Another Ocean Passage Ticket

My prior blog about an ocean passage ticket brought these scans from J. W. Palmer of a ticket from the then fledgling Florida East Coast Steamship Company.

Florida East Coast Steamship Company

Ocean Passenger Ticket

Jacksonville, Florida to Nassau, Bahamas

"Including Room and Meals"

Reverse side of ticket

Tens of thousands of embarkation tickets, and maybe many more, likely were written for ocean passage from major Northern ports like Boston, Philadelphia, and New York during the Spanish American War taxation period, but there could not have been many written for travel via the Florida East Coast Steamship Company. The company, founded by Henry Flagler, who almost single-handedly spearheaded the development of Florida's East Coast during the 1880s and 1890s, didn't initiate service until 1896 and Florida was just beginning to become developed at that time.

Actually examples of ANY tax-stamped documents from Florida are hard to find let alone such an unusual usage as an ocean passage ticket. Thanks, J. W., for sharing yours! This one and the one I put up last week are the only two I've ever seen. Can anyone report another example of a taxed ocean passage ticket?

Double ring cancel for the

Florida East Coast Steamer Lincoln
DEC

30

1899

The front of the ticket is datelined N.(ew) Y.(ork) December 22, 1899. Its cost is not mentioned but the $1 stamp on the back indicates it was less than $30. The ticket was written "on account" of the Florida East Coast Hotel Company so presumably Miss Lizzie Johnston also was staying in one of Henry Flagler hotels and the ticket price was added to her room bill.

The stamp appears to be cancelled December 30, 1899, presumably the date of travel aboard the steamer Lincoln. Perhaps Miss Lizzie celebrated the beginning of 1900 in the Bahamas.

The red oval Florida East Coast Ry. auditor's cancel on the front is undated.

Cancel for August 18: Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance Company

L. & L. & G.

AUG

18

1898

INS.  CO.

A cancel for the Liverpool &. London & Globe Insurance Co. Ltd.  At the time of this cancel the L&L&G had operated in the United States for 50 years.

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.

Bob Hohertz on 1898 Series Stamped Paper: Part 2 - RN X1

Editors Note:  The following explanation and examples of Scott RN-X1, revenue stamped paper, come from Bob Hohertz.

X1. The one-cent rose imprints.

One-cent rose and red imprints were only used by the Pullman Company on parlor car tickets, so far as is known. One did not pay a tax to ride on a train unless it was in a luxury (parlor) car or one used a berth on an overnight trip.

Scott lists one-cent rose imprints as unused, used, and partial. There are two distinct kinds of unused tickets with rose imprints.

Figure 3. This is one of three currently-known unused multi-part tickets with rose imprints.

Figure 4. One of three or four known unused two-part tickets with rose imprints.

I do not know what Scott had in mind for used, but I suspect it would be a portion of a ticket that has substantially the entire imprint present.

Figure 5. There are probably fewer used multi-part tickets that include virtually the whole rose imprint than there are unused ones.

Partial tickets with rose imprints come in three sizes.

Figure 5a. This is what is usually left of a multi-part ticket. This one was used on the last day of the documentary taxes, June 30, 1902. A difficult to find date. Most of the documentary taxes had been repealed as of July 1, 1901, but the taxes on parlor car tickets had not. However, only the multi-part Pullman Company tickets were dated.

Figure 6. This is what the passenger would have retained of a two-part ticket. The ticket on the left has the imprint in the normal orientation, while the one on the right has an imprint that is “inverted” in relation to normal.

Figure 7. There were some multi-station tickets with red imprints. This stub is from one such. No unused copies are known.



X1. The one-cent dark red imprints.

This shade of imprint is only known on two-part Pullman Company tickets. They used it briefly, late in the tax period, so far as I can tell.

Scott does not list dark red as unused, but here is an entire, unused copy.

Figure 8.



Partial copies are not common, either. The surviving used imprints are always on the yellow passenger’s stub, where they tend to look red-orange.

Figure 9.

Bob Hohertz on 1898 Series Stamped Paper, Part 1

Editor's note:  Today begins a series of contributions from Bob Hohertz on 1898 stamped paper.  By all appearances, this is a short subject.  The Scott catalog's 1898 stamped paper listings run for no more than a quarter of a column, and consist of five major numbers, RN-X1, X4, X5, X6, and X7, with no X2 or X3.  More on those missing numbers later.  None of the listed varieties are frightfully expensive, though RN-X1 as a complete piece is quite scarce. 


