Page 96, 3d line from top, for 25c lilac read 24 cents.
Page 102 in lines 5, 6, 7 and 8 from bottom in last column for F2 G2 H2 I2 read F4 G4 H4 I4.
Page 103 in lines 16 to 20 in second column for S2 T2 U2 V2 W2 read S3, T3, U3, V3, W3.
Page 104 5th line from bottom, omit u in "prolongued."
Page 143, 9th line from top for "follows" read "above."
Page 144, last line supply "test of" in the blank.
Page 196, 4th line from top for (") read "cochineal."
Page 196, 6th line from top, for "12 cents" read "15 cents."
In seeking for information concerning the postage stamps of the United States, we shall turn in vain to sources which have furnished, in other countries, such accurate details in regard to the stamps issued by their postal authorities, for the stamps authorized by the United States Post Office Department are not manufactured by the government, and there is no "stamp office" to authenticate each plate, and register the number of sheets made from it, and no edict, proclamation or law informs the public of the values authorized for use, or of the designs, or other peculiarities of the stamps to be employed. The Postmaster General is authorized, in general terms of the law, to provide such stamps as he may, from time to time, judge most convenient and expedient for the collection of the postal rates fixed by other laws, and is required to have them manufactured by those who, under general provisions of other laws regulating all government work, offer to do it at the lowest price.
The proposals for such work and the contracts made with the parties successful in the competition, reserve the right to the Postmaster General to change the values, designs, etc., from time to time as he may judge expedient, and specify nothing as to these particulars, while they are very specific as to the quality of the work, and the precautions to be observed in the manufacture, to prevent pecuniary loss to the Department. A government official inspects the work in order that it may conform in quality to the contract, and the records are kept of the number of stamps of each value made and turned over to the Department, without further specifications. In a word, no record is preserved of how many stamps of any particular design, paper, water-mark, perforation or other peculiarity, are made, or of the date of the adoption of any of these things. Third Assistant Postmaster General Ireland, during his term of office, once wrote "It has always surprised me that the Department has never kept any official history of its stamps." Many of these details might be gathered no doubt from the very voluminous correspondence between the Department and the several contractors, if it were accessible, but upon investigation it appears that many interesting changes have been made upon mere verbal instructions.
We shall have therefore to rely upon quite different sources for our information. Fortunately the enterprise of collectors has probably discovered all the varieties of the stamps themselves, and only a careful study of them is necessary to their complete description. The materials upon which the present work is based were gathered together mostly as accident threw them into the hands of the author, from time to time, without any attempt at systematic research or arrangement, until at the request of J. B. Moens, of Brussells, they were arranged to form a volume of his "Bibliotheque Des Timbrophiles." The annual reports of the Postmaster General have furnished some points of interest directly and many inferentially; the circulars notifying postmasters of the more important changes, a nearly complete file of which has been consulted, have been a great guide; while frequently very interesting details have been extracted from the files of contemporaneous daily papers; and the published results of the researches of such indefatigable investigators as Messrs. Bagg, Brown and Scott, in the Philatelical Press, and the articles of Cosmopolitan and Scott have been freely drawn upon. Many large collections have been kindly submitted for inspection, in particular those of Messrs Van Derlip, Sterling and Casey, and thus we are able to describe every stamp and essay from actual specimens, except in a few instances specially noted. While there may be possible omissions, the reader may feel assured of the existence of everything described.
Frequent demands for the translation of the French work have led to the present publication. But as that work was prepared to conform to the general plan of the works compiled for the series of M. Moens' Bibliotheque, it contained many things, concerning the history and customs of the post office of the United States, which the American collector is supposed to know, and omitted some details concerning the part played by various collectors and dealers in finding out the particulars of the history of certain stamps and like matters, which it was thought might be interesting to our home collectors, but which the impersonal character of the French Series made it advisable to omit in the original compilation.
The entire work has been therefore largely recast in the hope of making it more acceptable to American collectors, and in several instances comments have been made upon stamps that were not mentioned in the French edition, in order to correct certain erroneous views entertained concerning them in this country, which it was supposed was sufficiently accomplished by their omission in the other series.
St. Louis, August, 1886.
