Cancel for May 8: American Express Company

AM. EX. CO.

          1900

Just a reminder that the search continues for new examples of printed cancels on the documentary 1898 stamps.  Our series on these cancels can be found here.  The original organized attempt to list these cancels was orchestrated by Richard Fullerton in the early 1950s, and his list included express company cancels like the American Express example above.  The list largely comprised the cancels of railroads, which utilized printed cancels on the documentaries more than other businesses.

Please review the posts that follow the link above, and if after doing so you find that you may have unique material to contribute to this effort, contact us at 1898revenues@gmail.com.

The Fullerton List: Revisiting Express Company 005, Adams Express Company

This post is part of a continuing series on Richard Fullerton's 1952 Catalog of Railroad Company, Street Railway & Express Company Printed Cancellations on the 1898 U. S. Revenues.

Examples of the cancels, when available, are posted.

Express Company 005: Adams Express Company

This site's first Fullerton/Adams Express post was here on November 1, 2010.  Since then, Frank Sente has offered a scan of a stamp listed by Fullerton that was not in the original post.  This is an update to include that scan. 

Adams Express did not use printed cancels per se. These cancels listed by Fullerton were made by mimeography with a typed stencil, the same way my third grade teacher in 1971 would make our worksheets. The Joyce/Chappell lists for proprietary printed cancels also includes these mimeographed cancels.

Type 1: Four lines of mimeographed typewriter caps.

2ct Carmine Rose        a. Dated: Aug 12 1898 (1) Roulette

No scan available of this type


Type 2: Three lines of mimeographed typewriter caps.

2ct Carmine Rose    a. Dated: Aug 12 1898 (1) Roulette
                               b. Dated: Oct 25 1899 (1) Roulette
                               c. Dated: Nov 19 1900 (1) Roulette

EX005 Type 2 b.(1)

Richard Friedberg scan

EX005 Type 2 c.(1)

Frank Sente scan

Battleships with Printed Cancels Used on Checks

John's recent post with a Saint Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern cancel on a one-cent battleship triggered this one.

One-cent battleship revenues weren't really made for use on checks - that's why the two-cent ones were printed, after all. Finding pairs of those with printed cancels used to pay the check tax is a bit unusual. I've only run into three so far.

The first example is the use of two one-cent battleships with Saint Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern printed cancels used to pay the check tax in Little Rock. I wasn't able to get information on J.R. Miller tying him to the railroad, but someone of that name was on the Board of Directors of the Little Rock, Hot Springs and Texas Railroad Company and could have had access to the overprinted stamps. One Mrs. J.R. Miller died in her seventies in June of 1916.

The second example is also from Arkansas. P.H. (?) Hammond of the P.M. Company used a pair of battleships with Saint Louis Southwestern cancels to pay the tax. If anyone can guess what the P.M. Company was and how Hammond got hold of the stamps for his personal use, I'd be interested.

My last example is of a pair of one-cent battleships with printed American Express cancels being used to pay the check tax. S.J. Hopper was a Sturgis railroad agent in the correct time period, which would explain how he obtained the stamps.

Companies did put printed cancels on two-cent battleships for use on checks. The battleship on the check below has a Mo Pac cancel, and was properly used by the railway.

Another proper use is shown on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad railroad draft below. The auditor of the B.&M.R.R.R. was requesting payment of car service fees from the Chicago & West Michigan Railway, which became part of the Pere Marquette on January 1, 1900.

The Fullerton List: Express Company 010, The American Express Company, Type 2s

This post is part of a continuing series on Richard Fullerton's 1952 Catalog of Railroad Company, Street Railway & Express Company Printed Cancellations on the 1898 U. S. Revenues.

Examples of the cancels, when available, are posted.

Express Company 010: The American Express Company, Type 2s


Type 2:  Two lines of plain type block type all caps 2.75mm high.  Initials are 18mm long.  Dates are 2.5mm high.  Date 189 is 5mm long.  1900 is 7mm long and 1901 is 6.5mm long.  Date 189 is 2.75mm below initials and dates 1900 and 1901 are 2mm below initials.  All date figure "1"s are serifed.  Normally without vertical rectangular periods.  There are varieties of spacing.  Last figure of the year 189 is usuall added by pen. 

Varieties listed below combine those from the main section of the Fullerton list and those from the addendum at the back, with a bit of re-ordering:

Basic varieties by year date:

1ct  Pale Blue       a.  Date 189     (1)  Roulette
                                                    (2)  HH
                            b.  Date 1900   (2)  HH
                            c.  Date 1901   (2)  HH

a. (1)

189  roulette

a. (2)

189  HH

b.  (2)

1900 HH

c. (2)

1901 HH

Below are the varieties of the basic cancels above listed by Fullerton.  There are many other varieties known and many have already been posted on this site nearly a year and a half ago.  I will let those older posts stand as examples of many of the possible varieties of the types below for now, and will return to this area when the time comes to put together a revision of Mr. Fullerton's list.  However, included below are two major unlisted varieties:

Varieties of a., 189 year date:

1ct Pale Blue          as. (1)  Large square periods AM, roulette

                                   (3)  Small square periods AM, roulette

                                   (5)  Horizontal rectangular period after EX, roulette

                                   (7)  No period after CO, roulette

                                   (8)  No period after CO, HH

                                   (9)  No period after EX, roulette

Varieties of b., 1900 year date:

1ct Pale Blue          bs.  (2)  No period after CO, HH

                                    (4)  Diagonal period, square, after CO. HH

1900 invert, unlisted

Varieties of c., 1901 year date:

1ct Pale Blue         cv.  (2)  Invert

1901 doubled, unlisted

The Fullerton List: Express Company 010, American Express

This post is part of a continuing series on Richard Fullerton's 1952 Catalog of Railroad Company, Street Railway & Express Company Printed Cancellations on the 1898 U. S. Revenues.

