As I wrote about on this site years ago, I have the main body of Henry Tolman's (ARA member #4) 1898 proprietary printed cancel collection. The auctioneers of his collection pulled some of the more valuable companies for separate sale, notably the J. Elwood Lee cancels. However, Tolman's binders remain rich with interesting material. I have made several attempts at starting to show, review, or update this material on this website, but I've usually given up in the interest of returning to documentary stamps, which are just more compelling to me.
I've come to realize that I am not likely to ever methodically collect or study these cancels the way Chappelle, Joyce, or Tolman did. But in reviewing Tolman's material, it seems useful to simply share scans of some, if not all, of the companies. Individual stamps cancelled by many of the companies in Tolman's collection come up for sale on Ebay; on occasion, more advanced collections show up at Stamp Auction Network. But nowhere are there good reference materials that actually show the significant depth and breadth of the proprietary printed cancels.
This post marks the beginning of an effort to simply display much of Tolman's material, perhaps with a few editorial remarks and additions. Allen-Pfeiffer Chemical Company kicks off the process. Just what Allen-Pfeiffer made more broadly is uncertain to me. BDR2 lists them as manufacturing chemists with a perfume business, while another online resource suggests they made rat poison. Perhaps the same chemical had a dual use?
Joyce-Chappelle lists 3 printed cancel types for this firm; Tolman shows an additional type 4. The handwriting on each page is that of Henry Tolman.
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