Color Changelings and Scott R190 to R194

Examples of Scott R190 showing color changeling progression. Stamp #1 is a normal stamp for reference. Stamp #s  2 & 4 are unused with original gum.

The post from October 9 explored fugitive ink on R183.  The unusual quality of that ink returned my attention to the R190 to R194 series of dollar values, which also seem to have an unusual type of ink, but unlike R183, there is no term or explanation like "fugitive" to explain this quality.  To the casual eye, these stamps were printed in green, with a black ornamental overprint corresponding to the value of the stamp.  Underlying the overprint, and not always noticed by the casual observer, is a small square of varnish (Scott notes that the varnish is on "some" stamps), added to show evidence of cancel "washing" -- the varnish is water soluble and washes off, taking with it the center of the ornamental overprint as well as any overlaying cancel.  

The green R190-R194 set of documentary dollar values is less common than the other sets as they were issued only months before the expiration of the tax period.  Production required three passes through the presses to create the final product - from original stamp impression to varnish to overprint/surcharge.

Occasionally a collector of these stamps may come across a color changeling -- a stamp in which the green has begun to change, and in some extreme cases change to a color that nearly matches the so-called "gray" color of the R184 to R189 series of stamps (the color of these stamps is a warm, sepia-like tone, not a cold gray in any way). An unused copy of R191 demonstrates this phenomenon (stamp #7 below):

The back of the stamp is marked in pencil by a previous collector as a copy of R185 with an R191 overprint.  The collection that it came from (I believe a different collector than the one that wrote the pencil note on the back of the stamp) also had a note from the collector on the side as an R185 with an error.  The color change on this stamp is extreme and seems rare according to my limited experience.  But the ink changeling phenomenon on these stamps exists, is capable of fooling relatively advanced collectors, and doesn't seem to have a clear explanation by my limited research.  More common are stamps that show lesser hints of color change, like those in examples 2-5 above.

I've never seen ink change like this on any other US issues, revenue or postage.  What is certainly unique about these stamps among US issues is the varnish square.  Richard Friedberg figures that the varnish is somehow responsible for the color changes, and it might have been, but the evidence doesn't lend itself neatly to thinking that varnish contact made the difference.  Consider stamps 3 and 4 below, where the stamps remain somewhat green closer to the varnish.  And, if the varnish was the cause of a change like that in stamp #7 below, why don't we see more of these changelings?

Another question is the timing of the color changes.  Did the changeling occur soon after printing?  I discount washing as a cause since some of the changelings I possess are unused stamps.  I've often wondered whether or not I've got slow changes happening to these stamps as they sit in my collection.  But I haven't noticed any color changes in the years that I've held some of them.  

Examples of Scott R191 showing color changeling progression. Stamp #1 is a normal stamp for reference.  Stamp #s 5 & 7 are unused with original gum.

Lastly, the $5 stamp, R192, provides an interesting opportunity to test varnish as a cause, as some of the stamps were issued without the varnish square or the overprint.

Examples of R192a, without overprint, and, apparently, without a varnish square. The left stamp is normal and provided for reference.  The right stamp is a color changeling.

The R192a on the right never had varnish applied.  Yet its color is clearly yellowing like many of the examples of R190 and R191 above.  In this case the explanation must involve the nature of the green ink itself.  The knowledge is likely long-gone from the BEP regarding the ink on these stamps.  But I suspect the right sort of chemist could help tell us what is happening.

I have a couple of non-changeling related questions, both involving how Scott lists these issues:  

• Scott refers to these overprints as surcharges, though the overprint does not revalue the stamp.  Why does Scott call these surcharges?
• In the "Warning" section below the image of R190 in the catalog, Scott tells us that the varnish was only applied to some stamps.  This needs to be unpacked a bit doesn't it?  First, most stamps appear to have the varnish, not "some".  Second, if cut cancels are sublisted for the 1898 dollar values, why isn't the presence of a clear overprint on used copies of R190-R194 sublisted?  And why isn't the presence of varnish sublisted?  I recognize that dealers and collectors don't seem to discriminate here and that is almost certainly the reason that varnish presence isn't listed.  But even without collector interest, the varnish clearly has an effect on these stamps, certainly with regard to how used, soaked stamps appear.  Used copies that have been soaked but retain the overprint are much more collectable to me, a bit like the lack of a cut cancel on these stamps.