Examples of the cancels, when available, are posted.

Express Company 010:  American Express, Type 1s

In May last year this site considered the American Express Company and its cancels.  Here we put those cancels in the order of Mr. Fullerton's catalog.  To start, this post looks at only Mr. Fullerton's type 1s, which include the initial Type 1 and Type 1A from the catalog's addendum.  Both of these cancels are of the serif type from 1898, with Type 1A having the addition of an "8" magenta handstamp.  Fullerton's types include several that consist of additions of handstamps.  In a revised listing of purely printed cancels this kind of mixed listing with handstamped dating should be revisited.

Type 1:  Two lines of ornamental type in caps and lower case letters.  Caps 4.74mm high.  Initials are 16.5mm long.  Date 189 is 2.5mm high, 5.5mm long and 2mm below.  Square periods. Last figure of year usually added by pen.

1ct   Pale Blue          a.  Dated 189   (1)  roulette

Type 1A:  Same as Type 1 with the addition of a heavt "8".  6.0mm high handstamped at the end of the printed date 189, in magenta ink.

1ct  Pale Blue            a.  Date 189(8)    (1)  roulette

Type 1A,  1ct Pale Blue a. (1)

ex-Tolman

The Fullerton List: Express Company 015, National Express Company

This post is part of a continuing series on Richard Fullerton's 1952 Catalog of Railroad Company, Street Railway & Express Company Printed Cancellations on the 1898 U. S. Revenues.

Examples of the cancels, when available, are posted.

Express Company 015: National Express
 
A post from more than one year ago  featured National Express cancels, but with no explanation, background on the company, or order to the cancels.    National Express was owned or controlled by American Express at the time of these cancels.  The exact association between these two firms I do not know at this time. 

Richard Fullerton lists two types of printed cancels which are shown below. 
 
Type 1:  Two line of ornamental type in caps and lower case letters.  Caps 4.75mm high.  Initials are 17mm long.  Date 189 is 2.5mm high, 5.5mm long and 2mm below.  Square periods.  Last figure of the year usually added by pen.
 
1ct  Pale Blue        a.  Dated 189   (1)  roulette
 
 

Type 1 a.(1)

serif, roulette

 
Type 2:  Two lines of plain block type all caps 2.75mm high.  Initials are 18.5mm long.  Dates are 2.5mm high.  Date 189 is 5 1/4mm long, and 1900 is 7.5mm long.  Date 189 is 2.75mm below initials and date 1900 is 2mm below initials.  All date figure "1"s are serifed.  Normally with vertical rectangular periods.  There are varieties of spacing.  Last figure of the year 189 usually added by pen.
 
1ct Pale Blue       a.  Dated 189     (1)   roulette
                                                     (2)   HH
                           b.  Dated 1900   (2)   HH
                          bs. Varieties        (2)  no period after EX

Type 2 a.(1)

1899 roulette

Type 2 a.(2)

1899 HH

Type 2, b.(2)

1900 HH

Type 2, unlisted

1900 HH inverted

*****

Examples of National Express handstamps:

The Fullerton List: Express Company 005, Adams Express Company

This post is part of a continuing series on Richard Fullerton's 1952 Catalog of Railroad Company, Street Railway & Express Company Printed Cancellations on the 1898 U. S. Revenues.

Examples of the cancels, when available, are posted.

Express Company 005:   Adams Express Company

This blog's first Adams Express post was here in May of 2009.  In the post a short history of the firm and several examples of handstamps used by the company are included.  I will not repeat those here.  Adams Express did not use printed cancels per se.  These cancels listed by Fullerton were made by mimeography with a typed stencil, the same way my third grade teacher in 1971 would make our worksheets.  The Joyce/Chappell lists for proprietary printed cancels also includes these mimeographed cancels. 

Type 1:  Four lines of mimeographed typewriter caps.

2ct Carmine Rose     a. Dated: Aug 12 1898  (1)  Roulette

No scan available of this type

Type 2:  Three lines of mimeographed typewriter caps.

2ct Carmine Rose     a. Dated:  Aug 12 1898   (1)  Roulette

                                b. Dated:  Oct 25  1899   (1)  Roulette

                                c. Dated:  Nov 19  1900  (1)  Roulette

EX005 Type 2 b.(1)

Richard Friedberg scan

*****

A few 1898 Adams Express bonus items not previously posted on this website:

1899 handstamp, roulette

Dave Thompson scan

Handstamp, roulette, similar to handstamp on R163 in previous Adams' post

Hohertz scan

Handstamp, roulette, Adams EX CDS

Hohertz scan

Straight line handstamp, HH, 1901

Hohertz scan

Adams Express money order that will feature in an upcoming post

RN-X7 imprint

Bob Hohertz scan