For those of you unfamiliar with revenue stamped paper, the concept is reasonably simple.  Stamps (if the image could be called that) were printed directly on the functional documents.  For example, checks would be printed with the Federal tax stamp directly on them rather than requiring that a stamp be applied when the check was written.  In certain cases stamps were embossed, like those during the pre-revolutionary war period.  The stamped paper of the 1898 period includes only printed ink stamps. 


Bob has sent me some narrative material and beautiful scans from his collection which he uses to demonstrate the single design used for the 1898 stamped paper:

I’m happy and honored to be asked to contribute some notes to this site on the imprinted revenues used during the Spanish American War Tax Period. I’ll try to present material in the order of the Scott Specialized Catalog, except where I think it is incomplete or a bit misleading.

The imprint design was taken from the two that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing furnished to Morey & Sherwood and A. Trochsler & Company respectively, in 1874.

Fig1.

I did the combining in the illustration above using Photoshop, but by 1878 a similar design was in use on tobacco wrappers, and remained so until mid 1898. At that time the Bureau changed the wording in the circles around the numerals, changed the numerals themselves, and used the design for documentary imprints.

Fig 2. A proof of the one-cent design.

Since most of the 1898 documentary taxes above two cents were variable depending on the amount of the transaction, only one cent and two cent designs were produced.

Cancel for August 14: Hudson County National Bank

Hudson Co. Nat. Bank

AUG   14   1899

Jersey City, N. J.

Blog Update

The summer is over for the Langlois family.  School has started and I am back at work.  And its time for me to get back on a regular blogging schedule.  As regulars might have noticed, my presence here has been a bit spotty the last few weeks.  But we've all been in great hands.  Frank Sente (who has a short bio on the right side of this page) agreed to guest blog, and he has provided us with great posts.  I hope you like the different flavor of his work on this site as much as I do.  His on-document material is fabulous.  I am particularly fond of the the cigarette pack with the Porto Rico overprinted battelship.  He will continue to post, as will I, offering the site more variety and a fresh perspective.

One highlight of my summer was my chance to attend, albeit briefly, the Minnesota Stamp Expo.  I met Ron Lesher, an ARA Board Member, and Bob Hohertz, the President of the American Revenue Association.  One day this site will publish a series of posts on Emerson Drug Company private dies, printed cancels, and other material, and I saw of wealth of great material from Ron's collection that will help with this task. 

In the coming week I will be posting material sent to me by Bob Hohertz, the publisher of his own revenue stamp website.  Bob's collecting specializations include stamped paper, and since I have little familiarity with this material, I am gratified and happy to have Bob's contribution of this material to the site. 

Thanks to new contributors this site is changing.  And with the vast collecting experience and knowledge of Frank, Bob, Ron, and others to assist, 1898 Revenues should continue to publish interesting posts for the foreseeable future.  Thanks again to Dave Thompson, the original collector/fan/correspondent of this site. 

Power of Attorney

Power of Attorney Josiah Focht to Mrs. Sarah E. O'Brien

Reading, PA December 9, 1898

closeup view of correction of the improper use

of four 1/4-cent proprietary stamps with a 1-cent R154

provisional I.R. overprint cancelled in a different hand

A power of attorney, whether for a specific transaction like a stock sale, or universal, as is the one pictured above, was taxed 25 cents according to the War Revenue Law.

This one is particularly interesting because of the number and variety of stamps used on it. Usually one finds a single R169, 25-cent battleship stamp affixed. Here, eleven 2-cent provisional R155 I.R. overprint issues, and one regular R164 2-cent battleship along with four 1/4-cent RB21 proprietary issues paid the 25 cent tax.

One can almost see the parties scrounging among themselves for the stamps. They came up with 25 cents, but the use of the four 1/4-cent proprietary was improper. The War Revenue Law specifically required that only documentary stamps be used to pay documentary taxes and only proprietary stamps be used for proprietary taxes. Clearly the Treasury Department wanted to track the specific amount of revenue generated by each of those two tax categories.

A single 1-cent R154 I.R. provisional overprint stamp was subsequently added over the strip of proprietary issues to correct the error. It too is dated 12/9/1898, but the handwriting is different. So a total of 26 cents ultimately was affixed to this document. Use of proprietary issues on a document is uncommon, and a correction even more so. Generally their use either went unnoticed or was tolerated.

Bank Checks

Cashier's Check The Merchants National Bank

Burlington, Vermont

July 1, 1898 First Day of Tax

Note the "IMPOSSIBLE TO PROCURE PROPER

REVENUE STAMPS FOR THIS INSTRUMENT"

endorsement above the stamp.