Ebay Sales: An R173 with an R190 Inverted Surcharge

The dealer buystamps currently has for sale on Ebay what appears to be a copy of an R190 with an inverted surcharge:

Listed for sale at $299.99, its a pricey rarity unlisted by Scott.  It is, very likely, quite rare.  The question is whether it should be so pricey.  A quick look at the face of the stamp provides a few cues to what we might be looking at.  First, the surcharge is a sloppy one with ink smeared across the stamp at the upper right of the surcharge, something I have not seen with Bureau surcharging.  Second, the stamp's color is not the color of an R190, but that of an R173.  Third, the stamp is rouletted,  but all R190s were hyphen perforated.

Buy Stamps tells us the following in the Ebay listing:

Now we're getting somewhere.   Mr. Henry Stolow was an infamous stamp dealer with a history of fakes, forgeries and made up stamps.  An examination of the back reveals the extensive thinning.  But we can also see the J&H Stolow brand at the bottom right:

If this is in fact a real Stolow piece of fakery, the stamp would be an interesting curiosity to have in an 1898 revenues collection.  Just don't put it into an album spot marked R190a! Also, don't pay $299.99 for it.  Maybe $5.00?

Thanks to David Thompson for calling my attention to this item.

 

New York Stock Brokers: DeCoppet & Doremus

perfin:

D'C & D

Langlois scan

De'Coppet & Doremus

De'Coppet & Doremus used both die-cut type initial and perfin cancels.  Above is an example of a perfin cancel of the firm.  This site has featured the die-cut initial cancels in a previous post:

This was the NY Stock Exchange's Clearing House in 1897.

Robert Doremus was Chair of the Exchange's Clearing House Committee.

Imagine trying to clear the 100s of millions of shares traded daily on the NYSE today using this method.

A New York Times article from September 11, 1921 illustrates how firms like De'Coppet & Doremus amused themselves and competed with other firms when not trading securities:

WALL STREET CHAMPIONS.

De Coppet & Doremus Team Beat Post & Flagg in Baseball Final.

A baseball team composed of employees of the Stock Exchange firm of De Coppet & Doremus won the Wall Street championship cup yesterday on Ebbets Field by defeating a team composed of employees of Post & Flagg by the score of 7 to 3.  the game was the wind-up of the season, during which 28 teams, representing as many exchange houses, played each Saturday.

The De Coppet 7 Doremus team established a lead which could not be overcome.  They garnered four runs in the first three innings.  Evans, who pitched for Post & Flagg, settled down after these disastrous frames and pitched airtight ball for the balance of the game, ten men going down by the strike-out route.

About 1200 fans fromt the Wall Street district saw the game.  Proceeds from the sale of the tickets to this game, as well as others which have been played in the Wall Street League this season, will go toward the establishment of a gymnasium for the young men of the financial district.

POST & FLAGG,

APR

15

1901

NEW YORK.

Varnish and the Green Commerce Dollar Values

Just before the listings in the Scott Catalogue for R190 to R194, the green commerce dollar values, the editors provide this marginally scrutable statement:

Warning:  If Nos. R190-R194 are soaked, the center part of the surcharged numeral may wash off.  Before the surcharging, a square of soluble varnish was applied to the middle of some stamps.

Unfortunately, there is nothing else written about this little varnish square and when it was applied over the lifetime of the issue, which was very short.  These stamps were issued in 1902, and their use was discontinued after June 30, 1902 with the expiration of the Act that authorized the taxes.  But delve into any dealers stock or private collection of these issues and you will no doubt find a mix of stamps that have either a complete numeral or a partial numeral affected by soaking due to the varnish. 

