These are the newest additions to my collection.
Click on any thumbnail below to pop up a window with a larger image and more information.
Plate position 31, one of the more dramatic positions of the foreign entry.
Oswego Starch Factory. 1-cent and 2-cent Playing Cards used improperly as documentaries, along with two 10-cent Inland Exchanges paying the tax on an 1863 promissory note. It appears that someone later recognized that only 23 cents tax was affixed, underpaying the tax, and subsequently a 2-cent Bank Check was added to pay the full tax due. This is the first excample I have seen of the 1-cent and 2-cent Playing Cards together on document.
Lawrence, Cohen & Co. This is the first example of any of the playing card company typeset cancels I have seen with a double strike, meaning the sheet of stamps was fed through the printing press twice. The stamp itself is a bit flawed, but it's the only example reported thus far.
Dingelstedt & Co. Custom house brokers.
New York Medical University.
Very scarce and undervalued in Scott. The population of known examples is in single digits.
Right vertical half used improperly on fragment of a bank check. Scott listing example. 1988 Philatelic Foundation certificate.
Incredibly more scarce than the Scott catalogue value implies. Currently the only reported example of the 10-cent bisect. Ex-Joyce.
USPS. Not actually a revenue stamp, but a postage stamp accidentally printed on paper intended for revenue stamps, watermarked USIR instead of USPS. Clumsily repaired corner at upper left, but otherwise a decent example exhibiting a bold R watermark.
USPS. Very scarce cacheted first day cover. While most have postage stamps paying the 4 cents postage (since the revenue stamp is invalid for postage), this one has a block of eight of J88. In-period uses of J88, even philatelic ones, are incredibly rare.
Very rare multiple, with less than 5 examples reported. Grossly undervalued in Scott. 2025 Philatelic Foundation certificate.
H. L. Aldrich. H.L. Aldrich was a cotton mill owner. R83a usedon document, along with an R42c and R5c. The manuscript cancel is very bold and crisp. The design is cut in at lower left, but the adjoining stamp with the missing portion is on this sibling document. The two stamps prove one another genuine. See composite image.
United States Post Office. Very scarce and unusual document, a Certificate of the Oath of Mail Contractors, Carriers, &c, Required by Law', with two R13c used improperly as documentaries.
Lettuce Cream Co.
G. H. Mumm. French Champagne producer.
Lloyd's Plate Glass Insurance Co.
Not actually a printed cancel, but I don't have a category for 'typewriter'. Imagine spending time sitting at a typewriter putting cancels on stamps...
Not a double impression, but what appears to be a muddied 'kiss' impression, where the paper bounced against the plate a second time, resulting in a partial second impression at top. Unusual.
16 Washington-Franklins used improperly as revenue stamps paying 18 cents tax on a 1920 promissory note. 20th century improper uses are far more scarce than their 19th century counterparts, and you never see this many used on a single document.
Savage Mining Co. Very scarce oval handstamp with side ornaments, from the Savage Mining Co. Order to pay, Mckenzie Bros, to S. T. Curtis, Superintendent of Savage Mining Co., for 'balance due on back freight.'
15c Inland Exchange, 5c Inland Exchange, and a 2nd issue 25c paying 45 cents tax on an 1872 promissory note. The stamps and usage are unremarkable, but what drew my eye was the spot for the stamp at upper right which contains the tax rates to be used: 'Bank Check 2 cents. Sight Draft 2 cents. Note or Time Draft 5 cents for every Hundred Dollars or fractional part thereof.' Very unusual!
U.S. Library of Congress. 'Certificate of copyright registration card' with an oval embossed seal from the Library of Congress Copyright Office.
Insurance Dept. of the State of Ohio. Certified copy agents license certificate issued to A.D. Mohn as an agent for the Fire Association of Philadelphia, authorizing him to sell fire insurance in the state of Ohio.
Commercial Bank of George P. Glazier & Gay. 2c Washington used improperly as postage, caught, and then a 2c battleship documentary affixed to properly pay the check tax.
A. B. & Co. De Rothschild Freres foreign bill of exchange payable in Paris, France, with imprinted French revenue at right.
Honey Brook Coal Co. Unusual large-format handstamp cancel on 1869 bank check.
1871 promissory note datelined Iowa Centre, with 1st issue 5c Agreement and 2nd issue 25c paying the initial 30 cent tax, with a secondary transaction on the reverse (proceeds of promissory note signed over to a third party) with a 3rd issue 5c paying 5 cents tax on that transaction. An interesting combination of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd issue revenue stamps on the same document.
Julius Winkelmeyer & Co. Brewer. Promissory note datelined Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1869, with bold 1870 handstamp.
