 very deep o-red 15.00

3 j/1 dim v. deep o-red 12.50

3 k/0 dark o-red 15.00

3 k/1 dim dark o-red 12.50

3 k/2 dull dark o-red 10.00

5 i/2 dull deep o-o-red 10.00

7 h/2 dull m. deep r-orange 10.00

7 i/2 dull deep r-orange 10.00 7 m/1 dim dusky r-orange 10.00 9 m/3 dingy dusky o-r- orange 7.5 0

9 11/ 2 dull v. dusky o-r- orange 10.00

11 j/1 dim v. deep orange 12.50

13 -/I dim o-y-orange 12.50

15 b/2 dull light y-orange 10.00

15 li/l dim m. deep y-

orange 12.50

15 j/0 v. deep y-orange 10.00

15 k/1 dim dark y-orange 10.00

17 i/2 dull deep o-yellow 10.00

19 -/0 y-o-yellow 15.00

19 j/1 dim v. deep y-o-

yellow 12.50

19 k/2 dull dark y-o-yellow 10.00 21 b/2 dull light o-y-yellow 10.00 23 a/2 dull v. vivid yellow 10.00 25 b/4 smoky light y-g-

yellow 7.50

2 5 k/3 dingy dark y-g-

yellow 5.00

29 b/4 smoky light g-g-

yellow 5.00

31 k/1 dim dark y-green 12.50 33 b/4 smoky light g-y-green 2.50

3 3 i/3 dingy deep g-y-green 7.50

3 7 -/5 gloomy g-b-green 2.50

4 9 -/2 dull blue 10.00

55 i/2 dull deep b-violet 10.00

5 7 -/3 dingy v-b-violet 7.50

59 i/1 dim deep violet 10.00

61 i/3 dingy deep v-r-violet 7.50 61 k/1 dim dark v-r-violet 12.50 63 i/1 dim deep r-violet 10.00 65 b/4 smoky light r-r-violet 5.00

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 6 1

6 9 -/3 dingy r-v-red 12.50

69 i/5 gloomy deep r-v-red 2.5 0 69 k/2 dull dark r-v-red 15.00 69 m/4 smoky dusky r-v-red 5.0 0 71 -/I dim v-r-red 12.50

71 i/2 dull deep v-r-red 10.00

71 k/1 dim dark v-r-red 12.50

c. Small die proofs from color sample sheets. (See Journal No. 5 cover) No exact duplicates known.

O11 white wove paper .004" thick with a 1 f/0 faint red 5mm. hori- zontal band overprinted across the center

4 8 11/ 1 dim v. dusky m. g-b-

blue 20.00

69 o/5 black 20.00

24TC2. Die No. 4 82.

&. 18 79. Trial color small die proofs on white proof paper .003" thick about 3 4x3 2mm. on card about 3 7x3 5mm. with die No. 48 2 above and imprint below. (Goodall)

5 k/1 dim dark o-o-red 100.00 15 m/2 dull dusky y-orange

(brown) 100.00

4 3 m/2 dull dusky g-blue 100.00 71 o/5 slate-black 110.00

24P2

g. 37 m/1 dim dusky g-b-green

(N) 110.00

24TC.

3. Trial color plate proof on India paper

69 o/5 black 15.00

24P3. Plate proof on India paper

37 n/0 v. dusky g-b-green 12.50 37 n/0 v. dusky g-b-green,

block of 4 62.50

24TC<>. Trial color finished proofs, perf. 12, yellow gum. Printed from small die plate. (See Journal No. 5

cover)

a. On thick bond paper.

5 k/0 dark o-o-red 50.00

15 k/1 dim dark y-orange 5 0.00 15 m/1 dim dusky y-orange

(brown) 5 0.00

17 m/ 3 dingy dusky y-y-

orange 5 0.00

21 m/3 dingy dusky o-y-

yellow 5 0.00

23 k/5 gloomy dark yellow 5 0.00 23 m/5 yellow-black 55.00

25 m/2 dull dusky y-g-

yellow 50.00

3 5 k/1 dim dark green 5 0.00.

3 5 m/ 5 green-black 5 5.00

3 7 m/1 dim dusky g-b-green 5 0.00

4 7 n/1 dim v. dusky g-b-

blue 50.00

61 m/4 smoky dusky v-r-

violet 50.00

65 m/3 dingy dusky r-r-

violet 50.00

69 o/5 black 55.00

b. On vertically laid paper

69 o/5 black 60.00

24TC7. On 45 b/2 dull light b-g-blue paper perf. 12 gummed. Printed with fugitive ink when wet. Most are defective. (See Journal No. 5 cover.)

17 i/0 deep y-y-orange 2 0.00

69 o/5 black 20.00

By Perkins, Bacon & Co., London.

1

25E-A

25EA. 5 Cents.

Engraved by Charles Henry Jeens. Probable suggestion for subject of vignette 25 E-Ba. (See E. P. Jour- nal No. 42, page 93. Was used on banknote). 193 8 prior to destruc- tion of the die. Large die essay on India paper on card about 68x42 mm.

69 o/5 black 25.00

By American Bank Note Co., New York

25 E-Ba

1 8(>(>.

25E-B. 5 Cents.

Engraved by Joseph Ives Pease. Size of design 2 6x1 6mm.

Size of die sinkage 7 6x6 2mm. a. Large die essay of vignette only, rectangular with 1mm. more sky than used on stamp. See E. P. Jour- nal No. 42 p. 9 5. On India paper 117x8 2mm. die sunk on card 130x10 6mm.

69 o/5 black 200.00

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 62

25E-Bb

“Province of Newfoundland’’ in top label.

b. 18 66. Large die essay on India paper .003" thick about 3 8x3 2mm.

13 k/3 dingy dark o-y

orange (brown) 100.00

13 m/4 smoky dusky o-y-

orange 10 0.00

15 m/2 dull dusky y-orange 100.00 4 7 n/2 dull v. dusky g-b-

blue 100.00

4 8 n/1 dim v. dusky m. g-

b-blue 100.00

69 o/5 black 125.00

c. Small die essay on India paper cut close.

3 7 m/1 dim dusky g-b-green 7 5.00

4 8 n/1 dim v. dusky m. g-

b-blue 75,00

By American Bank Note Co., New York

25E-C

Design adopted for 10c stamp. 25E-C. 5 Cents.

Size of die sinkage 6 2x7 6mm.

a. Large die essay on India paper die sunk on card.

9 m/1 dim dusky o-r- orange (brown) 10 0.00

11 m/0 dusky orange

(brown) 100.00

69 o/5 black 110.00

b. Small die essay on white wove

paper .0 04" thick, stamp size.

15 i/0 deep y-orange 50.00

2oTC. 5 Cents.

Small die proof from color sample sheets (See Journal No. 5 cover.) No exact duplicates known.

2b. On 17 g/2 dull v. faint o-yellow soft wove paper .0025" thick.