Bank checks, drafts, or any orders for the payment of any sum of money, whether drawn upon or issued by any bank, trust company, or any person or persons, companies, or corporations at sight or upon demand were taxed 2 cents. This cashier's check drafted on July 1, 1898, the first day of the Spanish American War Tax, illustrates how difficult it was for many to obtain the necessary tax stamps in time for use on July 1, 1898.

Presumably stamps were not available at the bank when the check was obtained as it was endorsed by the bank, "IMPOSSIBLE TO PROCURE PROPER REVENUE STAMPS FOR THIS INSTRUMENT". That the bank had this endorsement handstamp ready for use on July 1 indicates they knew stamps might not be available and had planned ahead for that possibility.

The stamp is pen-cancelled B.G.L.Co. and bears several handstamp cancels including one of JUL 1, 1898 tying the 2-cent I.R. provisional overprint issue to the check. It is likely that B.G.L. was able to secure the necessary tax stamps later in the day before dispatching the check. There is a faint July 5, 1898 "Teller Cashed" handstamp of the Merchants National Bank at the top above "Burlington".

Perhaps someone familiar with the history of Burlington Vermont can identify the B.G.L. Company for us.

The Merchants Bank was first organized in 1849 and became a nationally chartered bank in 1865. It's still in business today as a state chartered institution. For a more detailed history, go here.

Porto Rico Overprint - Cigarette Package

Colom Gonzalez y Santini

cigarette pack front

Porto Rico was the only territory acquired during the Spanish American War where any of the 1898-1899 US documentary revenue stamps were used. The Insular Government of Porto Rico requested overprints of the 1c, 5c, 10c, 25c, 50c battleship issues as well as overprints of the $1, $3, $5, $10, and $50 commerce issues. 1,000,000 of the 1c overprints were supplied.

Rather than impose the existing US Federal War Revenue Law taxes then in effect, some of which would have been inappropriate or unfamiliar to the local inhabitants, the legislative assembly of Porto Rico instead enacted a broad array of excise taxes patterned after those of the prior Spanish colonial regime. These taxes took effect January 31, 1901 and the overprinted US stamps were used to pay them until other stamps could be printed.

The Act levied taxes on distilled spirits, beers and wine, cigars, cigarettes, manufactured tobacco, playing cards, proprietary medicines, perfumery, cosmetics and toilet articles, oleomargarine, arms and ammunition, and matches. Specifically, as illustated by the package front above, cigarettes were taxed at the rate of $1.00 per 1,000(1c per pack of 10).

"Specimen" handstamp overprint

Reportedly, only 90,054 of the 1c stamps were used. 200 were marked "Specimen". Another 200 unused copies were retained for souvenir purposes. The remaining 909,546 were burned.

Cancel for August 8: State Life Insurance Company

STATE LIFE INS. CO.

AUG

8

1898

INDIANAPOLIS.

The State Life Insurance Company of Indianapolis still exists today and is a part of the firm OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis. 

OneAmerica can be found here.

Accident Insurance Policy with R161 Usage

Preferred Accident Insurance Company

Three month renewal policy

September 3, 1898 - December 3, 1898

stamps tied by a light double-ring handstamp cancel

Accident, fidelity, and guarantee insurance policies, including renewal policies, were taxed at the rate of 1/2-cent per dollar of premium paid or fraction thereof. The 2 1/2-cent tax on the $5 premium for the renewal of The Preferred Accident Insurance Company of New York personal accident policy shown above was properly paid by two 1-cent provisional I.R. overprints and a single R161, 1/2-cent orange documentary all tied by an indistinguishable light blue, double-ring hand stamp cancel.

Because its color closely resembled that of the 3/8-cent proprietary issue, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing discontinued printings of the 1/2-cent orange after just two days and changed its color to gray. The exact number printed and distributed is unknown.

Most of the copies available are badly off-center. Used copies in very-fine condition are uncommon and any examples used on-document are scarce. Because they are so scarce, we'd like to conduct a usage census. We'll show another example of on-document usage in a future blog and Bob Mustacich shows a nice single-copy usage on a travel insurance policy near the bottom of his homepage. I've also seen a block of four used on a check. That's four known usages. If you have, or know of, other on-document examples, please let us know. We'd like to show, and make a permanent record of them.

Scant information about The Preferred Accident Insurance Company appears online. Although the company may have been formed earlier, it did not incorporate until 1893. The firm apparently ran into financial difficulty in the late 1940s as it was voluntarily taken over by the Superintendent of Insurance of the State of New York in 1949. The company's remaining assets were liquidated as of April 30, 1951.