Deposit National Bank. 3-cent Washington improperly used as a revenue stamp, overpaying the 2-cent tax on an 1879 bank check, tied by a huge magenta 'PAID' handstamp cancel.
Westchester County National Bank. 2-cent Washington used improperly as a revenue stamp on a 1900 bank check.
Unusual unattributed box-shield cancel with initials 'C.C.C.C.' If you have any idea as to the identity of the company, please contact me.
Double impression mint never hinged block of 4. Catalogue value shown is for hinged.
First National Bank.
First National Bank. Account of the Western Land Association of Minnesota. Maritime vignette at upper left. Beautiful green underprinting of the city harbor map of Duluth, Minnesota. Very scarce.
Steam Towing Co. Beautiful purple and green sight draft with two ship vignettes.
First National Bank. Account of H. F. Bigler & Co., hardware dealer. Printed in blue and metallic gold; paper features large format watermark of the merchant across the memo/signature area.
Banking House of Lloyd & Co. Ornate oversized check with brown and grey printing.
Connecticut National Bank. Account of the Bridgeport Gas Light Company. Entire check, other than the revenue imprint and the blue serial number, is printed in metallic gold ink.
National Bank of North America. Account of The Soldiers Business, Messenger and Dispatch Co. Ornate sidebar and underprinting.
North River Bank. Account of Pupke, Reid & Co. Brown/tan underprinting with GLOBE MILLS logo at center.
Dickson Fertilizer Co. Lovely blue and yellow draft payable by Alexander Stephens, previously Vice President of the Confederacy, with trademark facsimile imprint. Very interesting terms printed on the draft: 'The Dickson Fertilizer Company will pay 15c per pound for Cotton (basis of New York Middling,) delivered at the Warehouse of the Acceptor in AUGUSTA, to cover amount of Draft, leaving it optional with the Planter at its maturity to pay Cash, or sell us the Cotton.'
First National Bank. Lovely brown and lilac design.
First National Bank. Lovely violet and green design on the account of the Lochiel Iron Co.
Tompkins County National Bank. Lovely ornate violet and orange design.
First National Bank.
First National Bank.
First National Bank of Mercer. Beautiful draft with a stark black & yellow design.
First National Bank.
National Iron Bank of Morristown.
Chas. F. Ruggles. Draft from Chas. F. Ruggles, dealer in pine lands, logs, & lumber.
Tenth Ward Savings Association. Account of Rubelman & Co., hardware dealer. Attractive green underprinting.
Banking House of R. B. Sutherland. Printed on thin parchment. Attractive vignette of female laborer at left and bull's head at bottom center.
Pennsylvania Co. for Insurances on Lives . Very stark monochrome appearance, as if the entire document was printed in black, but the revenue imprint is actually a very dark brown, much darker than usually seen.
Hagerstown Bank. Account of C. W. Henderson. Beautiful design printed entirely in metallic gold ink, including large vignette of a dog at left.
Newton National Bank. Account of E. J. Collins. Design printed entirely in metallic gold ink, including the seal of the city of Newton at left.
Williamsport National Bank. Lovely contrasting red and green design.
Louisville City National Bank. Lovely contrasting violet and green color combination.
The Bank of North America. Account of Coates Brothers. Very attractive antique 'embossed' underprinting design in green.
The Lincoln National Bank. Very intricate blue security underprinting.
Savings Bank of Santa Rosa. Beautiful facsimile at center.
Knowles & Brent, Bankers. Unused specimen. Note the 'INVALID FOR ACTUAL USE' printed in orange below the revenue imprint, as well as the 'Corlies, Macy & Co.' imprint in red.
Banking House of John H. James. Unused specimen. Note the 'INVALID FOR ACTUAL USE' printed in orange below the revenue imprint, as well as the 'Corlies, Macy & Co.' imprint in green.
Morris, Stratton & Co. Unused specimen. Note the 'INVALID FOR ACTUAL USE' printed in orange below the revenue imprint, as well as the 'Corlies, Macy & Co.' imprint in green.
North-Western National Bank. Unused specimen. Note the 'INVALID FOR ACTUAL USE' printed in orange below the revenue imprint, as well as the 'Corlies, Macy & Co.' imprint in blue.
Pawners Bank. Extremely rare document, with only 2-3 examples known. Pawn tickets, like baggage tickets, railway passes, steamship passes, etc., where extremely ephemeral. Once the immediate task at hand was completed, there was no reason to retain the document any longer, so virtually none were saved... unlike financial transactional documents (e.g., checks, deeds, stock certificates) or legal documents, where medium- to long-term filing and storage was required, so more survived.