1 d/0 pale red 15.00

1 b/1 dim light red 12.50

1 -/ 2 dull red 10.00

1 -/3 dismal red 7.50

1 i/2 dull deep red 10.00

1 k/0 dark red 15.00

1 k/2 dull dark red 10.00

3 -/I dim o-red 12.50

3 k/0 dark o-red 15.00

5 i/2 dull deep o-o-red 10.00

9 1/1 dim v. dark o-r- orange 12.50

11 j/0 v. deep orange 10.00

11 m/4 smoky dusky orange 15.00 13 1/1 dim v. dark o-y-

orange 12.50

15 j/0 v. deep y-orange 10.00

15 k/1 dim dark y-orange 12.50

15 -/4 smoky y-orange 5.00

17 i/2 dull deep o-yellow 10.00

19 -/0 y-o-yellow 15.00

21 -/I dim o-y-yellow 7.5 0

21 -/3 dismal o-y-yellow 7.5 0

2 9 d/4 smoky pale g-g-

yellow 5.00

3 5 i/5 gloomy deep green 2.50

6 3 i/1 dim deep r-violet 10.00

69 o/5 black 15.00

25TC2. Die No. 4 87.

g. 1879. Trial color small die proofs on white proof paper .003" thick about 3 2x2 6mm. (Goodall.)

5 k/1 dim dark o-o-red 100.00 37 m/1 dim dusky g-b-

green 100.00

43 111/ 2 dull dusky g-blue 10 0.00 25P2g. 15 m/2 dull dusky y-

orange (N) 110.00

26P2g. 71 o/5 slate-black (N) 110.00 25TC.

3. Trial color plate proofs on India

paper.

5 i/1 dim deep o-o-red 20.00

5 m/0 dusky o-o-red 20.00

9 1/1 dim v. dark o-r- orange (brown) 20.00

13 i/1 dim deep o-y-orange

(brown) 20.00

13 1/1 dim v. dark o-y-

orange (brown) 20.00

13 1/1 block of 4 100.00

3 9 m/1 dim dusky b-green 20.00 69 o/5 black 25.00

26P. 5 Cents.

3. Plate proof on India paper.

71 o/5 slate-black (N) 25.00

25TC6. Trial color finished proofs perf. 12. yellow gum. Printed from small die plate. (See Journal No. 5 cov-

er.)

a. On thick bond paper.

5 k/0 dark o-o-red 5 0.00

15 k/1 dim dark y-orange 5 0.00

21 1/2 dull v. dark o-y-yel- low 50.00

21 m/3 dingy dusky y-o-

yellow 50.00

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

163

3 3 m/ 1 dim dusky g-y-green 5 0.00 3 5 i/1 dim deep green 5 0.00

3 5 k/1 dim dark green 5 0.00

3 7 k/1 dim dark g-b-green 50.00

3 7 m/1 dim dusky g-b-green 5 0.00

4 7 n/1 dim v. dusky g-b-blue 50.00 61 m/4 smoky dusky v-r-

violet 50.00

65 m/3 dingy dusky r-r-

violet 50.00

69 o/5 black 60.00

26TC6.

b. On vertically laid paper.

69 o/5 black 60.00

25P3. Plate proof on India paper 13 m/4 smoky dusky o-y-

orange 17.50

13 m/4 block of 4 77.50

27TC. to Cents.

Trial color die proof on semi-trans- parent white wove paper 2 7x3 1mm.

4 5 m/2 dull dusky b-g-blue 5 0.00

27TC2. Trial color small die proofs cut from American Bank Note Co. col- or sample sheets. (See Journal No.

5 cover) .

a. On bond paper .004" thick.

3 3 k/1 dim dark g-y-green 15.00

b. On 17 g/2 dull v. faint o-yellow soft wove paper .0025" thick

1 k/4 smoky dark red 10.00

3 i/1 dim deep o-red 10.00

3 j/1 dim v. deep o-red 12.50

9 k/3 dismal dark o-r- orange 12.50

13 i/0 deep o-y-orange 10.00

13 1/1 dim v. dark o-y

orange 12.50

15 b/4 smoky light y-

orange 10.00

15 k/1 dim dark y-orange 12.50

21 -/4 smoky o-y-yellow 2.50

21 -/5 gloomy o-y-yellow 12.50

23 f/5 gloomy faint yellow 2.50

3 5 -/3 dismal green 7.5 0

4 9 i/3 dismal deep blue 7.5 0

53 i/2 dull deep v-blue 10.00

59 i/2 dull deep violet 10.00

5 9 i/3 dismal deep violet 7.5 0

61 a/ 2 dull v. vivid v-r-

violet 10.00

71 -/I dim v-r-red 12.50

71 k/1 dim dark v-r-red 15.00

71 1/1 dim v. dark v-r-red 15.00

72 d/3 dismal pale m. v-r-

red 7.5 0

2c. Small die proofs from sample sheets. (See Journal No. 5 cover.) No exact duplicates known.

On white wove paper .004" thick with a 1 f/0 faint red 5mm. hori- zontal band overprint across the center.

4 8 n/1 dim v. dusky m.

g-b-blue 20.00

69 o/5 black 20.00

g. Die No. 286.

1879. Trial color small die proof or. white proof paper .003" thick about 24x3 1mm. with die No. 28 6 above and imprint below. (Good- all)

5 k/1 dim dark o-o-red 100.00 15 m/2 dull dusky y-orange 100.00 37 m/1 dim dusky g-b-

green 100.00

43 m/2 dull dusky g-blue 100.00

27P2g. 18 79. Small die proof on white proof paper .003" thick about 2 8x3 3 mm. on white card about 3 4x4 8mm. with die no. 28 6 above and imprint below. (Goodall)

71 o/5 slate-black 110.00

27TC6. Trial color finished proofs on bond paper perf 12, yellow gum. Printed from small die plate.

(See Journal No. 5 cover.)

a. On bond paper.

5 k/0 dark o-o-red $50.00

11 m/0 dusky orange

(brown) 5 0.00

15 k/1 dim dark y-orange 5 0.00

15 m/1 dim dusky y-orange

(brown) 50.00

17 k/3 dingy dark y-y-

orange 5 0.00

17 m/ 3 dingy dusky y-y-

orange 5 0.00

21 1/2 dull v. dark o-y-

yellow 50.00

21 m/ 3 dingy dusky o-y-

yellow 50.00

23 k/5 gloomy dark yellow 50.00

2 5 m/ 4 smoky dusky y-g-

yellow 50.00

3 3 m/1 dim dusky g-y-green 50.00

3 5 i/1 dim deep green 5 0.00

3 7 m/ 3 dingy dusky g-b-

green 50.00

3 7 k/1 dim dark g-b-green 50.00

3 9 m/1 dim dusky b-green 50.00

4 7 n/1 dim v. dusky g-b-

blue 50.00

61 ill/ 4 smoky dusky v-r-

violet 50.00

65 dingy dusky r-r-violet 5 0.00 6 9 o/5 black (blue pen

stroke) 55.00

b. On vertically laid paper.

69 o/5 black 60.00

27TC6c. Lithographed trial color proof

on 17 f/3 dingy faint y-y-orange

opaque wove paper perf. 12.

15 m/ 2 dull dusky y-orange

(brown) 50.00

27P3. Plate proof on India paper.

