Curiosities From The B E P Certified Proof Collection

Here is a used USPOD Check that is similar to but not exactly like one illustrated in the post of 4/16/2021 11:03pm.

The image is from eBay, and the proportion is wrong because I deskewed the original eBay photograph of the document. For those interested, this item sold for $102.50 (and not to me )



Many of the USPOD items shown by GregAlex I have never seen in the marketplace during my years of collecting this sort of material. Perhaps it is found more often in the currency and financial document worlds which are foreign to me.

Mike

Regarding the Dealer in Manufactured Tobacco with the clause in the bottom margin, we do see this as punched remainders, so must assume they were actually issued. Finding an issued example might prove difficult.

Thanks for posting these GregAlex. Love the links also. It reminded me of why I started collected in earnest all those years ago. When I realized the skilled involved from the artisans having to etch all of those dies. Just to make a face, not to mention all of the scroll work on the borders. The skills they had to master to get those effects and transitions. Working with the printing equipment of the time. I'm babbling so I'll end this.

Thanks again for the education again.

Eric, thanks for the info and Stamp_Hunting thanks for the kudos!

That POD check is very nice, too -- and you are right, those govt. checks are highly sought after. If anyone is interested, I have a thread similar to this one, for the paper money community. You can see some of these other checks and drafts there:
https://www.papermoneyforum.com/pos...ion-11434355 br /

MML1942 - - Are these payment notices for the same contract mail routes covered in Hugh Feldman's books?
John Bowman

John Bowman:

They should be. I've not bothered to check but it should be possible to verify.

I don't have Hugh's book as I have access to most of the POD reports, which are probably not as easy to dig information out of as Hugh's book.

Mike

I enjoyed seeing these Consular Service Fee stamps in full 200-subject sheets.


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1625609


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1625622


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1625620


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1625638

And this one was a surprise -- The $1 stamp (RK-27) in *blue* as a stand-in for the $2.50 stamp.

https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1625635

I went back into the mine last night, to see what else might be hidden away...and Eureka! A vein of pure cigar strips!

The first batch is from the "First Series" of 1872. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the 500 cigar taxpaid is the longest single stamp that the Bureau ever printed. If I recall, it measures 18+ inches.


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583347 br /

https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583303


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583304

I've always been fond of the ship on these Imported Cigar strips. I don't have the right Springer handbook that lists these, but I was surprised to find proofs in red, blue and green. Were these actually issued this way or were they color trials?




https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583305


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583332


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583316


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583317


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583337


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583324


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583326


https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583341

Lastly there's this strip from the Series of 1901 for 13 cigars. There were also a great many proofs for 12 cigars, but 13 seemed like an unusual number. Any idea why these would have been sold this way? Maybe buy a dozen, get one free?

https://americanhistory.si.edu/coll...nmah_1583279 br /

GregAlex - The artist of the ship you are so fond of has taken some ill-advised license to have the engine belching smoke and hot embers while the ship is being sailed. This of course would destroy the sails in fairly short order. You either use the sails for propulsion or you use the steam engine for propulsion. But both are never used at the same time. This I learned from my father-in-law who had a degree in naval architecture and worked for many years as a marine diesel engineer.

You taught me something! That makes perfect sense, but I doubt denizens of this century ever considered it.

A sailing ship that was also a whaling vessel would belch smoke without burning the sails. Don't know about embers though.

Here's something interesting -- a full sheet of 300 S-6 Savings Stamps of 1958. Except they are monocolor, with no red flag and minuteman! Actually all sheets I found were like this, including the 1961 series, with the 50-star flag. I wonder why they didn't proof the bi-color stamps. I may eventually come across those.

And another observation -- my 2016 Scott Specialized lists all these stamps as being printed in sheets of 400-subjects, with 4 panes. Clearly that was not the case for all of them.





Addendum: The 6-pane, 300-subject sheets were used to make booklets of 10.

Greg,
Thanks for pics and links to NMAH site. I have been working with Eric on a Springer update catalogue for several years, and the 1913 filled cheese special tax stamp proof was a special treat. The 1879 Customs Tobacco stamps with the revenue cutter vignette was issued in brown (25), green (50), blue (100) and orange (500). A dull red 250 was printed but there were no orders for it, so all examples were destroyed. The 500 was issued in small quantities, but remains unknown today (and on the 1911 Springfield List) except as a unique set of specimens. The set was re-issued as a Series of 1895 in the same colors (25, 50 and 100) and the 50 was issued again in a carmine color.
The black proofs were never issued in this color, but initial test printings in black were often made to check the plate for imperfections since the black color best showed detail.

Hello GregAlex,

Thank you for starting this topic and for all of your efforts! I would very much like to have a copy of Peter Huntoon's search tool. I'm looking to find images of early cigar taxpaids as I continue my research into these issues.

Thank You,

Peter Schwartz
author of The Civil War Cigar Stamps (2020)

Hi Peter - I will email you. Be sure your forum preferences are set to allow other members to send you email.

-- Greg