American Sanitary Drug Company: The Tolman Collection

This post is part of a continuing series documenting the Henry Tolman collection of 1898 proprietary printed cancels. 

Or is it American Syndicate Drug Company?  A search using contemporary technology doesn't turn up much, if anything, for the firm American Sanitary Drug.  It may be that the firm never existed.  Henry Tolman, in his collection, suggested on his page for these cancels that the firm's actual name was or might have been American Syndicate Drug Company.  But his suggestion creates a very different problem than searching and finding nothing.  Combining the words drug and syndicate and doing a general search produces zillions of results, mostly having to do with narco-trafficantes.

Joyce lists one type for this cancel on three values, so Mr. Tolman's collection of this company appears complete.  But given that the actual name of the firm is uncertain, I'm also not sure if we really know how many types this firm might have actually issued.  Whatever the case, additional information is needed to confirm the name of this company.  

A check of the BDR2 shows the 2 1/2c stamp attributed to American Sanitary Drug, and a few handstamps with the same initials without attribution.  There is a line with a small advert and no stamp for the "Aldo Summer Drug Co."  It appears there remains sleuthing to be done here!

C. H. Arnold & Company: The Henry Tolman Collection

This post is part of a continuing series documenting the Henry Tolman collection of 1898 proprietary printed cancels. 

C. H. Arnold & Co.

NEW YORK.

1901

Joyce lists only one type on one stamp denomination with only one year date for this company.  So this stamp appears to be all there is for C. H. Arnold.  C. H. Arnold & Company was in the wine business, and is reported to have sold at auction major stocks of Madeira in 1900.  

Malcolm Goldstein, would this be a good subject for exploration?  The Madeira story among southern planters in the US is told in this academic piece, where C. H. Arnold is mentioned:  

American Nineteenth Century History, Vol. 6, No. 2, June 2005, pp. 173–188

Liquid Assets: Madeira Wine and Cultural Capital among Lowcountry Planters, 1735-1900

James H. Tuten

Abraham & Straus (not Allen & Sharp): The Henry Tolman Collection

This post is part of a continuing series documenting the Henry Tolman collection of 1898 proprietary printed cancels. 

The "A&S" printed cancels in the Joyce/Chapell list are credited to the firm Allen & Sharp Co.  Henry Tolman was unsure that the A&S stood for Allen & Sharp, and handwrote a note on his album page that the firm might be "Abraham & Straus".  With the help of Google and Wikipedia, it was easy to establish that Mr. Tolman was correct, especially because he included a Joyce unlisted variety with a "MACY" handstamp.  

A short history of A&S tells us this:  Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store.  The store was founded in 1865 in Brooklyn, New York, as Wechsler & Abraham by Joseph Wechsler and Abraham Abraham. In 1893, the Straus family (including Isidor Straus and Nathan Straus), who acquired a general partnership with Macy's department stores in 1888, bought out Joseph Wechsler's interest in Wechsler & Abraham and changed the store's name to Abraham & Straus. 

We know that Abraham & Straus department store was affiliated with Macy's.  Our Rosetta Stone is the bottom and unlisted stamp that Tolman included in his collection.

Collectors of proprietary printed cancels that use the Joyce list as their primary reference should change the identity of the A&S cancels from Allen & Sharp to Abraham & Straus.

"MACY" handstamp over A. & S. 1900 printed cancel

Allen-Pfeiffer Chemical Company: The Henry Tolman Collection

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.