A Conveyance Taxed $1,100 - Sale of the Parsons Paper Company

Yesterday we blogged about a bill of sale for the conveyance of some Indian Territory property that was sold for just $15 and taxed just 10 cents.

Today we consider the 1899 sale of the Parsons Paper Company, Holyoke, Massachusetts, the conveyance tax on which totaled a whopping $1,100!  Given that the tax on conveyances was 50 cents for property valued from $100 to $500 and an additional 50 cents for each additional $500 in value infers the Parsons company and property were valued at $1.1 million, although the sale price on the deed is given as "...in consideration of One Dollar and other valuable considerations..."  

Even if property was given away, as with a quit-claim deed, the transaction, i.e. the conveyance of the property, was taxed at the property's real value.     

Deed to the Parsons Paper Company

Holyoke, Massachusetts

June 26, 1899

The deed was not recorded by the Hampden County Register of Deeds until a month later on July 26, 1899, a week after Aaron and Edward Bagg personally appeared before a justice of the peace on July 19 to have the document and their signatures certified. 

The $100 R179 and the pair of $500 R180 tax stamps are dated July 25, 1899.  The purchaser, the American Writing Paper Company, a newly incorporated price-controlling trust coalition of thirty-two paper mills located in five states, paid the conveyance tax as each of the stamps bears a rubber handstamp cancel with the initials, Am. W. P. Co., plus the month and an abbreviated year date, JULY '99, prefixed with the exact July date, 25, in pen.  Usually, high value stamps also have cut-cancels, as an added security measure to prevent their reuse, but these stamps are all uncut. 

This document brings to five, the number of on-document usages of the $500 Alexander Hamilton Portrait Documentary issue, this being the sole reported usage of a pair.       

Am. W. P. Co.

25 JULY '99



Conveyances are of particular interest because the tax levied upon them was based upon the value of the transaction rather than a flat fee as was the case for many transactions such as for checks, bills of lading, and numerous other taxed transactions.  So we see conveyance transactions taxed from ten cents to more than $1,000.  And deeds are fairly common as they were kept as important estate documents, not generally disposed of as were many other documents whose relevance or value did not continue beyond the completion of the transaction.

Parsons Paper Mill #2 @ 1899

The Parsons Paper was founded in Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1853 by Joseph Clark Parsons.  Within a decade Parsons was the largest writing paper and envelope company in the country and Holyoke had become "The Paper City."  To read a brief history of the company visit this link to the Holyoke Public Library's online exhibit gallery.  The firm closed in 2005 and facility destroyed by an arson fire in 2008.

  

High Value Stocks with the Portrait Issues The $500 Alexander Hamilton Issue

We continue our review of high value stocks by considering ones bearing the $500 Alexander Hamilton Portrait Issue, Scott R180. I've always considered it to be the most attractive of the three portrait issues outshining the other two issues with its brillant red color.

Although I have a couple of R180 on-document usages, none are on stocks, so my thanks go to fellow collectors Bob Patetta, Mike Mahler, and Tim Kohler, each of whom have graciously provided material for prior blogs, for also providing the three R180 stock certificates shown today.

We are conducting a census of on-document usages for all three Portrait Issues, Scott R179, R180, and R181 so if readers either have, or know of, other examples of the $500 issue on-document, please contact us at 1898revenues@gmail.com.

Yesterday's blog about usages of the $100 issue brought news of three additional examples and, as all three of today's stocks also bear $100 stamps, the total number of stocks bearing $100 John Marshall stamps now stands at nine.

$1,690,650 Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf Railroad Stock Certificate
Issued through Girard Trust, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
July 5, 1900
Bob Patetta scan

Samuel Dickson, William Jenks, George Colket, Effingham Morris, and Charles Ingersoll, Voting Trustees are listed jointly as owners. The certificate was cancelled when the company came under the control of the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad in May 1902.

The $845.35 tax on the original sale was paid with one $500 Portrait Issue, three $100, one $30, one $10, and one $5 Commerce issues plus one 25-cent and one 10-cent Battleship stamps. An additional 25-cent Battleship pays the Power of Attorney tax for the September 25, 1900 transfer to Charles Hampreys. If that transfer did occur, the tax may have been paid, albeit improperly, via a separate memo or on the books of the company.

