History of the Postage Stamps of the United States of AmericaTiffany, John K. (John Kerr)
History
History of the Postage Stamps of the United States of America
Tiffany, John K. (John Kerr)
Postage stamps -- United States
The March number of the same journal, for the same year, mentions a
specimen on a letter of 1846, postmarked with a pen, November 10th, but
the stamp cancelled with the word "PAID," hand stamped in red. In the
Stamp Collector's Magazine, November, 1870, Mr. L. H. Bagg,
recapitulating the foregoing, states incidentally, that one reason for
this accommodating spirit on the part of the postmaster, was that his
salary depended on the cash receipts of his office, and hence his
anxiety to have as many letters prepaid as possible, a fact which
assists us in understanding why a stamp should have been issued at such
a small place as Brattleboro then was. The postmarked letter shows that
the use of the stamp did not do away with the necessity of marking the
letter "PAID," and that it was this mark and not the stamp that was
recognized by other postmasters. In his interview with Mr. Bagg, the
engraver, Mr. Chubbuck, was quite confident that Mr. Palmer burned all
the unsold stamps in his possession upon the appearance of the first
regular United States Stamps, that the bill for engraving them was not
collected until June, 1848, and that the charges were $7.50 for
engraving the plate, and $1.50 for printing 500 stamps. Mr. Bagg also
obtained from Mr. Chubbuck a part of a sheet, eight stamps, which was
afterwards purchased by Mr. Scott, who got together all the copies he
could, and thus reconstructed the sheet, which was shown to have
contained ten varieties, in two horizontal rows of 5 stamps each, each
stamp separately engraved, the words "Eng. by Thos. Chubbuck, Bratt'o,"
appearing in small script under the middle stamp of the lower row, and
not extending over the length of that stamp.
BRATTLEBORO POST OFFICE.
ISSUE OF 1845 OR 1846.
"F. N. P.", the initials of the postmaster, Frederick N. Palmer, in
fac-simile, with flourish beneath, on a vertically lined ground, in an
oblong with cut corners, bordered by a heavy colored, a colorless and a
finer colored line in a band lined diagonally, (from right above, to
left below) and bordered by another fine colored, a colorless and
heavier colored line, forming an oblong rectangle, and inscribed above
"_Brattleboro, Vt._," in colored black letters, "_P._ and _O._" on left
and right, in ordinary colored capitals, and "_5 Cents_" in outline
capitals below.
Plate impression 21 by 19 mm., in color, on brownish paper.
5 cents, black.
VII.
STAMP OF THE NEW HAVEN POSTMASTER.
This stamp was discovered in an old collection by Mr. Wm. P. Brown, and
described by him in his Curiosity Cabinet in May, 1871. The New Haven
Palladium of May 11, 1871, has the following account of the discovery,
which, though it contains some errors as to the former postal rates, and
some ignorance as to the history of the stamps of the United States, is
worthy of insertion here.
"A CURIOSITY."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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