Читать книгу History of the Postage Stamps of the United States of America - John K. Tiffany - Страница 17

Table of Contents

Of all the stamps of this character, those issued by the St. Louis Postmaster have been most discussed in the Philatelical Press. The ten cents was first noticed in an article in the Stamp Collector's Magazine in November, 1863, and the five cents was mentioned in Kline's Manual, 3rd edition, 1865. Mr. L. W. Durbin first mentioned the second die of the 10 cents, Mr. Pemberton the second die of the 5 cents, and Mr. Scott is entitled to the credit of discovering the third die of each.

It is unnecessary to repeat the numerous discussions, pro and con, concerning the authenticity of these stamps, since the present author discovered, and republished in Le Timbre Poste, in May, 1873, the following articles from contemporaneous daily papers, which leave no further room for doubt concerning the two values, 5 and 10 cents.

Missouri Republican. July 17th. 1845.

"Free stamped envelopes. For the convenience of those who may wish to prepay their packages at any hour of the night, Robert H. Morris, the postmaster of New York, as we learn from the Express, has prepared a variety of stamped envelopes. They are marked five cents, ten cents, &c., and under these words is the name R. H. Morris. The five cent envelopes will be sold by the postmaster at 6¼ cents each, or 16 for a dollar of the common kind and common size, and the others in proportion. This will be as cheap as 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 has also been adopted by the postmaster at Washington and has met the approval of the Postmaster General. We think it not only a convenience to the public but that it will add to the revenue of the Department very considerably. The above arrangement would be a great convenience to many persons. Why should not the postmaster here adopt the same plan. We believe the public generally would buy them."

This article, although a mere repetition of the article of the Express, and like that mentioning envelopes of New York and Washington which no one has ever seen, contains at the end a reference which was evidently the inspiration of the St. Louis postmaster to issue his stamps, for we read in the Missouri Republican of November 5th, 1845, the following:

"Letter Stamps. Mr. Wimer, the postmaster, has prepared a set of letter stamps, or rather marks to put upon letters, indicating that the postage has been paid. In this he has copied after the plan adopted by the postmaster of New York and other cities. These stamps are engraved to represent the Missouri Coat of Arms, and are five and ten cents. They are so prepared that they may be stuck upon a letter like a wafer and will prove a great convenience to merchants and all those having many letters to send post paid, as it saves all trouble of paying at the post office. They will be sold as they are sold in the East, viz: Sixteen five cent stamps and eight ten cent stamps for a dollar. We would recommend merchants and others to give them a trial."

And a few days later in the same paper of November 13th, 1845, we again read:

"Post Office Stamps. Mr. Wimer, the postmaster, requests us to say that he will furnish nine ten cent stamps and eighteen five cent stamps for one dollar, the difference being required to pay for the printing of the stamps."

The above articles contain nearly the whole history of the stamps of St. Louis. We learn the name of the postmaster who had them made, (the name, however is incorrectly spelled) their use and price, the date and object of their issue. A thorough search of all the files preserved, of the daily papers published in St. Louis from January, 1845, to December, 1848, resulted in no further discoveries concerning them.

ST. LOUIS POST OFFICE.

Issue of November 5th, 1845.

Arms of the State of Missouri. A round shield parted per pale; on the dexter side, gules (red or vertically lined ground), the grizzly bear of Missouri, passant guardant, proper; on a chief engrailed azure (horizontally lined), a crescent argent; on the sinister side, argent, the arms of the United States, (the stamp is dotted or gold) the whole with a band inscribed "United we stand, divided we fall" (The buckle below on the left, in the 5 cents, should be omitted). Supporters on each side, a grizzly bear of Missouri, proper; rampant guardant, standing on a scroll inscribed "Salus Populi Suprema lex esto." Above, the value is expressed in large outline numerals, ornamented and shaded. In the corners "Saint" and "Louis" with numerous flourishes. Below the arms "Post Office" in large ordinary capitals. The whole in a rectangular frame of a thin and thick colored line.

Engraved on copper by J. M. Kershaw, at St. Louis. The plate consisted of six stamps, three of each value, and was delivered to Mr. Wymer, and is said to have been lost with other of his effects during the war. The engraver thinks he printed about 500 sheets, at three different times, upon such paper as he happened to have at hand, and that as the plate deteriorated easily, he probably retouched it slightly each time in parts, before printing. He denies positively the possibility of the figures upon the twenty cent value being his work. These are all the facts he can now vouch for, and states that many of the statements from time to time attributed to him "were the ideas of his interviewers, who tried to refresh his recollection and may have mixed him up."