69 o/5 black 10.00

69 o/5 block of 4 50.00

71 o/5 slate-black 10.00

71 o/5 block of 4 50.00

28TC 1 2 Cents.

Small die proofs from color sample sheets. (See Journal No. 5 cover) No exact duplicates known.

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 64

2b. On 17 g/2 dull v. faint o-yellow soft wove paper .0025" thick

1 -/2 dull red 10.00

1 b/2 dull light red 10.00

1 i/1 dim deep red 12.50

1 k/1 dull dark red 15.00

3 i/2 dull deep o-red 10.00

3 m/2 dull dusky o-red 10.00 3 k/2 dull dark o-red 10.00

3 k/0 dark o-red 15.00

3 -/I dim o-red 12.50

5 i/2 dull deep o-o-red 10.00 15 b/2 dull light y-orange 10.00 15 k/1 dim dark y-orange 10.00 15 k/4 smoky dark y-orange 15.00 19 i/2 dull deep y-o-yellow 10.00

21 -/3 dismal o-y-yellow 7.50

22 -/5 gloomy m. o-y-yellow 2.50

23 -/5 gloomy yellow 2.50

2 3 b/5 gloomy light yellow 7.5 0 2 5 d/5 gloomy pale y-g-

yellow 10.00

35 -/5 gloomy green 2.50

4 3 i/3 dismal deep b-g-blue 7.5 0

4 7 -/2 dull g-b-blue 10.00

5 8 k/1 dim dark m. v-b-

violet 12.50

63 i/1 dim deep r-violet 10.00 65 -/3 dismal r-r-violet 7.50

6 5 -/4 smoky r-r-violet 10.00

6 5 b/4 smoky light r-r-

violet 5.00

6 9 -/3 dismal r-v-red 12.50

71 m/0 dusky v-r-red 12.50

28TC2.

Die No. 2 9 2.

g. 1879. Trial color small die proof on white proof paper .0 03" thick about 2 8x2 9mm. on white card

about 3 4x3 9mm. with die below. (Goodall)

No. 292

5 k/1 dim dark o-o-red 15 m/2 dull dusky y-

100.00

orange

3 7 m/1 dim dusky b-g-

100.00

green

100.00

4 3 m/2 dull dusky g-blue

100.00

71 o/5 slate-black

110.00

3. Trial color plate proof on India paper

11 i/0 deep orange

10.00

11 i/0 block of 4

50.00

281*3. Plate proof on India paper

3 k/1 dim dark o-red

(brown)

12.50

3 k/1 block of 4

62.50

By American Bank Note Co., New \ork

30E-A

Size of design 28.5x19mm.

Die essay on India paper on card 44x39mm.

69 o/5 black 175.00

13 cents

30TC1. Trial color large die proof on India paper.

3 5 m/1 dim dusky green 12 5.00

30TC. Small die proofs from color sam- ple sheets. (See Journal No. 5 cov- er)

No exact duplicates known.

2a. On bond paper.

37 k/1 dim dark g-b-green 25.00

2b. On 17 g/2 dull v. faint o-yellow soft wove paper .0025" thick.

1

k/2

dull dark red

10.00

3

i/1

dim deep o-red

12.50

3

i/2

dull deep o-red

10.00

3

k/2

dull dark o-red

10.00

5

i/2

dull deep o-o-red

10.00

11

-/I

dim orange

12.50

11

j/1

dim v. deep orange

12.50

15

k/1

dim dark y-orange

12.50

17

i/3

dismal deep o-yellow

7.50

23

-/ 5

gloomy yellow

2.50

35

-/5

gloomy green

2.50

45

k/2

dull dark b-g-blue

10.00

59

i/2

dull deep violet

10.00

63

b/4

smoky light r-violet

2.50

65

-/ 3

dismal r-r-violet

10.00

69

b/3

dismal light r-v-red

10.00

71

-/o

clear v-r-red

10.00

2g. 18 79. Trial color small die

proof

on

proof paper about 3 1x3 0mm.

with die No. 489 above. (Goodall)

5

k/1

dim dark o-o-red

100.00

15

m/ 2 dull dusky y-orange

(brown)

100.00

37

111/ 1

dim dusky g-b-

green

100.00

43

m/ 2

dull dusky g-blue

100.00

71

o/5

slate-black

110.00

30TC3.

Trial color plate proof on India

paper.

61

k/0

dark v-r-violet

10.00

61

k/0

block of 4

50.00

6. Trial color finished proofs on bond paper perf 12, yellow gum. Printed from small die plate. (See

Journal No. 5 cover.)

a. On bond paper.

15 k/1 dim dark y-orange 50.00 17 m/0 dusky y-y-orange

(brown) 50.00

17 m/ 3 dingy dusky y-y-

orange 50.00

21 m/3 dingy dusky o-y-

yellow 50.00

23 m/5 gloomy dusky yellow 5 5.00

2 3 k/5 gloomy dark yellow

(black) 50.00

25 m/2 dull dusky y-g-

yellow 50.00

33 k/1 dim dark g-y-green 50.00

3 5 k/1 dim dark green 50.00

37 k/1 dim dark g-b-green 5 0.00

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

165

3 9 k/1 dim dark b-green 50.00

4 7 11/ 1 dim v. dusky g-b-

blue 50.00

5 9 m/0 violet black 50.00

69 o/5 black 55.00

b. On vertically laid thick paper.

69 o/5 black 60.00

30P3. Plate proof on India paper.

11 j/0 v. deep orange 10.00

11 j/0 block of 4 50.00

13 i/0 deep o-y-orange 10.00

13 i/0 block of 4 50.00

30P3S3. Specimen 12x2mm hand- stamped in black.

11 j/0 v. deep orange 15.00

31TC2, 24 Cents.

g. 18 79. Trial color small die proof on white proof paper .003" thick about 3 0x3 3mm. on white card.

(Goodall)

5 k/1 dark o-o-red 100.00

15 m/2 dull dusky y-orange

(brown) 100.00

3 7 m/1 dim dusky g-b-

green 100.00

71 o/5 slate-black 110.00

31P2g. 4 3 m/2 dull dusky g-blue 110.00

31P3. Plate proof on India paper

4 8 m/1 dim dusky m. g-b-

blue (N) 7.50

4 8 m/ 1 block of 4 3 7.50

By National Bank Note Co.

32TC. 1 Cent.

Size of die sinkage 5 0x6 3mm.

Trial color large die sunk proof

on card.

5 9 m/5 violet-black 200.00

3. Trial color plate proof on India

paper.

