Gilded Age Portraits: Mr. & Mrs. Henry Marquand

Henry Gurdon Marquand by John Singer Sargent, 1897

R188 Block of 4 cancelled by Henry Marquand & Company, 

January 28, 1901

Block retains full original gum

Henry Gurdon Marquand held a seat on the New York Stock Exchange during the Gilded Age, including the years of the 1898 Spanish American War tax period.  He was extremely wealthy and had a passion for fine and expensive art, for which he built a grand Manhattan mansion in which to hang it all.  And like many of New York's wealthiest at the time, he had his portrait and that of his wife painted by the go-to Gilded Age portrait artist of the time, John Singer Sargent.  

Elizabeth Allen Marquand (Mrs. Henry Marquand) 

by John Singer Sargent, 1887

Yesterday I put up Sargent's Benjamin Kissam portrait up on the right side of this site, and I started wondering how many Gilded Age brokers might have had their portraits done in oil, by Sargent or any other accomplished oil portraitist.  The Marquand's were the first couple I could think of, but I'll see how many more I can find.

Meanwhile, the curious issue of Marquand cancelled stamps remains:  every stamp I have ever seen cancelled by Marquand has a light, neatly applied cancel, with the stamp or stamps almost always retaining their original gum.  The R188 block of 4 is one example.  Here are more:

There is not much more to add, except: 

• I'll be looking for on-document uses of these stamps by Marquand & Company, and
• Why would a company cancel high value stamps but not apply them to documents?  Was there something nefarious happening?