The Die Varieties of the Nesbitt Series of United States Envelopes — John Shaqi
The Die Varieties of the Nesbitt Series of United States EnvelopesBerthold, Victor Maximilian
History
The Die Varieties of the Nesbitt Series of United States Envelopes
Berthold, Victor Maximilian
Postage stamps -- United States
Towards the end of 1864, Nesbitt (the contractor for furnishing the
Post Office Department with stamped envelopes and newspaper wrappers)
had considerable financial trouble in living up to his obligations and,
at his earnest request, Congress passed a bill for his relief. As the
then existing contract expired Sept. 11, 1864, the Post Office
Department entered into a new agreement with Nesbitt, paying an
advanced rate to the contractor and ordering a change of the dies of
the two, three and six cents values.
At present we are interested only in the change of the two cent die. In
its new form the general features have been retained, but the
inscription is altered to read "U. S. POST" and the shape of the stamp
is either narrow or broad.
The narrow die is called by the cataloguer "DIE C" and the broad one
"DIE D."
Using the system of line prolongation which has been already fully
described, we are at once in a position to handle the large number of
varieties and to collect them systematically.
C Dies. (24 to 25 mm. width)
Class II Var. 1 and 2. Bust points to intersection of 2nd and 3d
stroke of "W."
" III " 3 to 9. " " to last stroke of "W."
" IV " 10 to 13. " " to left line of "O."
" V " 14 to 16. " " to middle of "O."
D Dies. (25-1/2 to 26-1/4 mm. in width.)
Class III Var. 17 to 21.
" IV " 22 to 27.
" V " 28 to 40.
As these varieties have never been thoroughly described and classified
and as there are but few collectors who have recognized the great
philatelic value of the Jackson dies, the writer desires to place
himself on record with a prophecy; _i. e._ that as soon as the general
collector knows how to find and to easily recognize the different
varieties of "U. S. POST," these dies are going to be sought after
enthusiastically.
To assist those who desire to become better acquainted with them it
will do no harm to give some additional information, showing how the
writer has studied the varieties and what means he has employed to
differentiate the several varieties belonging to one class.
Although the description of the varieties accompanying the cuts, should
be sufficient for the identification of any die variety, the writer has
found that a system of line prolongation is very useful whenever, due
to die deteriorations, a stamp appears to possess features which are
not found in the descriptions. The system is based on the position of
five letters which differ greatly in many varieties. These letters
are:--
1) "U" of "U. S."
2) "P" of "POST."
3) "T" of "POST"
4) "W" of "TWO."
5) "E" of "CENTS."
and the measurements are made as follows:
The left stroke of "U" is prolonged downward. Observe the line with
regard to letters "O, C, E" and "N."
The upright stroke of "P" is prolonged downward. Observe line with
regard to letters "C" and "E."
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