Plate Impression in black upon three qualities of bluish paper, 3 varieties of each value.

5 cents, black 17½ by 22½ mm.

10 cents, black 18½ by 22½ mm.

These stamps are printed on a rather thick greenish blue paper, on a thinner grey-blue paper, and on a very thin greyish paper, which agrees with the recollection of the engraver that he printed three different lots of them. A pair is also known on a coffee colored paper. They were taken from buff envelopes, and are undoubtedly discolored by the action of the paper or gum. Those on white paper have been made so by chemical action.

The varieties may be thus distinguished:

Five Cents. The dashes in the corners form a sort of triangular ornament, or branch. The letters are block capitals, shaded by a fine line. There are no lines or dashes under "Post Office."

First Variety. (a) The buckle on the garter has the point and tongue turned up to the left.

(b) There are six dashes above "Saint," and eight above "Louis," of which the top and bottom ones on each side are long strokes.

(c) One long and two short lines and a speck under "Saint," and one long and three short lines under "Louis."

(d) A long diamond in top of numeral, and a mis-shapened diamond in the bow of the numeral, with four dots above and nine below it, and a dot in the ball of the numeral.

(e) The bear in the shield is on a vertically lined ground.

Second Variety. (a) The buckle has the tongue and point turned down to the right.

(b) There are eleven dashes above "Saint," and ten above "Louis," one of which cuts the frame on the right.

(c) One long and two short lines, a dot, and a horizontal stroke below "Saint," one very long, and three short lines under "Louis," two above and two below the level of the bear's ear.

(d) A triangle in the top of the numeral, and a diamond in the bow of the numeral, with four dots above and nine below the latter. No dot in the ball of the numeral. The right end of the scroll is double, and touches the frame.

(e) The bear is on a vertically lined ground.

Third Variety. (a) The buckle has the point turned down to the right.

(b) There are twelve lines above "Saint," and seventeen above "Louis."

(c) There are one long and three short lines under "Saint," and one long and two short lines and a dot under "Louis," the latter on a line between the ear and eye of the bear.

(d) A diamond in the top of the 5, and an upright diamond in the back, with eleven dots below and four dots above it.

(e) The bear is on a ground lined horizontally above and vertically below.

Mr. Pemberton thinks, from a fine clear copy he had seen, that for some reason the numeral of this variety had been originally engraved as a 1. He says there is a thin line to the right of the down stroke of the 5, three small dots in a curve to the right of the diamond in the top of the 5, and two small dots, one over the other to the left of the diamond.

Fourth Variety.[A] Mr. Pemberton describes a fourth type of the Five cents which he claims is a restoration of the second variety, from which one variety of the 20 cents was made by alteration.

[A] Note.—Without examining the specimen from which Mr. Pemberton described, it is impossible to say that it may not be one of the retouches which Mr. Kershaw thinks he made.

(a) The buckle has the point turned down to the right.

(b) There are eleven dashes above "Saint," and ten above "Louis."

(c) There are four lines under "Saint," and three long and two short lines under "Louis," the last on a level with the bear's ear.

(d) A diamond in the top, and a long diamond in the back of 5, with four dots over and four dots under the latter. Coarser shading around the figure, and a curved vertical line at the back of the bow, being part of the 0 of 20 badly erased.

(e) Bear on a vertically lined ground. The two lines of the frame above Louis bulged.

Ten Cents. The words "Saint," and "Louis" are in small, colored, ordinary capitals, unshaded. There is a long flourish curved upwards over each word. It seems to have been intended to have a point with a short dash on each side of it, above each of these, with a second long flourish curved upwards and then brought down round the end of the word, and continued as a flourish under them, but the details are different in the several types. The numerals are ornamented by a diamond in the middle of each down stroke, with three dots, above and below each diamond, except in type one, which has only two dots below the diamond in the 1.

The following varieties will be noticed:

First Variety. The point and right dash, between the corner flourishes on both sides, usually missing, and the upper flourish does not come distinctly round the right hand word.

3	lines	beneath	"Post Office."
5	"	"	"Saint."
4	"	"	"Louis."

Second Variety. The point and right dash, between the flourishes in the right hand corner, gone, and the upper flourish, does not come round the right hand word distinctly.

3	lines	beneath	"Post Office,"
	with a smaller stroke over each.
4	lines	beneath	"Saint."
4	"	"	"Louis."

Third Variety. The point between the dashes, between the flourishes on the left, missing.

3	lines beneath "Post Office,"
	with a smaller stroke over each,
	and dots between them.
3	lines	and	2	dots	beneath	"Saint."
4	"		1	"	"	"Louis."