Detail showing July 5, 1900 pencancel

Mike Mahler provided a similar Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf certificate. This one curiously is dated May 6, 1902, the very day the CO &G was brought under the control of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad and just two days prior to its cancellation. The Watonga (Oklahoma) Construction Company is listed as the owner. There must be a good story here, but I'm not finding it. Anyone knowing the history of the CO & G is invited to contact us at 1898revenues@gmail.com

$1,027,500 Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad Stock Certificate
Issued through Girard Trust Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 6, 1902
Mike Mahler scan

Mike Mahler scan

In this instance the original issue tax of $513.75 was paid, at left, with one $500 Portrait, one $10 Commerce, one $2 and one $1 gray overprinted Commerce, and three 25-cent Battleship stamps. The transfer tax of $205.50 was paid on the right side with two $100 Portrait, one $5 Commerce, and one 50-cent Battleship stamps. This certificate, too, was transferred to Charles E. Hamphreys via a Power of Attorney transaction, but the 25-cent tax POA tax appears not to have been paid.

The stamps paying the original issue tax bear a double ring C. O. & G. R. Y. Co. circular datestamp cancel of May 6, 1902. The stamps paying the transfer tax appear to also be dated May 6, 1902 handcancelled by W.(atonga) C.(onstruction) Co.

Closeup view of stamps
Mike Mahler scan

Tim Kohler's Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad stock is the only one clearly showing all the proper taxes were paid.

$1,237,000 Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad Stock Certificate
Issued through the Metropolitan Trust Company, New York, NY
February 16, 1900
Tim Kohler scan

Reverse showing all three taxes were paid
Tim Kohler scan

The certificate was issued jointly to the President and Treasurer of the C& EI Railroad with the original issue tax of $618.50 paid with one $500 and one $100 Portrait issues, one $10, one $5, and one $3 Commerce, plus a 50-cent Battleship stamp.

As stated in the transfer form on the reverse only 10,000 shares ($1,000,000) of the original issue was transferred to the Flower & Co. with the remaining 237 shares to be otherwise reissued, so the transfer tax was just $200, paid by two $100 Portrait issues. The transfer is dated December 15, 1900, but the two $100 Portrait stamps paying the tax are dated more than a month later, January 18, 1901.

The stamps paying the original tax are pen cancelled C & E I Rd. 2/16/00. The two $100 stamps paying the resale tax are pencancelled C & E I Rd. / F & I Co. with the date handstamped below.

The 25-cent Battleship paying the Power of Attorney tax is the only issue to bear a handstamp: C. & E.I.R.R. CO./DEC 15/1900, obviously a variable date boxed dater cancel. It is tied to the document so it wasn't precancelled, but clearly must have been applied by some functionary other than those applying the other stamps.

High Value Stocks with the Portrait Issues The $100 John Marshall Issue

To date only one 1898Revenues blog has referenced the Portrait Issues of 1899. It featured a $125,000 stock certificate for The Baldwin (Piano) Company submitted by Tim Kohler. It's such a great certificate with examples of the $5 and $10 gray overprinted Commerce issues of 1900 in addition to the $100 John Marshall Portrait stamp, we're picturing it again below to introduce the subject of high value stocks. For more details about it, read the original August 17, 2010 blog.

$125,000 Baldwin Company Stock Certificate #1
Issued December 31, 1901
Cincinnati, Ohio
Tim Kohler scan

As their availability at the beginning of the 1898 tax era wasn't deemed crucial, and usage was projected to be limited, the bi-colored $100, $500, and $1,000 Portraits weren't introduced until 1899 when the print demands on the BEP were diminished from the initial requirements placed upon them by passage of the War Revenue Law.

Most were used on high value stocks, but they also can be found on other highly taxed documents like conveyances of valuable property and mortgages underlying bond offerings. As we suspect extant examples are rather scarce we plan to conduct a census of on-document usages as we did for on-document usages of the 1/2 cent Orange documentary stamp.

If you possess any on-document usages of R179, R180, or R181, the $100, $500, or $1,000 Portrait Issues please send scans of the entire documents to 1898revenues@gmail.com.

