New York Stock Brokers: Allen, Sand & Company vs Alling, Secor & Company

As with the recently discussed firms Halsted & Hodges and Halsted & Hollister, the New York Stock Exchange firms Allen, Sand & Company and Alling, Secor & Company may create some confusion in cancel identification.  I've been reviewing my collection to check on accuracy and potential stories for this website, and early in the process I found a cancel where it should not be.

Immediately below is an inset scan of an album page with two "AS&Co" cancels, under the title Allen, Sand & Company.  I clearly mounted the green R173 first, assuming the AS&Co to stand for Allen, Sand.  Subsequently, the R184 with the fully written out "Allen Sand & Co" was added.  But as I paged forward and came to the firm Alling, Secor, I notice that the "A.S.&Co." cancels on the stamps on the Alling, Secor memorandum of sale were familiar, and realized they matched the cancel on the R173 on the Allen, Sand page.  So I've subsequently moved the stamp to the Alling, Secor page.

Here is what the page once looked like, with the stamp on the left misidentified:

The stamp close-up:

The stamps on the Alling, Secor memo close up:

The actual Alling, Secor memo in full:

And the cancels of the firm Alling, Reynolds & Company, which was the successor to Alling, Secor, clearly shown by the overstamp on the firm name on the memo:

Note the Alling, Reynolds cancels are the same at the Alling, Secor cancels, but with one letter altered.