Ocean Passage Ticket

Steerage embarkation ticket for the S/S Pennland

Philadelphia to Bremen via Liverpool March 4, 1900

The tax on passenger tickets by any vessel from a port in the United States to a foreign port was:

$1 for a ticket up to $30
$3 for a ticket more than $30 to $60
$5 for a ticket more than $60


A $1 Commerce issue pays the proper tax for a $27 embarkation ticket to Bremen via Liverpool aboard the American Line steamer S/S Pennland. The endorsement penned at left in red by the International Navagation Company, who sold the ticket, reads, "not good only Government Stamp attached by Company".

Originally christened the Algeria when first launched in 1870 by the Cunard Line, the ship was renamed Pennland when purchased by the Red Star Line in 1881. It was chartered by the American Line in 1895. This so-called emigrant ship was near the end of its service when this ticket was purchased in 1900 as it was scrapped in 1903. For an image of the ship, a brief history, and a partial record of voyages go here.

Can anyone offer an example of a $3, or a $5 ticket?

Illinois Central Parlor Car Ticket

Illinois Central Railroad

Parlor Car Ticket

Chicago to St. Louis





Reverse side of ticket
Purchased at the ICRR Chicago City Office
April 25, 1900

Most of the Spanish American War taxes were patterned after those enacted by the Union during the Civil War. The tax for seats in railroad parlor cars and sleeping berths was new and appears to have been added at the last moment as it does not appear in the normal schedule of documentary taxes contained in the act. As demonstarted by the 1-cent stamp affixed to the ticket above the rate was 1-cent per parlor car seat. 1-cent was also charged for each sleeping berth ticketed.

Illinois Central Route Map circa 1892

The Illinois Central Railroad (IC) has been called the Mainline of Mid-America because its major routes connected Chicago in the North with New Orleans and Birmingham in the South. Now owned and operated by the Canadian National Railroad the line still operates as the Illinois Central as it mostly has since its founding in 1851. As the parlor car ticket shows, the IC also, at one time, was a major passenger carrier between Chicago and St. Louis.

Cancel for August 3: C. E. Co., Hudson, Ohio

C.  E.  Co.

AUG   3   1899

Hudson,  O.

Cancel for August 2: A. L. Howe for the Arkansas Construction Company

A. L. HOWE.

AUG  2  1898

A. L. Howe signed check to the Phoenix Bridge Company

First National Bank, Kansas City

Backstamps for:

Kansas City Clearinghouse

National Bank of Commerce

National Bank of the Republic

Chicago

Central National Bank

Philadelphia

The Akansas Construction Company was formed in 1892 by a leading Kansas City businessman, Arthur Stillwell.  Stillwell built railroads and communities, and remains one of Kansas City's most important historical commercial figures.  Read more about him here.

Cancels by State: Minnesota

In commemeration of my vacation days in Minnesota this summer, here are a few 1898s with Minnesota cancels:

Bank of Willmar

JUN  20  1899

Willmar, Minn

ST. ANTHONY FALLS BANK

NOV

2

1898

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.

AUSTIN NAT'L BANK,

JAN

19

1899

AUSTIN, MINN.

ST. P. & D. R. R.

APR 11 1899

Treasurer      

Cancel for the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad.

American Revenue Association Web Site

The ARA has a new design for its web page.  The redesign provides a more modern appearance and interactive framework.  Kudos to ARA officers and web people for updating the site.  Overall content has changed little, though you will find a link to this site on the links page! 

July 28 screen capture for the home page of the ARA web site.

Adding Content to the Site:  Links to articles and research are posted on their own page on the site.  These links make me wonder why on the page for The American Revenuer there are no links to archives of old TAR issues or articles.  This would be a great way to add content heft to the site.  And as TAR is the property of the ARA, and the site is the ARA's, doesn't the ARA have the right to post these articles, especially if the site recognizes and makes clear the copyright status of the individual authors in each issue?  I know there are lawyers in our group that could help clarify this issue, but I am certain that almost all contributors to TAR would be thrilled to have their work made more available, and that the ARA could readily protect itself with a simple disclaimer. 

Cancel for July 29: Atlantic Mutual Insurance

ATLANTIC  MUTUAL

JUL  29  1901

INSURANCE.

 

Founded in New York as the Atlantic Insurance Company in 1838, the company would become a "mutual" insurance firm in 1842.  By the 1850s the company was the largest marine and general insurance firm in North America. 

 

The company was the only marine insurer in New York for generations, and consequently is associated with some very famous shipwrecks, including:

• Titanic - Atlantic sold the policy for most of the ship's coverage.
• Mary Celeste - this brigantine is famous for having been found adrift in the Atlantic with no crew and no explanation for her abandonment. 
• SS Central America - this sidewheeler was loaded with gold from California when it sank in a hurricane.  The wreck was found in 1987 by the Columbus-American Discovery Group.  Atlantic and a group of other insurance companies sued for claim to the wreck.  Atlantic lost the case and Columbus-American was awarded 92% of the find.

