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.

  

New York Bankers, Banks & Trusts: J. P. Morgan & Company

1901 Poor's Manual, Advertisement for J. P. Morgan & Company

Another $1000 James Madison Portrait Issue Usage

I left another series of blogs unfinished during my two month hiatus from the 1898revenues blog. I last had been blogging about on-document usages of the three high value Portrait Issues. To review those prior blog posts featuring the $100 John Marshall, the $500 Alexander Hamilton, and the $1000 James Madison issues, all used on stock certificates, go here.

Today, courtesy of Bob Mustacich, we feature a usage of both the $500 and $1000 issues on a railroad mortgage bond. It's only the second reported on-document usage of the $1000 Madison stamp, and, the only document we've seen featuring both the $500 and $1000 stamps on the same document. WOW!

Dawson Railway Company

First Mortgage Fifty Year $3,000,000 Gold Bond

July 1, 1901

Bob Mustacich scan

The Dawson Railway was built during 1901-03 to connect the newly established coal-mining town of Dawson, New Mexico with Tucumcari, New Mexico. It included lucrative linkages with both the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad.

Executed on July 1, 1901 the bond provided seed money for the initial construction of the rail line beginning in August 1901. It was issued under, and secured by, a first lien mortgage deed of trust executed by the DRC with the Colonial Trust Company of New York City. I've not seen the bond's signature page, but suspect Charles B. Eddy who founded the El Paso and Northeastern Railway system, under which the Dawson Railway operated, may have been involved.

Eddy subsequently sold his railroads to the Phelps Dodge Corporation who had extensive mining operations throughout the Southwest, including some located in Dawson. Phelps Dodge later sold all its western US railroad operations to the Southern Pacific in the 1920s.

The bond's due date was July 1, 1951. By then the coal was gone and, for the most part, so was the town of Dawson. Reportedly it was a ghost town by 1950 and today little remains other than a cemetary. Again, I've not seen the entire document, but with the various sales and transfers of ownership the bond and its underlying mortgage likely had been called or renegotiated long before the due date.

Detail of $1000 James Madison Portrait Issue

showing cut and manuscript pencancel

Dawson

Ry Co

July 1

1901

As a precaution against reuse, most higher value tax stamps, as evidenced here, were subjected to "cut" cancellation as well as handstamp or pen cancellation. The $500 stamp on the document was similarly cancelled. It is interesting to note that the bond was issued on July 1, 1901, the effective date for the War Revenue Reduction Act of 1901, abolishing the proprietary taxes and eliminating or reducing many of the other taxes established under the War Revenue Act of 1898. The tax on bonds, however, remained unchanged at 5 cents per each hundred dollars in value or fraction thereof so the $1,500 represented by the Hamilton and Madison stamps was the proper tax to pay.

New Mexico was still a territory in 1901 undergoing raw growth and development. Our thanks again go to Bob Mustacich for providing this great document, a tangible example from this fascinating era in US history.

NOTE: Bob also provides an excellent site for 1898 revenue stamp collectors; especially helpful for collectors of proprietary handstamp cancels.

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.