In 1676 John Heyward, by the authority of General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts, established his postal system with its office in Boston. In 1683 the government of Penn established a postal system for the Colony of Pennsylvania. In 1700 Col. J. Hamilton organized "his postal establishment for British America" including all the English colonies, but soon after disposed of his right to the English crown. In 1710 the English Parliament established by law the first governmental postal system with the general office at New York, which continued until in 1776 the Continental Congress adopted and set in action the postal system proposed by Franklin, who was appointed the first Postmaster General. The first law of the Federal Congress continued this system in operation as sufficient for the public wants, but the postal service was not finally settled until the act of 1792.
This law (1792) liked a tariff which with unimportant changes remained in force until the adoption of the system of Uniform Postage in the United States. Single, double and triple letters were charged 8, 16 and 24 cents respectively when sent to other countries, and four cents plus the internal postage when arriving from foreign countries. The internal postage between offices in the United States was 6, 8, 10, 15, 17, 20, 22 and 25 cents for distances of 30, 60, 100, 150, 200, 250, 350, or 400 miles respectively for single letters, and double, triple, etc., this for double, triple, etc., letters. A single letter was defined by the law to be a single sheet or piece of paper, a double letter, two sheets or pieces of paper, etc., etc.
|
The following acts of Congress may be consulted with advantage by those curious with regard to the Post Office before the introduction of stamps. |
||||||||
| I | Congress. | I | Session. | Chap. | 16, | Sept., | 1789 | |
| I | " | II | " | " | 36, | Aug., | 1790 | |
| I | " | III | " | " | 23, | March, | 1791 | |
| II | " | I | " | " | 27, | Feb., | 1792 | |
| III | " | I | " | " | 23, | 8 | May, | 1794 |
| V | " | III | " | " | 41, | 2 | March, | 1799 |
| XI | " | II | " | " | 37, | 30 | April, | 1810 |
| XIII | " | III | " | " | 16, | 23 | Dec., | 1814 |
| XIV | " | I | " | " | 7, | 1 | Feb., | 1815 |
| XIV | " | I | " | " | 43, | 9 | April, | 1816 |
| XIX | " | II | " | " | 61, | 3 | March, | 1825 |
| XX | " | I | " | " | 61, | 3 | March, | 1827 |
| XXVII | " | II | " | " | 43, | 2 | March, | 1845 |
The earliest letters which we have seen, consist of single sheets of paper folded and addressed upon the sheet. An envelope would have subjected them to double postage. They are penmarked with the name of the mailing office, the date occasionally, the amount of the postage paid or due, generally in simple figures, sometimes with the word "cents" in full or abbreviated, added. Gradually, hand stamps were introduced. At first the name of the mailing office in a simple frame, generally circular, the month and day being still written in with a pen, and the amount of postage written as before. A further improvement appears later on in the introduction of the month and day as part of the hand stamp. The word "paid" or "due," the amount of postage in figures or with "cents," either written or hand stamped, always added. And finally all the marks are included in one hand stamp.
There was evidently no uniformity of practice, except the general requirement that the name of the mailing office, the month and day, and the amount of postage should in some form be marked on the letter. Improvements seem generally to have originated in the larger offices, but smaller offices sometimes took the lead in enterprise. An improvement once adopted does not seem always to have been adhered to; letters mailed at the same office on the same day and differently marked may be frequently found in old files. The hand stamps seem to have been obtained by the several offices for themselves, as there is no uniformity of style.
Some of these hand stamps are curious enough to warrant a brief description, and it would be difficult to lay down a rule which would distinguish some of them from the stamps we admit to our albums.
A letter mailed at Philadelphia in 1825, bears an octagonal hand stamp with a double lined frame and the words "Phila. 20 Jan." in three lines, a second similar but smaller hand stamp with the word "Paid," and the figures "26" written with a pen, all in red ink. These seem to have been regularly employed for several years. Other letters from the same city mailed in 1845–6-7 and 8, bear a circular hand stamp, the name of the City and State surrounding the edge, the month and day in the center, a single line surrounding all, the amount of postage in large numerals and the words "DUE" or "PAID" in a small oval are separately hand stamped. Letters from Baltimore of the same dates bear a similar circular hand stamp with name and date, the amount of postage in large numerals in an oval, and sometimes the word "PAID" in large letters without frame. Jacksonville, Ill., Pittsburgh, Pa., and Little Rock, Ark., employed similar hand stamps at the same time.