1 k/0 dark red 12.50

1 i/0 deep red 12.50

1 i/1 dim deep red 12.50

5 i/1 deep o-o-red 12.50

7 m/2 dull dusky r-orange 12.50 7 m/1 dim dusky r-orange 12.50 block of 4 62.50

9 m/0 dusky o-r orange 12.50 13 i/0 deep o-y orange 12.50

15 i/0 deep y-orange 12.50

39 n/0 v. dusky b-green 12.50

block of 4 62.50

47 n/0 v. dusky g-b blue 12.50 block of 4 62.50

5 5 m/2 dull dusky b-violet 15.00 5 9 m/2 dull dusky violet 15.00 61 m/3 dismal dusky v-r

violet 15.00

63 m/3 dismal dusky r-

violet 15.00

block of 4 75.00

69 o/5 black 15.00

block of 4 75.00

69 m/3 dismal dusky r-v red 15.00 71 o/5 slate-black 15.00

5. Trial color plate proof on thin transparent wove paper, imperf. gummed.

4 8 m/1 dim dusky m. g-b

blue 2 5.00

Pair 6 0.00

6a. Trial color plate proof on thin semi-transparent wove paper, perf. 12, gummed. With quadrille gum

or varnish lines on face 6mm. apart.

7 i/0 deep r-orange 3 0.00

11 n/1 dim v. dusky orange 30.00

3 9 n/0 v. dusky b-green 3 0.00

4 8 m/1 dim dusky g-b-blue 3 0.00

block of 4 150.00

5 0 m/1 dim dusky m. blue 3 0.00

61 k/0 dark v-r-violet 35.00

32P3. Plate proof on India paper.

5 9 m/2 dull dusky violet

(N) 12.50

59 m/2 block of 4 62.50

By American Bank Note Co.

1871.

32A-TC. 1 Cent.

Die No. 386.

Size of die sinkage 50x63mm.

1. Trial color large die sunk proof on India paper on card.

71 o/5 slate-black 150.00

2g. 18 79. Trial color small die proof on white proof paper .003" thick about 2 7x3 3 mm. on white card with die No. 386 and imprint be-

low. (Goodall)

5 k/1 dim dark 0-0 red 100.00 15 m/2 dull dusky y-orange 100.00 37 n/1 dim dusky g-b

green 100.00

4 3 m/ 2 dull dusky g-blue 100.00 71 o/5 slate-black 110.00

3. Trial color plate proof on India paper.

3 k/1 dim dark o-red (brown) 15.00

13 i/'O deep o-y orange 12.50

13 m/2 dull dusky o-y

orange 12.50

3 7 m/1 dim dusky g-b green 12.50 block of 4 62.50

61 k/1 dim dark v-r violet 12.50 block of 4 62.50

32A-P3. Plate proof on India paper.

1 m/0 dusky red (N) 15.00

block of 4 75.00

71 i/1 dim deep v-r-red 17.50 block of 4 87.50

33TC2. 3 Cents.

Die No. 3 8 6 A.

g. 1879. Trial color small die proofs

on white proof paper .003" thick about 2 8x3 2mm. on white card about 3 1x3 8mm. with die No. 3 8 6 A above. (Goodall)

15 m/2 dull, dusky y- orange

100.00

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 66

3 7 m/l dim dusky g-b

green 100.00

4 3 m/2 dull dusky g-blue 10 0.00

71 o/5 slate-black 110.00

33P2g. 5 k/1 dim dark 0-0

red (N) 110.00

33TC.

3. Trial color plate proof on India paper.

5 i/0 deep 0-0 red 15.00

11 m/5 orange-black 17.50

13 n/3 dismal v. dusky

o-y orange 15.00

15 n/1 dim v. dusky y-

orange 15.00

3 7 n/0 y. dusky g-b green 12.50

block of 4 62.50

3 9 m/ 1 dim dusky b-green 12.50

block of 4 62.50

53 k/4 smoky dark v-blue 15.00

block of 4 75.00

33P3. Plate proof on India paper.

5 i/0 deep 0-0 red (N) 17.50

block of 4 87.50

35E-A

Design as Scott’s A18.

35E-A. 6 Cents.

Large die essay on India paper on card 3 4x3 8mm.

3 5 m/0 dusky green 200.00

35TC. 6 Cents.

Die 386. (sic.)

2g. 187 9. Trial color small die proof on white proof paper .003" thick about 2 8x3 1mm. on white card about 3 1x3 8mm. with die No. 38 6

above. (Goodall)

5 k/1 dim dark 0-0 red 100.00 15 m/ 2 dull dusky y-

orange 100.00

3 7 m/1 dim dusky g-b

green 100.00

43 m/2 dull dusky g-blue 100.00 71 o/5 slate-black. 110.00

3. Trial color plate proof on India paper.

11 i/0 deep orange 15.00

15 m/1 dim dusky y-orange 15.00 37 n/0 v. dusky g-b green 15.00 block of 4 75.00

3 7 m/1 dim dusky g-b green 15.00 block of 4 75.00

71 i/1 dim deep v-r red 17.50 35P3. Plate proof on India paper.

3 i/1 dim deep o-red (N) 17.50

1880.

41TC. 1 Cent.

1. Trial color large die proof on India paper about 3 3x3 5mm.

5 m/0 dusky 0-0 red 110.00 69 o/5 black 125.00

41 P.

3. Plate proof on India paper.

6 9 k/3 dingy dark r-v red 2 5.00 46TC. 2 Cents.

1. Trial color large die proof on India paper on card about 4 3x3 3mm.

69 o/5 black 125.00

1 896.

47 P. 2 Cents.

4. Plate proof on cardboard.

3 5 m/2 dull dusky green

(N) 12.50

49TC. 3 Cents.

1. Trial color large die proof on India paper about 2 9x3 4mm.

69 o/5 black 100.00

49P1. Large die proof on India paper on card 3 4x3 9mm.

4 7 m/1 dim dusky g-b

blue (N) 125.00

54P. 5 Cents.

1. Large die proof on India paper

about 4 6x3 6mm.

4 5 11/ 2 dull v. dusky b-g

blue (N) 125.00

2. Small die proof on India paper

about 3 2x2 8mm.

45 m/2 dull dusky b-g blue

(N) 75.00

55aE-A. 6 Cents.

Same design as 55 5 Cents.

Size of die sinkage 4 Ox over 4 4mm. a. Large die essay on India paper 3 0x4 0mm. or larger.

35 n/1 dim v. dusky green 140.00 37 n/1 dim v. dusky g-b-

green 140.00

69 o/5 black 150.00

1887-96.

56TC. Yz Cent.

3. Trial color plate proof on India paper.

3 k/1 dim dark o-red 25.00

5. Trial color plate proof on 17 j/2 dull faint y-y orange on soft wove paper .003" thick imperf. without

gum.

13 m/1 dim dusky o-y

orange (brown) 17.50

3 5 m/0 dusky green 17.50

4 7 n/1 dim dusky g-b blue 17.50

69 o/5 black 20.00

57P5. 5 i/0 deep 0-0 red (N) 20.00

59 P. 10 Cents.

2. Small die proof on India paper stamp size.

69 o/5 black (N) 75.00

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

167

o9aE. 13 Cents.

Same design as 5 9 10 Cents, la. Large die essay on India paper

about 45x35nnn.

11 111/ 5 orange-black 15 0.00

3 7 11/ 1 dim v. dusky g-b

green 14 0.00

2a. Small die essay on India paper,

stamp size.

13 m/3 dingy dusky o-y-

orange (brown) 100.00

591*. 10 Cents.

2. Small die proof on India paper,

stamp size.

69 o/5 black 75.00

GOP. 3 Cents.