5-cent Andrew Dougherty proprietary playing card stamp used improperly as a documentary on an 1869 one-day promissory note, tied by manuscript cancel in the same hand that wrote the note. The manuscript cancel is 'TK AP 6 1869', the unusual month abbreviation matching that used at upper right. 5 cents was the correct tax rate for this transaction. Very rare use.
Rhode Island Hospital Trust Co. This is an 1899 check drawn on the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Co., with a printed slip attached by the revenue stamp (the slip itself has no adhesive), which reads 'TWO CENTS added to this check for Revenue Stamp required by United States law.' You can see the pencil notation for 'Stamp 02' above the check amount.
Webster & Popkins. 3-cent Playing Cards with a tool gouge or plate crack at top center, plate position #14, on a CDV.
USPS. Philatelic use of provisional overprint on an advertising cover from Schwind & Garrabrant, Bicycle Building and Repairing, along with matching letterhead with a whimsical birthday message referencing the revenue stamp.
USPS. Improper use of a provisional overprint on a machine-canceled cover from July 1898.
All-over double transfer. Very rare. Doubling throughout design, from scrollwork to all text, to portrait. Were it not for the fact that the doubling is in different directions, this could be mistaken for a double impression.
The Seager & Coryell Gold and SIlver Mining Co. of Idaho. Vertical pair, used improperly as revenues, along with a myriad of hyphen-hole perforated battleship documentaries, paying tax on a stock transfer, on the reverse of a stock certificate issued to and signed by one of the company owneers. Additionally, the 2-cent battleship documentary next to the postage stamps is also an improper/illegal use, as it is a reused revenue stamp, dated a full 2 years befoe the date this stock certificate was ever issued.
Peoples National Bank. 2-cent proprietary battleship revenue used improperly on a July 1898 check. 2009 APEX certificate.
USPS. 2-cent battleship documentary used improperly as postage on a Nov. 1898 dentist's commercial mail from Portland to Norway, Maine.
USPS. Block of 4 of 1-cent provisional overprints used improperly as postage on an 1898 cover.
Lincoln Bank and Trust Co. Two examples of the R229 double impression on a 1923 promissory note. These are the first examples of any of the 20th century double impressions that I've seen still on document.
John W. Hastings. 2c Washington bureau used improperly as a revenue stamp on an 1899 store check from John W. Hastings drawn on the First National Bank, Wellsboro, PA.
USPS. Improperly used on cover as postage on a 1962 commercial cover.
Early matching usage (EMU) of a $2 Conveyance imperf, on a February 1863 indenture.
2-cent Black Jack used improperly as a revenue stamp on an 1867 receipt. The writer must have been a physician: holy illegible handwriting, Batman!
Nassau Bank of Brooklyn. 2-cent Black Jack used improperly as a revenue on an 1864 bank check.
One-of-a-kind jumbo right sheet margin example showing portions of the next stamp at top and left.
Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Co. Slightly munged stamp (and document), a bill of lading confirming receipt of one case of hoop skirts from Eagleton Manufacturing Co. Virtually all known documents with R6e originate from the Eagleton Manufacturing Co.
State Fire Insurance Co. Nothing special about the document or the stamp, but that handwriting/printing style is very unusual.
The Eugene Loan & Savings Bank. Three proprietary battleship revenue stamps (Scott # RB20, RB21, and RB23) used improperly as documentaries, along with Scott #R154, 1-cent Franklin provisional overprint, paying the 2 cents tax on an August 1898 check from Eugene, Oregon. A very coloful combination of stamps, with the 3 proprietary battleship revenues adding up to the missing 1 cent in total.
Impossibly scarce document. Vertical strip of three 2-cent Proprietary (R13c) improperly paying 6 cents tax (the correct rate) on a San Francisco 1864 promissory note. The strip features two of the three plate positions associated with the T13a major double transfer: the middle stamp is plate position 133 showing doubling of elements only at the bottom of the stamp, and the bottom stamp is plate position 147, the full T13a showing doubling at top and bottom. Ex-Bleckwenn.
To my knowledge there are no known intact multiples of all 3 plate positions. I also have an example of the full T13a along with the plate position below it (position 161) showing doubling of just the top elements, which you can see here.
J. C. Smith. Just a stunningly beautiful oversized packaging label with a horse vignette, with a 2-cent Proprietary revenue affixed, canceled with initials matching the business name.
Five Civilized Tribes. Very unusual document, a photostat of a 1902 homestead deed from the Muskogee (Creek) Nation, Indian Territory, filed with the department of Interior on August 22, 1916, with a handstamp cancel from the 'Five Civilized Tribes'.
West Penn Railways Co. Very scarce stamped baggage ticket, taxed as an agreement. This tax was only in effect from December 1, 1914 through the end of 1915. Like other passes and tickets (unlike financial or legal documents) virtually none were saved.