$500,000 Schuylkill and Juniata Railroad Company Stock Certificate
Original Issue June 1, 1900
Philadelphia, PA

Properly taxed $250 with two $100 Portrait issues and a single R178 $50 Commerce Issue, the stock was issued to The Pennsylvania Railroad Company (PRR). Actually, The Schuylkill and Juniata Railroad Company was formed June 1, 1900 from the consolidation of five subsidiaries of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The predecessor component railroads were the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley; the Nescopec; North and West Branch; the Sunbury, Hazleton and Wilkes Barre; and the Sunbury and Lewistown. These lines all served the Coal Region of northeastern Pennsylvania. The company was absorbed into the PRR in 1902.

Detail showing straightline cancel:
Schuylkill & Juniata Railroad
June 1, 1900

$364,000 James S. Kirk Company Stock Certificate
Original Issue March 1, 1900
Chicago, Illinois

Properly taxed $182 with a single $100 John Marshall Portrait stamp, one $50, three $10, and two $1 Commerce stamps, the certificate was issued to James B. Kirk, Evanston, presumably a relative of the founder James S. Kirk. A third James, James A. Kirk, a son of James S. was president of the company at this time. Although the firm was located in Chicago, it was incorporated in New Jersey and this stock was issued through the firm's transfer agent, the Corportation Trust Company of New Jersey.

Originally founded in Utica, New York in 1839, James S. Kirk moved his soap manufacturing company to Chicago in 1859 where it competed with Proctor and Gamble who would eventually buy out Kirk's ancestors in the 1930s. The company however is again in business as Kirk's Natural Products Corporation.

I've seen period trade cards for Kirk's Jap Rose Soap. The firm also produced some perfumery products. Bob Mustacich's Battleship Desk Reference indicates they used the 3/8, 5/8, 1 1/4, 2 1/2, 3 3/4, and 5 cent proprietary issues. Perhaps we'll see more about James S. Kirk & Company in the future. For now we can enjoy the documentary stamps on its stock.

Cancellation Detail from James S. Kirk Stock:
Corporation Trust Co.
APR/27/1900
of N. J.

Bob Patetta again has provided a most interesting usage example for the $100 Portrait Issue.

$6,999,200 Saint Paul and Northern Pacific Stock Certificate
Original Issue May 13, 1897 (pre-tax era)
Brainerd then St. Paul, Minnesota
Bob Patetta scan

Had the original issue taken place during the War Tax era the tax would have been a whopping $3,499.60! Even the .02/$100 tax on its transfer, which did occur during the War Tax period, amounted to $1,399.84. The colorful payment, shown below consists of 13 $100 R179 John Marshall Portrait Issues including two full strips of four of that issue. (We discuss how these stamps were issued in a future blog). The payment also includes one R178 $50 Commerce; four R188 $10 gray overprinted Commerce; one R175 $5 Commerce; four $1 gray overprinted Commerce, plus the following battleship stamps: one 1-cent, four 2-cent, one 25-cent, and one 50-cent.

The 13 copies of the $100 John Marshall stamp are stunning, but wouldn't a $1,000 James Madison in place of 10 of them have been even moreso!

NOR. PAC.
1901
Railway CO.
Bob Patetta scan

Again, we are conducting a on-document usage census of ALL three Portrait stamps, the $100, $500, and $1,000 issues. If you have other on-documnet examples please send scans of the entire document to 1898revenues@gmail.com

Certificate for Preferred Stock: The Baldwin Piano Company

Revenue collector Tim Kohler from State College, PA, sends in this spectacular item from his collection and adds the background and explanatory notes below: 

The Baldwin Company was started in the mid 1800s by Dwight Hamilton Baldwin. Dwight’s first enterprise was as a teacher of piano, organ, and violin in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1862, Baldwin started a retail piano/organ dealership. In 1873, his clerk, Lucien Wulsin becomes a partner in the D.H. Baldwin & Company. In 1891, Baldwin offers for sale its first piano. In 1901, the Baldwin Company is established with Lucien Wulsin as its first president. Under his leadership, the Baldwin Company became the largest piano dealer in the Midwestern United States.

The stock Certificate is Baldwin Company Preferred Stock #1 for 2500 shares ($100/share) issued to R. Jenkinson issued 31 December 1901. Signed by Baldwin President, Lucien Wulsin.  The war tax on the initial sale of original issue stock certificates was five cents per each hundred dollars in face value or fraction thereof. The tax on this $250,000 certificate thus was $125, correctly paid by a single $100 John Marshall stamp from the 1899 Portrait issues, R179, plus two R188 $10 and one R187 $5 stamps from the 1900 surcharged Commerce issues.