Mr. Pemberton at one time chronicled a fourth variety of this value also, but could not afterward identify it. Indeed the impressions show great variation from the intended design in the corner flourishes, which seem to have been engraved too fine in parts.

Twenty Cents. While the author and many others do not believe the twenty cent value to be genuine, in deference to such authorities as Messrs. Scott and Pemberton, who accept the few specimens known, they are here described. In the American Journal of Philately, of January, 1870, Mr. Scott, after describing the three varieties each of the 5 and 10 cents for the first time, mentions the 20 cent value as a new discovery. Comparing the three specimens, he says: Two are exactly alike, and have evidently been altered from variety three, above described, while the third is different, having evidently been altered from variety two. At a later date he mentions a fourth specimen. Five specimens are all that have ever been chronicled, we believe.

Mr. Pemberton describes the first three more at length, in a paper in the Stamp Collector's Magazine, for January, 1871. He says he had before him 13 stamps of the 5 cent value, and 12 of the 10 cents, but he does not state how many he had of the 20 cents, but that 10 of the 25 specimens were lent him from America. The American Journal, for January, 1871, however, says he had the three known specimens of the 20 cents. The theory of his article is that the twenty cents was made by erasing the numerals, and of course incidentally other surrounding parts of the varieties two and three, of the five cent value on the plate, and engraving the numerals 20, printing that value and afterwards erasing the 20 and replacing the five. It is also the theory of the article that this was done with all three varieties of the 3 cents, although the author had seen only two varieties of the 20 cents, and only one specimen of the 5 cents, which he could torture into a re-engraving. He alters the arrangement of varieties of Mr. Scott, to which we prefer to adhere, and thus describes them:

Variety One, from variety three of the five cents.

One long and one short line under "Saint." Half of each of the original top strokes and the third stroke under "Louis" being erased, but the dot left. The inner line of the frame erased from the T to L, and a smaller portion of the outer frame above erased also.

Variety Two, from variety two of the five cents. Four strokes under "Saint," but bolder and closer than the original, the vertical stroke over the left bear's paw nearly erased.

Four strokes under "Louis," but deeper and more regular, the third stroke downwards on a level with the bear's ear. L of "Louis" has been re-engraved. Bear's paw on the garter erased.

The inner line of frame half erased between "Saint," and "Louis."

It remains to be added that the numerals are, in both these varieties, very badly drawn, single lined and solid, instead of open and ornamented, and are shaded by miserably drawn irregular horizontal fine lines of uneven length, totally different from the figures in the other two values.

It is both impracticable and useless to attempt to repeat here all the arguments for and against the authenticity of these specimens. It is claimed that they were found in the same file of letters with the greater part of the specimens of the other values known. That the rate they indicate was a regular rate upon heavy letters from St. Louis to New York, and that many letters so marked that do not bear stamps, were found in the same and other files; that there are no traces of erasure of the 5 by scratching, and the paper is no thinner under the numerals than elsewhere. This seems to be the substance of what can be said in their favor.

On the other hand they are not alluded to in the notices published in the Republican, above quoted, or elsewhere; the engraver is positive that he did not alter the values; says that he retained the plate until after Mr. Wyman had ceased to be postmaster, which was at least two years after the stamps were prohibited by law, and that the workmanship of the numerals could not possibly be his, and would be a disgrace to any engraver; the figures are apparently made by an unskilled hand with an ordinary pen and ink; competent authorities in such matters state that it is possible to remove printing ink from paper; three of the known specimens have been photographed, two of one variety and one of another; in all the numerals differ, those of the two varieties mentioned by Mr. Scott as corresponding, vary as much as the two from different varieties of the five cents. While it is true that a portion of the inner line of the frame is gone between Saint and Louis, and that the strokes are bolder beneath these words on one variety, it is not apparent that they are nearer together, or of different shape as Mr. Pemberton thought, or that the L of "Louis" has been re-engraved. The absent lines need no comment. Lastly, the work has a blurred appearance, as if the ink had slightly run into the paper around these famous 20 numerals, and in all the photographs they are of a different color from the remaining parts of the same stamps, and the other stamps photographed with them, particularly noticeable in light photographs, while the blurred appearance is more apparent in the dark photographs. If these facts do not convince those who believe in the authenticity of these 20 cent varieties, that they, with Messrs. Scott and Pemberton, have been the victims of a clever fraud, the question will probably never be settled for them, as no new facts are likely at this date to be discovered.

The two cent value, once chronicled, is of a different design, and an admitted invention.