5. Plate proof on 21 f/2 dull faint o-y-yellow wove paper, imperf., stamp size.

59 n/5 violet-black 10.00

PARIS ESSAYS

1897? By A. RACURT cr. 5 Py St. cas- court Paris?

An inscription similar to the above is blurred, but appears to be en- graved in colorless letters under the FIVE CENTS label. More in- formation is desired. They were illustrated in Morleys’ Philatelic Journal May 1901. A block of four with 8mm sheet margins on top and left exists with 5c in upper left, lc in lower left, 3c in lower right and the Cupid riding a dol- phin in the upper right.

The 10c exists in same color on same paper with 8mm right sheet margin. The gutters are 2mm wide. This indicates a plate of at least six designs and probably nine or more. Until a date is known the numbers assigned are tentative. These also exist lithographed in a strip of 3c, 5c, lc, 10c perf. 11.

G2E-A. Blank Value. (2c.?)

Size of design 17x22. 5mm.

2. Small engraved die essay on yel- lowish paper .0025" thin, stamp size.

15 m/1 dim dusky y-orange

(brown) 20.00

63E-A

63E-A. 3 Cents.

Size of design 17x22. 5mm.

2. Small engraved die essay on yel- lowish wove paper .0025" thin, stamp size.

15 m/1 dim dusky y-orange

(brown) 20.00

5 5 k/2 dull dark b-violet 2 0.00 61 i/1 dim deep v-r violet 2 0.00 G3F-B. 3 Cents.

Same design as 6 3E-A.

G. Lithographed essay on white wove paper perf. 11 gummed.

1 i/1 dim deep red 10.00

55 k/2 dull dark b-violet 10.00 69 o/5 black 12.50

G2E-A

G1E-A

G1E-A. 1 Cent.

Size of design 17x22 2. Small engraved die lowish wove paper stamp size.

15 m/1 dim dusky y-orange (brown)

5mm.

essay on yel- .0025" thin,

20.00

GTE- A

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 68

<)4K-A. Blank Value. (4c?)

Size of design 17x22. 5mm.

6. Plate ( ? ) engraved essay on white wove paper gummed .00 3" thick, Perf. liy2.

3 7 k/1 dim dark g-b green 2 0.00

65E-A

65E-A. 5 Cents.

Size of design 17x2 2. 5 mm.

2. Small engraved die essay on yel- lowish wove paper .002:5" thin, stamp size.

15 m/1 dim dusky y-orange

(brown) 2 0.00

1 i/1 dim deep red 2 0.00

G5E-B. o Cents.

Same design as 6 5E-A.

6. Lithographed essay on white wove paper perf. 11, gummed.

1 i/1 dim deep red 10.00

69 o/5 black 12.50

C8E-A

68E-A. 10 Cents.

Size of design 17x2 2. 5mm.

2. Small engraved die essay on yel- lowish wove paper ,C0 25" thin, stamp size.

15 m/1 dim dusty y-orange (brown) 2 0.00

55 k/2 dull dark b-violet 20.00

68E-B. 1 0 Cents.

Same design as 6 8E-A.

O. Lithographed essay on white wove paper perf. 11 gummed.

55 k/2 dull dark b-violet 10.00 6 9 o/5 black 12.50

1807. Cabot Issue.

By American Bank Note Co.

Designed by R. Ostrander Smith.

61E-B

Vignette only of Widow Queen.

61E-B. 1 Cent.

(ill* 3. Plate proof on thick India paper.

37 m/1 dim dusky g-b

green (N) 2 0.00

block of 4 100.00

62P. 2 Cents.

3. Plate proof on thick India paper.

1 i/0 deep red 20.00

block of 4 10 0.00

63P. 3 Cents.

3. Plate proof on India paper.

48 m/1 dim dusky g-b

blue (N) 20.00

block of 4 100.00

64P. 4 Cents.

3. Plate proof on India paper.

2 5 m/1 dim dusky y-g yel- low (N) 20.00

65P. 5 Cents.

3. Plate proof on thick India paper. 65 m/1 dim dusky r-violet

(N) 20.00

G6P. 6 Cents.

3. Plate proof on thick India paper. 5 e/1 dim v. dark 0-0 red (brown) (N) 20.00

G7P. 8 Cents.

3. Plate proof on thick India paper.

9 k/0 dark o-r orange 2 0.00

block of 4 100.00

G8E-C

68E-C. 10 Cents.

Unfinished die essay of “CABOT'S SHIP THE MATTHEW”

(This subject at larger size was used on U. S. 1S93 3c as Columbus ship Santa Maria from illustration in L’AMERIQUE FRANCAISE. New York, 1st. September 1S92.)

081*.

3. Plate proof on thick India paper. 13 m/ 3 dingy dusky o-y

orange (N) 20.00

block of 4 100.00

(To be continued)

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 69

Society Official Business

Meeting of The Board of Directors, April 6, 195!

In the absence of President Gates, First Vice-President Blanchard called the meeting to order at 5 :3o P. M. at the Collectors Club, N. Y.

The Directors present were Messrs. Altmann, Blanchard, Gros, Higgins and Minuse with proxies from M essrs. Brooks, Glass, Greene, Mandos and Morris.

On a roll call by the Secretary, a quorum was established.

The minutes of the last meeting of the Board were read and on motion duly made and carried, approved.

Secretary Higgins presented applications No. 847 thru No. 854. On motion duly carried these were accepted subject to the usual period of posting. Mr. Higgins presented a bill for $11.55 for out of pocket expenses which was ordered paid.

Treasurer Gros submitted his report showing a cash balance of $2907.49 as of March 31, 1955 with all bills paid to date. On motion duly carried this report was accepted with thanks.

The following members were ordered dropped for non-payment of dues:

No. 302

Milton Adams

No. 688

H. R. Schmider

4i4

Major Theodore C. Florey

712

Lawrence C. Licht

47i

John W. F. Randolph

724

Royal A. Schiller

486

G. C. Nordstrom

74i

S. Hugo Rosende

5i7

H. C. Okon

791

Kenneth C. Massey

567

H. F. Johnson

800

Max C. Cohen

647

Edmond Queyroy

801

W. F. B. Martin

A communication from the Editor of “Covers” was read by the Secretary requesting permission to reproduce in “Covers” the article “Centennial Stamped Envelopes” by Thomas D. Perry and to borrow cer- tain cuts used therein. The Secretary also read a communication from Editor Thorp endorsing this request. It was duly moved and carried that this request be granted, providing the usual credits were given Mr. Perry, the author and the Essay Proof Journal.

At 7 :oo P. M. on motion duly carried, the Board adjourned.

Kenneth Minusf., Recorder.

Reports of Chapter Meetings

New York Chapter No, 1

Sol. Altmann, Chairman Kenneth Minuse, Secretary

Meeting of April 13, 1955. Members present: Altmann, Blanchard, Dr. & Mrs. Brazer, Caposella, Finkelburg, Gates, Gros, Minuse and Rochlin. Our guest was Mr. Samuel Wiener.

