Читать книгу History of the Postage Stamps of the United States of America - John K. Tiffany - Страница 15

Free Stamped Envelopes. When the Bill for Cheap Postage was before Congress, it contained a clause authorizing the sale of stamps on the English system. The provision was however stricken out, leaving the public only the old method of prepaying letters during the business hours of the Post Office. A suggestion was made to our new Postmaster, Mr. Morris, that the public convenience would be very much promoted if he would sell envelopes which would pass free through his office. By this measure letters could be sent at any hour of the night to the post office and the postage paid, where the writer desires it, by enclosing it in a free envelope. The postmaster proposed to sell stamps at five cents each, but this not having been sanctioned by Congress, we should think would not be the best way, and as the public convenience demands something of the kind, we are glad to learn that he has prepared envelopes of the kind referred to, some of which we have seen. They are marked "Five Cents," and under these words is the name "R. H. Morris." For letters over one ounce they are marked according to the Post Office Rates in the same way. These envelopes will be sold by the Postmaster at six and a quarter cents each, or sixteen for a dollar of the common kind and common size. This will be as cheap or cheaper than they can be bought in small quantities at the stationers. A thin envelope will contain two letters and be subject only to a single postage. Envelopes of various sizes will also be furnished and of fine quality when desired by the purchaser. The plan we hear, has also been adopted by the postmaster at Washington, D. C., and has met the approval of the Postmaster General. We think it will add to the revenue of the Department very considerably.

From the preceding extract we should infer that envelopes marked in some way "Five Cents," "R. H. Morris, P. M." had been issued and used at New York, and possibly something of the kind at Washington. The latter would be signed C. K. Gardner, P. M., but up to the present day none have been found. They must have been prepared at New York at least, since the editor of the Express claims to have seen them. They were probably made by some of the New York hand stamps noted as current at this time, leaving out the date and signed by the postmaster.

Such an arrangement was clumsy and liable to abuse and could have had but a short duration in so large an office as New York, and in the Express of the 14th of July, 1845, appears another editorial as follows:

Post Office Stamps. We would call the attention of merchants and indeed all who pay postage, to the advertisement of the postmaster, who offers to sell stamps of the value of five cents each for the prepayment of letters. This is the cost of the postage under 300 miles. The stamps should be generally adopted as they will give additional facilities to business men, and save them time in making change. The postmaster will receive nothing for this trouble and his stamps beyond the profit of lost stamps. The disposition of the postmaster to make the new system popular merits the thanks of our citizens.

In another column of the same paper appears the advertisement of the postmaster referred to in the editorial.

Post Office,

New York, July 14th. 1845.

The public is respectfully informed that the undersigned has caused to be prepared stamps for the prepayment of postage, made for five cents each, which will be sold in parcels of five and upwards. To prevent counterfeits they will be sold only at this office and the branch office. The public may therefore be assured that any stamps which may be offered for sale at any place other than the two post offices are spurious and will not be considered as prepayment.

(Signed.) Robert H. Morris, P. M.

[Evening papers please copy.]

Unfortunately these articles contain no description of the stamp issued, and it will occur to those familiar with the process of engraving stamps at that date, that the production of a stamp as elaborate as the stamp known, in so short a time as elapsed between the date of the first and last of these articles, was either a remarkable piece of work, or had been commenced some time before. Possibly the stamps first issued were not those known to collectors and have never been discovered.

Be this as it may, the plate contained more than a single stamp. From double copies that have passed through our hands, we have proof that it consisted of at least eight different varieties, arranged in two horizontal rows of four stamps each, differing in minute details and at different distances apart. There may have been more, but this remains to be verified. The stamp which appears to have occupied the upper left hand corner of the sheet shows in each letter the outlines of the same letters, engraved in black and a little lower down than the white ones, as if the intention had originally been to have the value appear in black on a white label. It is said that the plate is now in the possession of the consolidated Bank Note Companies (American) of New York. At any rate PROOFS were struck from it long after the stamp was out of use, in various colors.

NEW YORK POST OFFICE.

Issue of July 14, 1845.

Portrait of President Washington, faced ¾ to left in an oval, 19½ mm. wide by 21½ mm. high, with a back ground of colored lines, crossed at right angles and bordered by a colorless line. Solid colored label bordered by a colorless line above and below the oval, inscribed in colorless ordinary capitals, above "Post Office," below "Five Cents." Foliated ornaments in the four corners, the upper enclosing small colorless labels inscribed in small colored capitals "New," at the left "York," at the right, the whole surrounded by a colored line forming a rectangle.

Engraved on copper at New York by Messrs. Rawden, Wright and Hatch.

Plate impression 20½ by 28 mm., on slightly bluish paper.

5 cents black.

In most of the catalogues this stamp has been described also, as on white paper. Such specimens are shown, but they are produced by some chemical action of the gum used to fasten them to letters, or of the composition of the paper or other accidental causes. Specimens may be also found of a buff color as if steeped in coffee, another changeling produced by the action of strong gum.

Each stamp is signed A. C. M. in red ink. They are generally cancelled with a pen and blue ink, or by the word "Paid" hand stamped in red ink, or by the dating stamp.

There is another type of stamp said to have been issued by the postmaster of New York in 1849. The design is two concentric circles, the inner 13½, the outer 17½ mm. in diameter. In the center, "One Cent" in two lines of ordinary colored capitals, about 2 mm. high. Between the circles, above, "U. S. Mail;" below, "Prepaid" in similar letters 2½ mm. high. They were printed in black on small squares of rose colored paper, and afterwards on paper varying from bright yellow to pale drab and generally glazed.

This stamp was chronicled in Kline's Manual, first edition, 1862, as a "Carrier Stamp," and has since been alternately considered a governmental, or a local stamp. Upon what ground it is so confidently asserted to have been issued by the New York postmaster, and its date assigned to 1849, seems never to have been stated. It is certain however that if it were issued prior to 1851, it did not prepay any authorized government postage, and if issued after 1847, such an issue was forbidden by law unless authorized by the Postmaster General. It is hardly to be supposed that the postmaster of New York City would have openly violated the law. The inscription, "U. S. Mail," does not prove anything but probably means "prepaid to the U. S. Mail," and the stamp is probably the issue of some of the local delivery companies.