While Scott provides a warning about the potential effect of soaking, the warning does not translate into distinct value listings for stamps with either undamaged or damaged surcharged numerals.  Given that these are some of the scarcest of the regularly issued 1898 stamps, it would seem sensible if dealers, collectors and Scott valued stamps with the damaged numerals less than the stamps with complete numerals.  In general this is not the case.  Specifically in Scott, and more generally on Ebay and other popular online sites.

Left stamp with undamaged numeral

Right stamp with the center of the numeral missing

Close-up of numeral damaged from soaking

Left stamp with undamaged numeral

Right stamp with the center of the numeral missing

Close-up of numeral damaged from soaking

I have yet to find any research or further explanation of this varnish square in the literature, but would like to know if there has been any work done on these stamps.  All of the copies that I have of these stamps are off document and I would be interested to know if unsoaked varnish squares show in normal light or under a UV lamp.

Another Maiden

I was ever so pleased when Dave Thompson and John Langlois took special note of the "Maiden Vignettes" on several of the stocks I used in my introductory blogs about the taxation of stock certificates. As I approached those blogs I had been tempted to use only stocks featuring that specific vignette and make it a secondary focus of the discussion.

Instead, I also included some other stocks and chose to focus solely on the tax rates, the main purpose of those blogs. But hey, thanks guys, your sharp eyes have provided the perfect segue to today's blog about the "maiden vignettes" and how they actually have a connection to the 1898 revenue field.

$3,000 Original Issue Stock Certificate
Black Hills Porcelain Clay and Marble Company
June 3, 1901

First, here's another stock certificate featuring a "maiden" vignette. At $1.00 each, 3000 shares in the Black Hills Porcelain Clay and Marble Company amounted to $3,000. At 5-cents /$100 the $1 R190 Commerce Overprint and R171 50-cent battleship stamps properly paid the $1.50 tax on an initial issue. The Ornamental Overprinted Commerce Issues, R190-R194, are difficult to find used on documents as they were in use for only a short time.

Composite Detail of "Maiden" Vignettes from Today's Blog (lower right maiden)
March 29, 2011 Blog (upper left maiden) and
March 30, 2011 Blog (upper right and lower left maidens)

If you look closely all of these "maidens" are a bit different, but all likely derived from the same source. The Verde King and U.T.D. Sprinkler stocks have the same border and overall design on the front, but the backs are different. None are engraved; they're simply cheap litho stock (no pun intended) forms, readily available from any printing company.

Unlike a major railroad company that could use an engraving of one of its own locomotives as a vignette, none of these four companies likely could show anything of tangible corporate significance on their certificates. The next best option was to use an "All-American" allegorical figure -- the rah rah baseball, hotdogs, and apple pie concept. But these are not mere maidens, they're Lady Liberty, a then popular symbol of freedom and liberty. What better subliminal message to include on a stock you're trying to peddle?

Allegorical Lady Liberty wearing a Phrygian cap
with Sword and Liberty Pole also bearing a Phrygian cap

And those strange looking hats? They're phrygian caps, whose use as a symbol of freedom and the pursuit of liberty dates back to the Roman Empire. Perhaps most infamously they were worn by the san-culottes during the French Revolution -- and anyone else wishing to keep their head, literally!

And as the patriotic picture above attests, use of the phrygian, or more often called liberty cap, has a long tradition of use in the United States. On coins, think Walking Liberty half dollars; on seals, think US Senate or the US Army; on flags, think WV, NY, NJ. And in the form of a Liberty Pole, like the one appearing in the picture above, liberty caps have appeared on stamps too.

Composite representation of the 1898 2-cent revenue stamped paper design element
Detail from Bob Hohertz scan

Look closely at this composite detail from Bob Hohertz's introductory blog about 1898 US Revenue Stamped Paper and you'll, by now, easily recognize a stylized Lady Liberty complete with a phrygian capped Liberty Pole.

American Revenue Association Exhibition Medal

When Professional Sculptor and ARA member Domenico Facci offered to design an Exhibition Medal for the American Revenue Association, where did he turn? To none other than Lady Liberty as depicted on the Revenue Stamped Stamped Paper of 1898.

As radio news commentator Paul Harvey so famously would say, "Now you know the rest of the story."