Henry Gates showed three different editions of “Heath’s Infallible Counterfeit Detector”, also a large beautifully bound book “Portraits & Vignettes” issued by the U. S. Treasury Dept., while S. M. Clark was chief of the Bureau. This book is one of the earliest known and contains quite a few small vignettes not seen by us before.

Sol Altmann exhibited part of his beautiful collection of U. S. Essays and Proofs, among which were the 1870 ic with head facing right (i45E-Bf), followed by a page of ic die sunk proofs of the 1870, 1873 and 1882 issues; 2c Jackson with military collar (i46E-Bf), followed by a page of 2c die sunk proofs of 1870 and 1873; 3c die essays of 1877 (184E-FC), and the PORTAGE error die essays (184E- Kc), die sunk proofs of 3c 1870, 1873 and 1882; the 6c and 7c 1870 and 1873 large die sunk proofs; 1870 ioc large die essays (i5oE-De) and die sunk proofs of 1870 and 1873; 12c, 15c, 24c, 30c and 90c die sunk proofs of 1870 and 1873 with the 30c die essays (i9oE-Bb). He also included the 1873 and 1882 full set of small die proofs and plate proofs on India paper and on cardboard in blocks of 4 of each denomination in the set. This exhibit included many of the 1870 rare die essays on glazed paper in four colors printed only for Directors of the American Bank Note Co. Each design filled an album page and contained the names of the designers and engravers of these essays and proofs.

Dr. Blanchard, the concluding speaker, showed an interesting find he had recently made, viz., a bank note type vignette a portion of which was the sitting Indian copied in miniature, but reversed, for the right side ornament on the ic Columbian stamp. This, he said, he had never succeeded in finding on any bank note. The explanation of this failure was probably to be found in the pencil notation on the back of the vignette, reading as follows: “Engraved in Paris in 1862 by F. Girsch.” Since by this time the old system of banking was going out of existence, it is not likely that this vignette was used on such notes, or if it was,

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 70

on very few. However, after the Civil War these bank note dies were used for many other purposes and it was suggested that some specimen or other carrying this elusive vignette may yet be found. The speaker had previously shown us various bank notes with the original of the left side ornament on the stamp mentioned, as well as both of the side ornaments on the $5 Columbian stamp.

Meeting of May 11, 1955. Members present: Altmann, Blanchard, Dr. and Mrs. Brazer, Caposella. Gros, Minuse, Peterman, Rochlin, Wiener and Wray. Our guest was the principal speaker, Dr. Donald B. Johnstone of Burlington, Vermont.

Dr. Johnstone showed a portion of his specialized study of the U. S. Carrier stamps and related ma- terial. After introductory remarks concerning the origin and history of the carrier system, he displayed the U. S. Official Carrier stamps, the Franklin and Eagle carriers with essays and proofs. These included the trial colors in green on India, orange on wove paper, and the proofs in accepted color. Additional proofs included Atlantas and small die proofs as well as the Schernikow printings. The 1875 reprints were shown with some original research on the paper and printing inks, which helps in distinguishing the various re- prints from originals. Collateral material, including bank notes and stamps bearing the eagle vignette, were shown and the origin discussed. Don has prepared colored slides of this material, with special permission from the Chief of the U. S. Secret Service, for use in lectures to larger groups.

Dr. Blanchard followed and showed a Confederate essay note which he had recently acquired as a sort of “sleeper” in a large auction lot. It was a proof impression from an intaglio engraved plate or die of a part of the design for the North Carolina Confederate $50 note of the issue of Jan. 1, 1863, the issued notes being printed by lithography. It is thus evident from this find that in some cases at least the designs for Confederate notes were first engraved on copper or steel and then transferred to a lithographic stone for printing. This matter is under further study by the speaker, he said.

Meeting of June 8. 1955. Members present: Altmann, Dr. Barovick, Dr. & Mrs. Brazer, Brooks, Caposella, Finkelberg, Gros, Mrs. McCoy, Morris, Rochlin, Wiener, Wray. Visitors : Mr. Joseph Reims, (Mrs.) Ruth Rochlin.

Mr. Caposella began the meeting by exhibiting his beautifully mounted collection of 19th Century U. S. The collection depicts the development of each stamp from the die proof to the issued stamp, includ- ing, generally, large and small die proofs (including “Roosevelt” small dies), trial color proofs, India plate proofs in the issued colors, and finally, a copy of the issued stamp. Where possible, blocks of four or larger are included. Included in the showing were the 1847’s, the 185 i’s with the 1873 large hybrid die proofs, and the Columbian issue of 1892. The other 19th Century issues were also shown, but these were the highlights.

The next exhibitor, Mr. Morris, showed many items at random from his tremendous collection of 19th Century essays and proofs. Included were some of the 1861 Bowlsby essays and some previously unrecorded 1861 die proofs with the word “Specimen” in script. Another item of interest was a blank form invitation printed by the National Bank Note Co. inviting the recipient “to participate in courtesies extended to the Hon. Abraham Lincoln, President elect, by the . . . Rail Road Company from ... to ... on .. . Feby, 1861.” The blanks were to be filled in with the dates and the names of the Rail Road Company and the stations.

Toronto Cliapter No. 6

Dr. C. M. J e p h co i t, Chairman C. R. Shorney, Sec.-Treas.

Meeting of April 15, 1955. The chairman called the meeting to order at 8:20 at the home of J. H. Sissons.

Those present were Alessrs. Wralter Wood, Jim Smart, A mney Greene, Walter Bayley', Grant Glascoe,

Clare Jephcott, Cliff Shorney and Bill (WT. J.) Scott.

The programme of the evening got under way with an excellent display of the Contemporary 1 roofs of the Provinces, from the collections of the chairman Claire Jephcott, Air. Grant Glascoe and Air. ^ inney Greene. Considerable discussion ensued re these proofs and a very excellent evening was topped off with a very excellent midnight supper served by Airs. Sissons who with Jim were the perfect host and hostess.

The chairman called the meeting to order at 9 o’clock at the home of the Sec. 1 reas. C. R. Shorney. Those present were Alessrs. Arnold Banvield, Jim Sissons, C. M. Jephcott, Cliff Shorney, Jim Smart,

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

171

W. J. (Bill) Scott, Les. Davenport, Walter Bayley, Vinney Greene, Bob Lyman and our guest for the evening, Evert Drake.

As this was the annual meeting the result of the vote showed the nominee Vinney Greene to be next Chairman. His election was unanimous. Choice of the group was yours truly as Sec. Treas. for another period.

Following the business session a most interesting evening of discussion on the Canadian Pence Proofs was enjoyed by all. The discussions were made more interesting by a beautiful display of Pence Proofs brought out by the members.

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 for a midnight snack served by Mrs. Shorney.

Secretary*® Report

By Albert H. Higgins, Secretary 70 University Place, New York 3, N. Y.

Members Admitted

No.

