Updating the Joyce/Chappell List: The Chattanooga Medicine Company - 2 1/2 Cent Stamp Cancels and Updated List

I haven't even finished two companies worth of printed cancels and I am already weary of individually selecting and posting each stamp in my collection.  So, from here on out I will supply edited versions of the quadrille pages that hold many of my stamps.  Below are two scans of the 2 1/2 cent stamps with Chattanoonga printed cancels.

The layouts below and all future displayed hinged stamps on quadrille pages are of the same origin and come from the collection of Henry Tolman II.  Mr. Tolman developed a substantial collection of printed cancels, and incorporate many of the stamps in the Joyce lists.  Click on the images below to get a more detailed look at the stamps.

Below is a link to an excel file of Joyce/Chappell list plus other cancels that are known to exist.  Those that have the ability to provide updates to this list and can confirm and especially send scanned images of the cancels that I don't have are highly encouraged to confirm and send those images. 

Chattanooga Medicine Company Printed Cancels Excel File

Cancel for June 1: Wood & Havemeyer

WOOD & HAVEMEYER

JUN

1

1901

N. Y. XXX

Wood & Havemeyer opened in 1894 in New York and traded in the bonds and equities of various firms, particularly gas and street railway companies.

Cancel for May 31: Company Unknown

R172 80 cent documentary

Red CDS for May 31, 1899

Company unknown

Cancel for May 30: Peoria, Decatur, and Evansville Railway

P. E. & E. R Y.

MAY

30

1900

In 1879, a railroad known as the Pekin, Lincoln and Decatur moved into southeast Illinois by taking over the Decatur, Mattoon and Southern.  When it did so it was renamed the Peoria, Decatur, and Evansville Railway.  In 1900, the year of the date of the cancel above, the railroad was sold at auction to the Illinois Central, and much of its rail lines were operated by the IC for the next 76 years.  You can find a more detailed history of the PD&E by clicking here.

Cancels by State: Pennsylvania

Scranton

Wilkes-Barre

Reading

Lancaster

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

Pottsville

South Bethlehem

Oil City

Updating the Joyce/Chappell List: Chattanooga Medicine Company 5/8 Cent Cancels

Below are some of the Chattanooga Medicine Company cancels from the above list.  Several dates are missing, and there are possibly more dates that are not included in the above list.  I am looking for confirmation and examples of missing images or non-listed dates.  I will post the editable Excel list in the next day or so.

7-15-1898

2-19-1900

3-19-1900

4-19-1900

5-19-1900

6-19-1900

8-15-1900

9-25-1900

10-25-1900

11-25-1900

12-15-1900

1-15-1901

2-15-1901

 

3-15-1901

Cancel for May 26: Heidelbach, Ickelheimer & Company

HEIDELBACH, ICKELHEIMER & CO.

MAY

26

1899

R166 4 cent documentary roulette pair

From the January 1, 1886 edition of The New York Times:

HEIDELBACH, ICKELHEIMER & CO.

FOREIGN BANKERS, NO. 29 WILLIAM STREET

     Among the many banking houses of which New York is justly proud that of Heidelbach, Ickelheimer & Co. is one of the most prominent and substantial.  This firm has been in existence under the present firm name some ten years, but the individual members have been engaged in the banking business for a much longer period.  The senior Mr. Philip Heidelbach began his successful career in the clothing trade, having founded the great manufacturing concern of Heidelbach, Seasongood & Co., of Cincinnati, over forty years ago. 

    While still remaining in the manufacturing business, having amassed a large fortune, he embarked in the banking business, forming the well known house of Epsy, Heidelbach & Co., also of Cincinnati, which during the past 25 years has won an eviable reputation.  The other gentlemen composing the firm--Mr. Isaac Ickelheimer and Mr. Alfred S. Heidelbach, both of whom have been engaged in banking the greater portion of their lives--are well and favorably known in financial circles both her and in Europe.

    Mssrs. Heidelbach, Ickelheimer & Co. transact a general foreign banking business: they buy and draw bills of exchange, make cable transfers, and issue travelers' letters of credit on prominent houses in all parts of the world....

Updating the Joyce/Chappell List: The Chattanooga Medicine Company

The Chattanooga Medicine Company, like Mumm Champagne, is still in business in 2010.  The company is today known as Chattem, but remains Chattanooga based and has a stable of products recognized by millions of Americans.  Kaopectate, Selsun, Flexall, Aspercreme, Gold Bond, and many other products are manufactured by Chattem.  As a kid in the south growing up in the 1970s, I recall many of these products advertised on AM radio, especially Gold Bond. 