Today the firm is located at 100 Wall Street and specializes in personal property/casualty insurance for wealthy individuals with high-value assets to protect.

 

Screen capture from current Atlantic Companies site that you can find here.

Cancel for July 28: Robert Bines

ROBERT  BINES

JUL   28   1898

CHICAGO

No telling what sort of transaction this stamp was used for unless one can find a trail of documents from Robert Bines on which other battleship documentaries are found.  Bines was a player in the high business community in Chicago.  He was born in Bloomfleld, Ohio in 1842,  arrived in Chicgo in 1866 and by 1869 was a member of the Chicago Board of Trade.  By the time of this cancel he was a member of the Board of Directors.

The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald from January 21, 1902 reported the Mr. Bines had enough capital to speculate in Chicago area land claims:

Robert Bines, of Chicago, began, on the I7th inst., the " payment, at Dowagiac, Mich., of $34,000 to the Pottawatomie Indians [$ioo to each] for their title to lands along the lake front of Chicago." He evidently believes their claims to these lands to be sustained.

Bines was in the brick business too, as reported in the History of Chicago, Illinois by John Moses in 1895:

Among the leading establishments engaged in the manufacture at this time are the following: The Tiffany Pressed Brick Company is a corporation composed of the following directors : J. Van Inwagen, president ; J. Tiffany, vice-president ; N. K. Fairbank, Robert Bines, and J. B. Lyon.  The capital of the concern is $200,000, and the value of the investment estimated at $300,000. It employs 75 hands, to whom are paid wages amounting to $4,500 per year. The value of the material used is $20,000, and of the output 100,000. The factory is at Momence, 111.

Documentary Printed Cancels: The Girard Trust Company

Today's featured document is contributed by Frank Sente.  The document includes a seldom seen printed cancel by The Girard Trust Company, . 

G.T. CO.

APRIL 1. 1902

This stamp comes from a share certificate for the Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf Railroad Car Trust company.  The full document scan is shown below.

I am seeking other values of the battleship series with a GT Co printed cancel.  Has anybody seen these?  This cancel was not documented by Richard Fullerton in his guide to documentary printed cancels from 1952.

Stephen Girard

1750 - 1831

The Girard Trust Company was started by and named for Stephen Girard.

The charter of Alexander Hamilton's First Bank of the United States expired in 1811.  The bank was located in Philadelphia, the home of Stephen Girard, who was the richest man in the United States at the time.  Girard bought up the stock and assets of the bank with the charter expiration and created his own bank, which eventually came to be known the Girard Trust Company.  Girard's bank was the main source of financing for the US government for the War of 1812 - Girard personally underwrote 95% of the government's war loans.  The Girard Trust Company merged with Mellon Bank in 1983. 

My mother's family has roots in Girard, Richland Parish, Louisiana, near the town of Rayville.  The family home in Girard was located on a piece of a Stephen Girard plantation, and the family still has some of the land from the plantation today.  Girard never travelled to Louisiana but worked through a local agent, Judge Bry, to purchase land and establish his plantation.

inset from the full document of the stamp and signature

Share document for the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad Cart Trust

From The New York Times, April 15, 1902:

CHOCTAW AND GULF SALE

Speyer & co. Deposit with Girard Trust Company Majority Stock,

  PHILADELPHIA, April 14.--Over 155,000 shares of the stock of the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad had been deposited with the Girard Trust Company in favor of the sale of the road to Speyer & Co. of New York up to the close of business today.

  The total shares of the Choctaw issued amount to 296,000.  This settles finally the question of ownership of the road, which goes to the New York banking house, and it is expected will be turned over to the Rock Island system.

  The minority holders have until May 7 to accept the offer made, which is ofr the purchase of all common stock at $80 and preferred at $60.

Cancel for July 25: Bennett, Hutchinson & Company

Bennett,

Hutchinson & Co.,

JUL  25  1898

Insurance.

Cold trail for this insurance firm, though I think it was located in Indiana.

Cancel for July 24: C. D. F.

C.  D.  F.  &  CO.

JUL

24

1899

We are in the slow days of summer and your correspondent has been taking a break. 

Cancel for July 18: Pennsylvania and Northwestern Railroad

P. & N. W.

JUL  18  1901

This post card documents seven coal deliveries to six locations via the Pennsylvania and Northwestern Railroad.  The tax on coal deliveries was one cent per location, and the six cents worth of stamps paid for the deliveries to the six different locations listed on the card.  There are many of these P&NRR postcards still around.