Louisville, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Boston and New York letters of the same years have the same hand stamp with a numeral or numerals indicative of the amount of postage added at the bottom within the frame. When prepaid the word "PAID" was hand stamped below the other.
Some New York, Boston and Philadelphia letters of the same dates bear the same hand stamp with "5 cts," "10 cts," etc., in the lower margin within the frame, the word "PAID" being separately hand stamped when the letter was prepaid. Many western letters bear also the word "Steam 5" hand stamped upon them. These hand stamps remained in use up to 1851 when the rates were changed and appear even upon letters bearing the adhesive stamps of the first issue.
In 1851 when the rates were changed to 3 cents ordinary postage, and 1 cent for drop letters, many of the same stamps appear with the figures changed to 1 or 3, or to 1 ct., 3 cts., and 6 cts., Boston and Petersburgh, Va., for example. A New York hand stamp of this period has New York above, month and day in the middle and "PAID" and "3 cts" in two more lines.
A Philadelphia hand stamp has name above, month and day in one line, and "3 cts" in another, in the center, and "PAID" in lower margin.
Another, the ordinary dated postmark and a second circular stamp, nearly as large, with the word "PAID" in large letters crossed by the numeral "3" nearly an inch long.
A Springfield letter has the ordinary dated postmark and a second hand stamp nearly as large with a large numeral "3" above and "PAID" below.
Cincinnati, Buffalo, Quincy, Ill., and others have the ordinary hand stamp with the name above, month and day in the center and "3 PAID" below.
Another letter has a round hand stamp fully an inch in diameter with the word "PAID" across the center crossed by a large outline "3."
Another letter was hand stamped with a large "6" in an octagon double frame and "PAID" separately hand stamped across it.
The Cincinnati hand stamp also appears with "1 PAID" in the margin.
New Orleans has the ordinary hand stamp and "PAID," "1" in two lines of very large letters beneath.
St. Louis, has the ordinary hand stamp, and another with "1 ct" in large octagonal frame added.
Many letters where the word "paid" appears in the dated stamp are also separately hand stamped "PAID." Some of these letters bear also the 3 and 1 ct. adhesives of the period. Those that indicate postage to be paid differ from postage due stamps in no respect except that they are not adhesive. Those that indicate postage prepaid correspond to many other hand stamps in every thing except that they were applied after, instead of before payment; but in some countries we have examples of adhesive stamps applied in the same way. They are not beautiful but are interesting relics of the old system. A number of similar stamps with the words "Post Office" following the name of the town and "5 paid" have passed through the hands of the compiler, but having been cut from the letters the date could not be authenticated. These would appear to be very similar in character to the adhesives issued by the postmasters of some offices about the same time, and to many similar stamps used in the early days of the Southern Confederacy.
Hardly had the discussion of Postal reform begun in England than the subject was taken up in the United States. The daily press was full of it. Pamphlets were distributed broadcast. In nearly every city, private companies undertook to distribute mail matter at less than the government rates. Some even carried letters from city to city. In Congress, members related the expedients resorted to for sending letters at a reduced rate. In New York, a certain A. M. Greig had established a local delivery and employed an adhesive stamp, charging but two cents when the government exacted three. Such competition greatly harassed the department. The act of 1836 had authorized the Postmaster General to establish a carrier system in such cities as he might think advisable. Apparently with the view of disposing of Greig's post, Greig was made a government officer. The following letter authorizing the postmaster at New York to make the appointment was first published by the American Journal of Philately.
Post Office Department,
Contract Office, August 1st, 1842.
Sir—
By an order made on Saturday, but journalized to-day, the Postmaster General has established a letter carrier arrangement for the City of New York to be called the "United States City Despatch Post" for the conveyance of letters from one part of the city to another subject to a charge on each letter of three cents, under the 20th section of the Act of 1836, and authorizes you to employ Alex. M. Greig, nominated by you as letter carrier, other carriers are to be appointed from time to time as may be required, and you are requested to nominate for that purpose. And you are also authorized to obtain the necessary fixtures, pouches, boxes, labels, stamps, etc, at not exceeding $1,200.00 for the whole and to appoint a clerk to superintend said establishment at not exceeding $1,000 per annum. You will be pleased to report the date of commencement of this arrangement.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
S. R. HOBBIE,
First Ass't P. M. General.
John Lorimer Graham,
Postmaster, New York.
In another number of the same paper we have the text of the following notice concerning the same post.
UNITED STATES CITY DISPATCH POST.
Hours of delivery every day (Sundays excepted) at the principal office, upper P. O. Park and lower P. O. Merchants Exchange.
Letters deposited before 8, 12, 3 and at the stations before 7, 11 and 2 will be sent out for delivery at 9, 1 and 4.
Letters to be sent free must have a free stamp attached to them, which can be purchased at the upper and lower Post Offices and at all the stations. The charge will be 36 cents per dozen, 2 dols. 50 cents per hundred. All letters intended to be sent forward to the General Post Office for the inland mails must have a free stamp attached to them. Letters not having a free stamp will be charged 3 cents on delivery.
John Lorimer Graham, P. M.
New York, June, 1843.
The stamp issued and used by this post was known in an early day and is catalogued in Kline's Manual 1862, but its true history was unknown until the publication of the above document. It is a stamp probably alone of its kind. Any one familiar with the law of 1836 will see that the Postmaster General widely exceeded the authority conferred on him as it would be construed to day in making the "arrangement" under the power to provide a carrier system. The labels and stamps mentioned in the letter quoted were probably however, not intended to include the postage stamp actually issued, as these terms are used in various documents, reports, etc., of the period to designate quite different articles, the "stamps" being invariably the hand stamps such as we have already described. But whatever may have been intended by the letter, the law did not confer any authority upon the Postmaster General to issue or authorize the issue of the stamp and undertake to insist on its use. It certainly has no more character than the hand stamps already described, but is none the less interesting or worthy of preservation on this account. It was probably employed because the public had seen and appreciated the utility of the adhesive stamp, by its employment by the local or private posts, in advance of the official adoption of the system.
Issue of August, 1842.
Portrait of President Washington turned ¾ to the right on plain oval, enclosed by plain oval band bounded within and without by two colored lines and inscribed: United States City Despatch Post *Three Cents*, the lower legend separated from the upper by a star on each side; rectangular frame of two colored lines, corners filled with rayed ornaments between frame and oval.
Plate impression 18 × 22 mm., in black on colored paper.
| 3 | cents, | black | on | violet. |
| 3 | " | " | " | brown. |
| 3 | " | " | " | green. |
| 3 | " | " | " | blue glazed. |
The "arrangement" put in operation in New York does not seem to have been a great success for it was not extended to other cities, and local posts continued to flourish and do the work at less than the government rates. The demand for better service and lower rates, for "reform" as it was called grew louder and louder, until the Postmaster General in his report dated November 25th, 1844, recommended to Congress a reduced uniform rate according to distance and weight. Stamps were recommended but only for use on foreign letters.
The bill which was introduced in Congress in pursuance of this recommendation provided, it is said, both for obligatory prepayment and the use of postage stamps. But there was great hesitation in adopting the English system in the United States; the conditions were considered to be so different; the distances were so great that a greater rate was necessary; the country was so new that the risk from counterfeiting was much greater; the custom was not to prepay letters, and custom is stronger than law. Such and like objections were raised and the law passed without adopting prepayment by stamp, but the great principle of the reform, uniform rate by distance and weight was adopted. The only portion of the law that is of interest here is the following section of the Statutes of the United States, XXVIII Congress, II Session, XLIII Chapter, approved March 30, 1845.
"From and after the first day of July next, members of Congress and Delegates from Territories may receive letters not exceeding two ounces in weight, free of postage during the recess of Congress anything to the contrary in this act notwithstanding; and the same franking privilege which is granted by this act to the members of the two Houses of Congress, is hereby extended to the Vice President of the United States; and in lieu of the rates of postage now established by law, there shall be charged the following rates, viz: For every single letter in manuscript or paper of any kind by or upon which information shall be asked for or communicated in writing or by marks or signs, conveyed in the mail, for any distance under three hundred miles, five cents: and for any distance over three hundred miles, ten cents: and for a double letter there shall be charged double these rates: and for a treble letter treble these rates: and for a quadruple letter quadruple these rates: and every letter or parcel not exceeding half an ounce in weight shall be deemed a single letter, and every additional weight of half an ounce, or additional weight of less than half an ounce, shall be charged with an additional single postage.
And all drop letters, or letters placed in any post office, not for transmission through the mail, but for delivery only, shall be charged with postage at the rate of two cents each."
The newspaper rate was one cent within one hundred miles and one and a half cents for a greater distance, for all newspapers not exceeding a certain size, and two cents for each sheet over that size, and two cents for all hand bills and circulars per sheet, and two and a half cents for all magazines and pamphlets.
Notwithstanding the failure of Congress to adopt postage stamps, and to authorize the Postmaster General to issue them, and to provide an appropriation for their manufacture, public attention had been drawn to the advantages of the system, and the convenience, to the business community particularly, of mailing and receiving letters at hours when the post office or business houses were closed. The question as to whether the Postmaster General might not issue postage stamps on his own authority was raised and officially decided in the negative, although the Postmaster General himself favored their use. The postmasters in several places however undertook to meet the public demand by having stamps prepared on their own responsibility, paying the expense of manufacture themselves and selling them to the public at a sufficient advance on the postal rates, to cover the cost of engraving and printing. In some cases the matter was brought to the attention of the Postmaster General and he saw no objection to the arrangement; in others the whole affair seems to have passed without any attention being paid to it by the Department. In fact it was a mere contract between the postmaster and the purchaser of his stamps, that when a letter bearing one of his stamps was mailed at his office, it should be treated as if the money were handed in with it. No postmaster recognized the stamp of any post office but his own. A letter adorned with a New York stamp mailed at the St. Louis office would have been treated as unpaid. A New York stamp was recognized only at the New York office, and a St. Louis stamp only at the St. Louis office. When a letter bearing a stamp was mailed at the office that issued the stamp, and accepted as prepaid, the contract between the postmaster and the purchaser of the stamp was fulfilled, the postmaster had to account to the government for the amount of the postage as if he had received it with the letter. The Department had nothing to do with the fact that the stamp had been actually paid for at another time or with its existence at all. Examination at several of these offices show that there was no stamp account kept in the records of the office. Such letters were treated exactly as letters were, on which the postage was either paid in money or charged in the open accounts which the postmaster chose to keep with the commercial houses. It was marked "Paid." The stamp had no significance at any other office, except as the mark or stamp indicating the amount charged, always put on letters at that date, but the word "paid" was recognized by every office. The letter was entered as a paid letter on the way bill, and was treated as prepaid, not because of the stamp, but because the forwarding office treated it as prepaid.
It has been thought necessary to define the exact character of these stamps with some exactness, and at the risk of some re-iteration, because their true character seems to be little understood. They had no official sanction whatever, because no official had any authority to sanction them. It was a mere arrangement between the individual postmaster and the public for their mutual accommodation.
Such stamps were issued at New York, St. Louis, Brattleboro, New Haven, Providence, Alexandria, Baltimore, Millbury and probably other places. Although not governmental or official stamps, they are none the less interesting or valuable mementoes. They show how determined the public were to have the postage stamp, and their history shows how the Public Will compelled the government to adopt the postage stamp in spite of the supposed difficulties in the way.
The stamp issued by the postmaster of New York was chronicled in the earliest American Catalogue, (Kline, 1862,) but its true character was not established until the resuscitation and republication in the communications of the author of this work to the Philatelist and Le Timbre Poste, in 1873–4, of the following articles from contemporaneous newspapers.
The Express of New York in its issue of July 1st, 1845, contains an editorial mentioning, that the Act of March 3rd, 1845, went into force on the day of publication, and a report of the meeting of the Cheap Postage Association. In its issue of July 7th, 1845, the same paper published as part of its Washington correspondence, the following:
Washington, July 2nd.
It was suggested in New York to Mr. Morris, your postmaster, that he might accommodate the public very much by selling stamped envelopes, as the law does not authorize the sale of stamps on the English plan. When he was here he laid the subject before the Postmaster General, who has to-day decided that he may do this. The envelopes are to be marked with the amount of postage thereon, say 5 or 10 or more cents as the case may be, and the initials of the postmaster are to be superadded, and then the envelopes can be sold. The object is to facilitate the payment of prepaid letters. Postmasters can interchange envelopes whenever they can agree to do so among themselves.
In the issue of the next day (Express, July 8th) appeared the following editorial:
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