Chattanooga Medicine's printed cancels are special because their design included a bit of flair.  All the company's printed cancels include the company name in an arc surrounding a prominent star designed to bullseye the battleship on the stamp.  All of Chattanooga Medicine's known printed cancels follow the design below as originally hand illustrated in the Joyce lists:

Alternatively, the image below comes directly from a cancelled stamp:

In the Joyce lists, black and white illustrations of fancy cancels are included.  In all instances these drawings were made by hand.  The above example comes directly from a stamp.  I am just starting to learn to use the "Magic Wand" in Photoshop, and so far the I've learned how to "rip" cancels like the one above, creating an  image of the cancel clear of its underlying stamp. 

To the real business of this post and the process of updating the Joyce/Chappell list for these cancels.  Below is the Chattanooga Medicine listing from the Joyce volume, a discrete and simple single column.   

Not very legible by looking at the image in this post, but you can click the image and view a readable version. 

Like Mumm, the Chattanooga cancel listing is fairly simple.  The company cancelled two values of the proprietary series, the five eighths cent and two and a half cent stamps.  Few printing varieties exist.  Within the next two weeks I will post a link to an Excel file of this list for public comment and contributions.

On a personal note:  I spent four summers as a kid at Alpine Camp near Fort Payne, Alabama.  Chattanooga was the big city nearby.  

Chattem/Chattanooga Medicine Company's 21st century product lines

Cancel for May 25: Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway

N. C. & St. L. Ry.

MAY

25

1900

The Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis Railway operated in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia and was the first railroad to operate in Tennessee.  The Louisville and Nashville, one of the greatest southern railroads, took over the NC & StL in 1880.  The NC&StL operated independently for years before ultimately merging with the L&N in 1957.  The railroad never reached its namesake city of St. Louis. 

1898 Route Map

Cancel for May 24: Chicago, Kalamazoo, and Saginaw Railway

C.  K.  &   S.

MAY

24

1899

RY CO.

Derisively referred to as the "Cuss, Kick and Swear," the CK&S operated mostly in Kalamazoo County Michigan and would never reach its namesake cities of Chicago or Saginaw.  The railway would eventually become a part of the Michigan Central and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, both controlled by the New York Central.

C, K & S Railway Map from the 1916 New York Central

Annual Report

Cancel for May 23: Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad

F.  C.  &  P.  R.  R.  Co.

MAY

23

1899

Within a year of this cancel the Florida Central and Peninsular would become part of the Seaboard Air Line Railway.

G. H. Mumm Printed Cancels: Cancel Variety

G. H. M. & Co

FRANCE

1/ 12 1901 

Another image contributed by Frank Sente.  This time a December 1901 Mumm printed cancel with a stark printing variety.  Notice the "ghost" image of cancel at end of "FRANCE" and 1901.  Frank believes this may have been caused by a foreign substance on the sheet which later came off, leaving nothing but a ghost image.  This explanation would mean this variety is a "one-off" and not a repeated variety.

G. H. Mumm Printed Cancels: Bottle Neck Band

Mumm Champagne bottle neck band with

1/2/1902 printed cancel on RB24

This image is courtesy of Frank Sente

Seal from neck band

Usage examples of proprietary stamps are rare.  Frank Sente includes this example in a page of cancels from companies that produced sparkling wines. 

Cancel for May 20: D. L. Weeks

R167 5 Cent Documentary

D. L. WEEKS

MAY

20

1899

SCHROON LAKE, N.Y.

Update:  Dave Thompson helps out again - a Darwin L. Weeks was a town supervisor for Schroon in 1885.  The document of the History of Essex County, New York is little help with the business of Mr Weeks, however. 

Here is an early 19th century Thomas Cole paining of Schroon Lake:

Cancel for May 19: Gold Run Placer Mining Company

GOLD  RUN  PLACER  MINING  CO.

MAY

19

1902

Google Gold Run Placer Mining and you will get an avalanche of businesses offering the company's old stock certificates for sale.  Sites alternately refer to the company as based in Washington State, Colorado, or several other places.  This one needs research.  Great cancel and name though.  Some of the stock certs for sale show battleship documentary stamps attached.  This stamp was cancelled right at the end of the tax period for the 1898 revenue series.

Cancel for May 18: Robert O'Gorman, Newark, New Jersey

ROBERT O'GORMAN,

MAY

18

1900

NEWARK, N. J.

football shaped cancel on R164p documentary

Robert O'Gorman was a prominent businessman at the turn of the century in Newark and seemed to have many interests, from insurance to banking.  O'Gorman and Young were insurance agents in Newark.  Robert O'Gorman was a named partner in the firm.  The Bankers Magazine of 1911 tells us Mr. O'Gorman was a director of the new Broad and Market National Bank of Newark.  So this handstamp cancel could have served many purposes, though I am guessing the stamp payed the tax on a bank check.

Cancel for May 17: I. R. Co. Ltd.

I. R. CO. LTD.

MAY

17

1901

Unknown company