1000th Post Milestone for 1898 Revenues

Frank Sente called to my attention the fact that this month, and with this post, 1898 Revenues has now reached the milestone of 1000 published posts. 

1000 Dollar James Madison documentary stamp from the Scarsdale sale.  This stamp is the single 1000 Dollar value of the 1898 series.

This site began in March 2009.  With nearly daily updates or entries to the site, we've managed to get to 1000 posts before the end of 2011.  Few blogs on the web can claim this kind of intensity of new content production. 

I state that "we've managed to get 1000 posts", as I've had help from many contributors.  Special thanks go David Thompson, Frank Sente, and Bob Hohertz, though there have been a host of others that have shared their material, from individual stamps to exhibits.

As part of the experience of publishing this site I've found it relatively easy to identify new ideas and subjects for daily updates and posts.  The blog format fits very well with subject of revenue stamps and their cancels.  Despite 1000 posts to date, I've still got hundreds of post ideas in the cue -- many sent to me by collectors like David Thompson -- and many more written up by veteran collectors like Frank Sente. 

So as this year comes to end and we start a new one, I expect another year of productive blog publishing.  Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

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 $1,000 James Madison Issue

Consideration of R181, the $1,000 James Madison Portrait Issue leads to another Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad stock. We considered two other CO&GRR stocks in our last blog about the $500 Portrait Issue.

I'm not sure why the upper right corner is clipped on all three certificates. They all are clearly marked CANCELLED with a bright red handstamp, so what purpose was served by clipping the upper right corner? The clipping obviously occurred after their initial issuance as the $500 stamp on one of the stocks shown previously was affected by it. We may never know the answer, so let's just enjoy seeing one of two currently known on-document usages of the $1000 Portrait Issue of 1899.

$2,000,000 Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad Stock Certificate
Issued through the Girard Trust Company
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania August 2, 1901
Mike Mahler scan

Like one of the other CO&GRR certificates previously shown, Samuel Dickson, William Jenks, George Colket, Effingham Morris, and Charles Ingersoll, Voting Trustees are listed as the owners. The initial issue tax of .05/$100 in value or fraction thereof was properly paid on the reverse with a single $1000 James Madison stamp.

Mike Mahler scan

The $1,000 stamp paying the initial tax appears on the reverse. The power of attorney form transferring the stock to Charles E. Hampheys, also the recipient of the other two CO&GRR stocks previously considered, has been completed and signed. It is undated so if that transfer actually occurred, payment of the $400 transfer tax and the 25-cent power of attorney tax could have been done, albeit improperly on the books of the company or by separate memorandum no longer with the certificate.

detail of cancelled stamp
Mike Mahler scan

We've viewed three CO&GRR stocks in our series of blogs about high value stocks bearing Portrait issues. All three exhibit clear and proper payment of the .05 cent/$100 tax on initial stock issues. But payment of the .02/$100 resale or transfer tax has been handled differently on all three.

For the $2,000,000 stock above, although the transfer form has been completed and signed there is no evidence of payment of either the power of attorney tax or the transfer tax.

For the $1,027,500 stock shown in our April 29th blog the $205.50 transfer tax was paid directly on the certificate, but there is no evidence of payment for the power of attorney tax.

For the $1,690,650 stock also shown in the April 29th blog, a payment of the 25-cent power of attorney tax appears, but there is no evidence of payment of the $338.13 transfer tax.

That evidence of those taxes don't appear on the certificates doesn't mean they weren't paid, although that is a distinct possibility. The War Law provided that transfer taxes could be paid on the books of the company, but that option was to be restricted to cases where the transfer was evidenced only on the books and not on the certificate transfer form as in the case of these three stocks. The other way transfer taxes could be paid was by separate memorandum, appropriate only for sales of stock where the transfer form was "assigned in blank" again not the case with these three stocks.

The inconsistencies aside, it's been fun to blog about these high value stocks and to see them all in one place. I'm sure sure there's an interesting tale behind the CO&GRR stocks. And just who was Charles Hamphreys, the transferee on all three?Perhaps if more high values examples surface the story will be revealed.

We are conducting a census of on-document usages for all three Portrait Issues, Scott numbers R179, R180, and R181 so if readers either have, or know of, other on-document examples of these $100, $500, and $1000 issues,whether they be on stocks or other documents, please contact us at 1898revenues@gmail.com.