Edward C. Roth & Co. July 1898 change-of-beneficiary addendum to an insurance policy, with 21.5 cents paid in tax. The half-cent battleship printed in orange was only used for a very short period of time at the beginning of the Spanish American War tax period, replaced by the same denomination printed in gray (Scott #R162). There are fewer than 10 reported examples still on document. This document was typed on a delicate tissue-like parchment; it's amazing it survived at all.
United States Tobacco Co. Horizontal pair of RJ9, along with two pairs of RJ7, a vertical pair of RJ3, and a block 6, strip of 3, and single of RJ2, paying $14.30 tax on a 1935 memorandum of sale of 715 pounds of tobacco. Very scarce on document.
Planters Looseleaf Floor. Single RJ9 along with RJ4, RJ3, and a horizontal strip of RJ1, paying $6.19 tax on a 1935 memorandum of sale for 610 pounds of tobacco. Very scarce on document.
Martin's Warehouse. Vertical pair, along with an additional single RJ9, RJ8, RJ5, a horizontal pair of RJ3, and a single RJ1, paying $27.36 on a 1934 memorandum for the sale of 676 pounds of tobacco. Very scarce on document.
Clerk's Office. Very scarce, only the second example of the 10-cent Contract part perforate reported still on document.
B. F. Beckwith. Large stencil cancel that doubles as a backstamp.
J. Hughes. Large format stencil backstamp. Presumably this was also used as a cancel at some point. If you have seen such an example, please let me know.
Jer. B. Fies. Extremely unusual in that the 'D. N. Wentzel' stencil backstamp doesn't match the information in the printed backstamp. Did one photographer buy out another? Was the stencil applied by the purchased or a collector after the fact? We may never know.
P. B. Killam. Large format stencil backstamp. This may also have been used as a cancel. If anyone has seen such an example, please contact me.
Gilbert Brothers. One of the most beautiful stencil backstamps I have ever seen, in the form of a tree leaf. This stencil may also have been used as a cancel. If you have seen an example, please contact me.
S. H. Moulton. Lovely stencil backstamp. This may also have been used as a stamp cancel; if anyone has seen an example of same, please contact me.
Torr & Jeffries. Stencil precancel.
J. F. French. Large format stencil cancel also serves as an identifying backstamp.
A. J. Morse. Broker's call-buying privilege card.
Thomas R. Rutherford. Blocks of 4 are not typically found on small-size CDVs. Also unusual in that there is a mismatch between the company name on the cancel and the photographer backstamp just barely peeking out over the stamps. Possibly bought out another photographer's business?
Mrs. D. Sears. Another bored clerk decided to trace a charicature of George Washington. Female photographers during this period are quite scarce.
G. K. Proctor. Wonderful example of a handstamp cancel used as both a CDV backstamp and as a precancel.
N. G. Johnson. Beautiful strike in red of unusual photographer cancel with the city name 'ERIE' curved.
Shorey's Gallery. A bored clerk decided to draw a moustache and beard on George...
Horizontal block of 10, with the 4th stamp in the top row being the double transfer at top, plate position 34.
Erie Oil Company. Unusual combination of stamps paying the 25 cent tax on this oil company stock certificate: a 20-cent Foreign Exchange, the scarcer of the two 20-cent denominations, not frequently seen on document, and a 5-cent Playing Cards, which was not supposed to be used for documentary purposes, so this constitutes an improper usage.
Swiss Post. Not a postal use of a revenue stamp, but rather a lovely historical item. Provisional overprint sent from San Francisco to Basel, Switzerland, in September 1898, with notation that reads 'Dear Sir The stamp on the margin marked I.R. is a postage stamp turned into an Internal Revenue Stamp of the War issue, provisionally to supply the demand before the regular War issue could be got out by the Government.'
Mark C. Terry. Very scarce photographer stencil.
Double transfer in top stars, plate position #92. Of the 4 positions that show doubling in the top stars, this is one of the two most dramatic. Due to the muddiness of the orange ink, the double transfers are considerably tougher to acquire on Scott #R140 vs. the second issue #R113.
Scratched plate at left. Seeking a confirming example to establish it as a plate variety vs. simply a printing anomaly.
Catlin's Drug Store.
C. Marti & Co. Beautiful European style oval cancel.
Absolutely huge margins and well centered. R78c—R80c are notoriously difficult to find well centered, as they were printed very close together.
Hall & Ruckel. Repaired tear at lower right, otherwise a gorgeous stamp and cancel!
Block of 4 with full gum never hinged. Extremely scarce. Catalog value shown is for hinged; no pricing is given for never hinged.
© Copyright 2003-2025, DBH. All rights reserved.
Contact Me Site Map
Privacy Policy
Member of:
