1898 Revenues: 2 Cent Battleship Documentary: 1940 Letter from the Director of the BEP

Sunday, September 6, 2009

2 Cent Battleship Documentary: 1940 Letter from the Director of the BEP

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1940 Letter from A.W. Hall, Director of Bureau of Engraving and Printing to Curtis Chapman in Cleveland, Ohio.

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I acquired this letter in the Tolman sale (lot 2496). It was included in the 2 cent battleship calender lot. Its inclusion in the lot leads me to think that the calender, inclusive for all business dates for the three year period of the tax imposed on most documentary transactions, was compiled by Mr. Chapman. The random notes in Mr. Tolman's hand in the margins of the calender indicate a familiarity with the cancels that would not be of the depth of that needed to compile the collection in the first place.

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The "Tolman sale" was a multi-phase auction held by Robert Siegel in New York of one of the more significant US Revenue stamp collections ever put together. Part 4 of the sale was held in May 2009, and this letter was included in that portion of the sale.

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The Christopher West/Elliot Perry work from Mekeel's and the Castenholz re-publication lists the total quantity issued of 2 cent documentaries for the 1898 series as 942,066,800. This includes the I.R. overprinted 2 cent postage stamps. If we use the total issued of the 2 cent battleship stamp of 899, 231,00 as stated in this letter then there were 42,835,800 of the 2 cent Washington postage stamps overprinted. Further, Mr. Hall in the letter above tells us that there were 16,395,000 2 cent battleship documentaries delivered in 1898. As all the Washington overprinted stamps were delivered in 1898, we can then figure that a total of 59,230,800 2 cent documentaries were delivered in 1898.

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Plate numbers as reported by Mr. Hall in his letter and those by Robert Mustacich on his website differ somewhat. Hall's letter states that 216 subject plates with the numbers 8881, 8885, 8888, and 8895 were used. These are not reported by Mustacich. Hall also reported the existence of plate 8004 that was never used. If anyone has a copy of any of the above listed numbers I would like to see them. I assume the philatelists of the early 21st century to be right, not Mr. Hall.

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Unusual Ink on the 1898 Series Dollar Values

THESE STAMPS ARE BOTH SCOTT R191! From fugitive ink to color changelings with unknown origins. These are both copies of R191. Can only exposure to light produce the color changes you see in stamp on the right? Or possibly a soak in bleach or other chemical? I doubt it. These stamps have so many examples of changelings that there must be something else happening. The ink used on this dark green series of stamps was different than that known on any other BEP printed stamps, never mind the varnish square. It is likely the BEP was experimenting with ink on this issue. Inks are discussed further if you click on the stamps.

Collecting Cancels

Welcome to 1898 Revenues, a website that features the stamps used to pay the Spanish-American war taxes imposed by the US Government starting in July, 1898. But while this site features those stamps in general, a focus is on their cancels, and on the firms that applied them. Unlike US postage stamps, which were canceled by the US Post Office and now Postal Service, revenue stamps were ordered to be canceled by their users in such a way that the identity of the user and the date was included in the cancel. This makes the collecting possibilities nearly endless, so that a single variety of stamp, for example, the 2 cent battleship stamp intended to pay documentary taxes, had potentially millions of different users, and therefore as many different cancels. Please browse the site and discover the collecting possibilities, made so much more accessible now through online sales. Cancels on these stamps have become much more interesting and accessible with the massive amounts of archival and historical data available on line. Rather than hours spent in libraries or with heavy volumes to identify cancels, search engines allow for cancel sleuthing at home.

Battleship Proprietary Printed Cancels: Updating the Joyce/Chappell Lists

In the 1950s, Morton Dean Joyce updated a list of printed cancels on the battleship proprietaries compiled by Clarence Chappell. Joyce's is a very long list consisting of more than one hundred companies and thousands of cancel dates. In the years since Joyce completed his list, many new cancel dates have been demonstrated to exist, and an update of the 1950s list is needed.

This site is attempting that update. Using the Joyce/Chappell lists and the former collection of Henry Tolman (ARA #25) as a base, a gradual effort will be made to post updated lists to the best of my knowledge, making a call for those that can contribute new dates and new images of those cancels.

Following in this column are quick links to excel files of these lists by company. Also are links to the posts that I have made on this blog regarding these companies and their cancels.