843 Brenner, Herman M., 41-24 - 160th St., Flushing 58, N. Y. (Covers.)

844 Karp, Louis R., 2214 Brighton Drive, Louisville 5, Ky. (No specialty stated.)

845 Richards, Howell H., Pine Meadow, Conn. (U. S. ; France; and General.)

846 Bowen, Orville E., 3250 S. W. 22 Terrace, Miami 34, Florida. (U. S. ; British North America.)

847 Rice, Edmund A., P. O. Box 48, Prospect Plains, N. J. (Anything Numismatic.)

848 Bradfield, Elston G., P. O. Box 3491, Chicago 54, 111. (U. S. Coins and Currency.)

849 Dignan, Alan, Q.C., 9 Burnhamthorpe Blvd., Toronto 18, Ontario, Canada. (Canada Proofs.)

850 Kemm, Theodore, 915 West End Ave., New York 25, N. Y. (U. S. Currency.)

851 Chilcote, Robert W., 706 Johnson Ave., Bedford, Ohio. (U. S. Currency.)

852 Osmun, C. Elizabeth, 701 E. Walnut St., North Wales, Pa. (Obsolete Bank Notes and Proofs.)

853 Kenney, Richard D., 219 Mt. Holly Ave., Louisville, Ky. (Bank Notes; Coins and Currency.)

854 Levin, Benjamin, 514 West Taft Ave., Bridgeport, Conn. (U. S. Currency.)

Applications Received

855 Wiener, Samuel H., 3230 Cruger Ave., New York 67, N. Y. (General.) By F. Finkelburg.

856 Sprague, Gordon, 138 Vaughan St., Portland 4, Maine. (Card Board Proofs.) by C. W. Brazer.

857 Kneisly, George E., c/o Arabian American Oil Co., Abqaiq, P. O. Box 307, Dhahran, Saudi

Arabia. (U. S. ; British North America; British Oceania.) By F. G. Tallman.

858 Fisher, Robert B., M.D., Box 21 1, Mission San Jose, Calif. (U. S.) By C. W. Brazer.

859 Schermerhorn, R. F., 1638 Fidelity Union Life Bldg., Dallas 1, Texas. (Essays, Die Proofs, U. S

Currency.) By A. FI. Higgins.

860 Janusz, Stanley, 2917 Doris Ave., Eddington, Pa. (U. S. Obsolete Bank Notes.) By J.

Blanchard.

861 Friedberg, Robert, 134 West 32nd St., New York 1, N. Y. (Dealer U. S. Currency.) By G.

W. Colket.

Change of Address

736 Berry, U. S., to 5040 Corby St., Omaha, Nebr.

787 Keefe, John H., to Barboursville, Orange County, Va.

681 Ostrow, Pierson, to 88 Brierwood Lane, Burlington, Vermont.

Members Reinstated

567

486

Johnson, H. F. Nordstrom, G. C.

647 74 1

Queyroy, Edmond Rosende S., Hugo

172

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

812 Haddock, John

Resignations

486 Nordstrom, G. C.

Deceased

176 Barr, Jere. Hess

Enumeration of Membership

Number reported in Journal No. 46 401

Net Membership reported in this Journal No. 47 414

Non-Member subscribers to the Journal 8

E.P. J. Booster

Essays and Proofs in all of our

MONTHLY AUCTIONS

Catalogue Free on Request.

Also List of Philatelic Literature.

BILLIG & RICH, Inc.

55 West 42nd St., New York 36, N. Y.

Every Specialized Collection Should Include

U. S. Essavs and Proofs

THE GEMS* OF PHILATELY

For 25 years I have shared my collections and knowledge with appreciative friends. Send 10c for my 16 page Illustrated Price List.

Clarence W. Brazer U. S. Essays, Proofs & Specimens Exclusively BOX 70, (J), FLUSHING, N. Y.

EZRA COLE

Will Represent You at Auction.

Further Details on Request.

NYACK, NEW YORK

SPECIALIZING IN

AUCTION SALES OF

FINE U. S. STAMPS and COVERS

BRUCE C. DANIELS

7 WATER STREET BOSTON 9, MASS

WANTED

UNITED STATES & FOREIGN STAMPS & COVERS

Immediate Cash for Worthwhile Properties.

JOHN A. FOX

173 Tulip Av., Floral Park, L. I„ N. Y.

Serving Your Every Need

GIMBELS

Famous Stamp Departments

STAMPS WANTED

in lots or collections worth $100.00 or more. Free appraisals, top prices, prompt payments. Send description of your offer to

H. E. HARRIS & CO., Boston 15, Mass.

WORLD HEADQUARTERS

for

UNITED STATES STAMPED ENVELOPES

P. H. THORP, Netcong, N. J.

U. S. POSTACE AND REVENUES

We offer the interested collector his choice from the most important stock of U. S. postage and revenues stamps in the hands of any professional. Strong in mint and used singles, mint blocks, choice early covers, Departments, early revenues, singles and multiples, etc. May we have your want list ?

PHILIP H. WARD, JR.

1616 WALNUT ST„ PHILADELPHIA 3, PA.

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

173

NOTICE

TO ALL E. P. S. MEMBERS

Philatelic Literature

Bought and Sold

Our Journal the same that you are now reading is rated

Books

throughout the philatelic world as one of the finest of all philatelic

publications.

Magazines

Catalogues

In order to maintain our high

Articles on Countries

standards we are urgently in need of new members. Make a friend for life by introducing your friend

Inquiries Invited

to membership in the E. P. S.

L. IS. STADTMILLEll

A. H. IIIGGINS, Secretary

137 Kin" Street Asheville. N. C.

70 University Place, N. Y. 3, N. Y.

Boston Auction

B. N. A,

Sales

Monthly Auctions

I hold auctions

and would

including

be glad to send

Catalogs to

Essays & Proofs

any Collector

Illustrated Catalog

regularly in Boston

Free on Request

applying for them.

DANIEL F. KELLEHER

j?. 92. StiAOJU

59 Wellington Street West

7 ( J ) Water Street, Boston 9, Mass.

Toronto 1, Canada

174

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

BOUND VOLUMES of

The Essay Proof Journal

In Dark Red Cloth With Cold Lettering Each Volume, Indexed

Complete Set, Volumes 1 to 8, through 1951 $64

Sent by Railway Express, carry- ing charges collect.

Make remittance payable to The Essay Proof Society and send to . . .

Albert H. Higgins, Secretary 70 University Place NEW YORK 3, N. Y.

FDR SALE BY PRIVATE TREATY

BRITISH EAST AFRICA

offered, by the order of Donald Hunt, Esq.

An exceptionally interesting specialized collection of the Victorian issues only in two volumes, commencing with two fine 1890 covers franked by Indian adhesives with “B.E.A.” written on them in red ink and “MOMBASA” datestamps. The G.B. overprinted issue of May, 1890, is well represented, one is cancelled at Aden and there is a good cover.

The 1890-94 lithographed issue shows picked copies mint, used, on covers and imperforate, also some forgeries.

There is a beautiful lot of the interesting 1891 and 1895 (Feb.) provisionals including two unused, and eight examples of the Anna” on 3 as. (S.G. 24) used to- gether on one cover, and two other covers. The 1895 (July and November) “British East Africa” overprints are highly specialised, with many blocks and covers, most of the listed overprint varieties and errors (some in- cluded in blocks) and some unlisted. There are two fine series of colour proofs for the 1896 engraved set, one series with value tablets blank, the others with the value painted in by hand. The 1897 Zanzibar overprinted and 2y2a. provisionals are well represented and include two fine stamps and three covers. The 1897 engraved high values are complete to 50r. overprinted “SPECIMEN”, to 20r. mint and to 50r. in superb used condition.

The collection ends with a good selection of postal stationery items.

1,257 STAMPS IN TWO VOLUMES

UCANDA

A beautiful specialised collection in two volumes, com- mencing with the unique “mystery” stamp depicting a bird and inscribed “UGANDA/1 SHELL” which was found in the Colony about 1898. There is also a local cover with an Arabic handstamp, probably used just before adhesives were in use.

The 1895 (Mar.) wide stamps in black include the 20c. uncancelled on cover, 40c. unused (2), 50c., an unused pair, a used strip of four and three singles, 60c., an unused strip of three and a single showing the error “UA” ; there is also a 30c. with additional violet 50c. overprint of the 1896 (June) type, probably a proof.

The 1895 (April) narrow stamps in black include ex- amples of all but two values, and two show manuscript “Parcels Post” with name of office. The 1895 (May) narrow letters, narrow stamps in black include a re- markable unused vertical strip made up of the 10c., 20c., 40c., 50c., 60c. and 20c. (2) in that order; the same stamps in violet include the 20c. uncancelled on a letter written by the Rev. Ernest Miller on the same typewriter and the same paper used for making the stamps. There are also two examples of the 20c. “GU” error used to- gether on large piece and other scarce items. The 1896 (June) violet stamps include many fine pieces with a strip of four 20c. on cover addressed to Rev. E. Miller. The 1896 typographed issues are highly specialised and include many large blocks, a wonderful lot of type va- rieties, cancellations and covers, eleven of which show additional B.E.A. stamps franking to England.

The 1898 engraved Queens include die proofs of the small anna and large rupee types, plate proofs. “SPECIMEN” overprints, blocks, and covers ; there is an example of the 1902 21/>a. with faint double overprint and the collection ends with a few items of postal stationery and revenue stamps.

778 STAMPS IN TWO VOLUMES THE FOUR VOLUMES PRICE $4340

Enquiries to:

RDBSDN LDWE LTD.

Cables: “STAMPS, LONDON"

5D PALL MALL S.W. 1.

The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 75

The books you really need

The 1956 Scott C&tcilogllOS

Vol. II, Standard Catalogue (Europe, Asia, Africa), out in Sept. $5.00

Vol. I, Standard Catalogue (U. S., British Commonwealth £r Ameri- can Nations) , out in Oct. $4.00

Combined Edition, Standard Cata- logue (Vols. I & 1 1 bound to- gether) , out in Nov $8,00

Scott’s U. S. Specialized Cata- logue, out in Nov $3.50

Order now from your dealer.

Scott Publications, Inc.

461 Eighth Ave., New York 1, N. Y.

\mv on Sale - Everywhere 2

Thorp Bartels, Century Edition

r

CATALOGUE or

UNITED STATES STAMPED ENVELOPES

Aw «/

;>

? !

!:t

K.&. r- t^-j '

This magnificent book of 600 pages lists,

, illustrates, describes and prices entire, cut

square and full corner every stamped en- velope issued by the United States since the first issue of 1 853.

Featuring the most complete list of

ESSAYS & PROOFS

of our envelopes ever published. Profusely illustrated.

Also, lists and illustrates Printed Franks, Specimen Overprints, Advertising Collars, etc., giving valuations throughout.

Cloth Bound, Stamped in Cold.

PRICE $8.50

Limited Edition Order Now

From your favorite dealer or direct from

P. H. THORP, Publisher Netcong, N. J.

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The Essay-Proof Journal No. 47

1 76

II. R. IIARMER, Inc.

International Stamp Auctioneers

6 West 48tli Street, New York 36, N. Y.

are pleased to announce they will offer at auction two further important philatelic properties.

PART TWO OF THE ((L. H. BARKHAUSEN,t COLLECTION OF POSTAL STATIONERY

WESTERN FRANKS

Offered by his order on instructions received from Prescott H. Thorp of Netcong, New Jersey.

One of, if not the finest and most comprehensive collection of this material existing.

AUCTION DATE: NOVEMBER 7, 8,

following exhibition in several cities.

THE ROBERT P. HACKETT” COLLECTION OF

United States Proofs and Essays

offered by order of the heirs.

Again probably the finest collection of its kind, cataloguing in the neighborhood of a quarter-of-a-million dollars.

AUCTION DATE: JANUARY BO, 31, FEBRUARY 1.

Special de-luxe catalogues will be available of these two auctions ap- proximately four weeks prior to the auctions price 50c each post-free.

THE WORLD’S LEADING STAMP AUCTIONEERS

H. R. HARMER, Inc.

International Stamp A uctioneers

6 WEST 4BTH STREET, NEW YD R K 36, N. Y.

are pleased to announce that, on instructions received from the Executor of the Estate, they will offer for sale in

A SERIES OF OUTSTANDING AUCTIONS

The World’s Greatest Collection

of

Classic Postage Stamps

formed by the late

ALFRED H. CASPARY

of

New York City

An elaborate brochure, including full color plate, listing the numerous auctions with dates and containing convenient cata- logue order form now available; price 25c.

fir * vt

mi'x '~W

Bra

& I

izer Has i Assays to 1

3roofs

3lease

"wp’* JT1

I Have tlie Most Extensive and Varied Stock of

U. S. ESSAYS & PROOFS

ITS LATER THAN YOU THINK!

Eess Than 6 Months to Prepare for FIPEX

.New York International 1956

Every Specialized Collection Should Include

U. S. Essays & Proofs the Gems of Philately

Exhibitors, Do You Know?

That Fred J. Melville, the great author and authority on U. S. stamps, and an International Exhibition Judge, said: “No ‘so called’ specialized collection that omits essays and proofs can come into the International Class.”

That Instructions to Judges at the Inter- national in Toronto 1951 required Awards to Specialized Collections to be “A Full Meal” of Essays, Proofs and Stamps unused, used and on cover.

That in published reports of Collections Exhibited at The Royal Philatelic So- ciety, London, the Essays & Proofs are generally featured as most important to mention. Why? Die proofs show what the stamp should look like, and most are rare! Plate Proofs show details.

That all postage stamp illustrations in Scott’s U. S. Catalog and in Minkus American Catalog were made from im- perforate proofs, not stamps. Why? Because Proofs are the Finest Prints Obtainable.

That the two great volumes of Perkins, Bacon Records are illustrated exclusively with 50 plates of Essays & Proofs and not a stamp is illustrated!

What Are Essays & Proofs? Proofs are printed from same plates on card or India paper, in issued color im- perf. no gum and are most beautiful prints possible. Less than 2500 card proofs were distributed prior to 1894 of 1847-93 only. Most card proofs cost less than stamps. Trial Color Proofs are in colors not issued. Essays are designs, or parts not issued. Essays show what a stamp might have been.

Why Collect Essays & Proofs? Historically they show the first ideas and trials carefully and beautifully, quality made to obtain approval before stamps were