Friday, April 30, 2010

Cancel for May 1: A. B. P. & Son

Scott R184 One Dollar Documentary


A.  B.  P.  &  Son.,
MAY
1
1901
Malone, N.  Y.

Another set of unknown initials. 

Thursday, April 29, 2010

G. H. Mumm Printed Cancels: Joyce Type 3, 2 cent 1899s

At the time these stamps were canceled, Mumm was an active exporter to 20 countries.  The United States was the largest importer of Mumm champagne, and Mumm used large numbers of US proprietary tax stamps with the types of printed cancels you see below.  Mumm was once the largest producer of champagne in the world, it is now number 3.

Contrary to a previous post about these Mumm canceled stamps, the 2 cent stamps below look better than most of my one cent stamps, even though the 2 cent stamps were affixed to much larger bottles than the one cent stamps.  Maybe drinking the contents of the bottles didn't affect the final condition of the stamps.

For the 2 cent stamps, Mumm used blue ink for their printed cancels.  Below are the images of 7 of 9 of the cancels listed by Joyce.  Joyce does not list 2 cent 1899 cancels for the months of January, July and September.

Joyce List Mumm cancels on RB27 2 cent proprietary for 1899:



G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/2   1899

G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/3   1899

G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/5   1899

 
G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/6   1899

 
G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/8   1899

G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/10   1899

G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/12  1899

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Cancel for April 29: S. C. Green, Henderson Kentucky


S. C. GREEN
APR  29  1901
Henderson, Ky.

Nice box cancel, but the only thing I've been able to find out so far about Mr. Green or his business is that he married Fanny Atkinson on 12 Mar 1885. 

Goldman, Sachs: Today on Capitol Hill

GOLDMAN, SACHS & CO.
DEC
6
1901


This blog generally doesn't review current events or get political.  But I was thinking about the cancels in my collection as Goldman Sachs defended itself on Capitol Hill today. 

"Too big to fail" became a common expression as the government began to deploy US taxpayer money to stave off a full meltdown of the US economy.  Some poorly managed companies as a result got fed a ton of money, like AIG.  Goldman Sachs never really needed much help though.  Now we know why.  They were well managed in a way that Adam Smith's invisible hand provided no protection to the US or international public.  Goldman Sachs bet against itself, some of its investors, and the general health of the US economy when it hedged its bets by essentially shorting the mortgage market.  Today, executives of the venerable firm are defending themselves and the company's actions and forthrightness in front of the Senate. 

If you haven't seen any of the hearings, do so.  You can view them at the CSPAN website.


Tuesday, April 27, 2010

G. H. Mumm Printed Cancels: Joyce Type 3, 1 Cent 1902s

1902 was the last year for the 1898 tax act.  Taxes on sparkling wines like champagne ended in mid 1902.  G. H. Mumm, according to Joyce, only printed dates up to March of 1902.  My guess would be that they had enough supply of the stamps on bottles ready to ship by the end of March and had no need to cancel any more stamps.

Below are examples of February and March cancels.  I am looking for the January cancel.



G. H. M. & Co.
FRANCE
1/ 2   1902


G. H. M. & Co.
FRANCE
1/3   1902

Monday, April 26, 2010

Battleship Cancels by State: New Jersey

RISLEY & CAVILEER
MAR
8
1899
ATLANTIC CITY, N. J.


CITY NATIONAL BANK
DEC
6
1900
SALEM, N. J.



RARITAN WOOLEN MILLS,
FEB
15
1899
RARITAN, N. J.


MURPHY VARNISH CO.
DEC
23
1898
NEW YORK

Yes, the cancel says New York.  But the owner and President of Murphy Varnish was Franklin Murphy, who was at one time the Governor of New Jersey.


AM.  EX.  CO.
FEB
12
1901
E.  LIPPMAN


ROBERT O'GORMAN
MAY
18
1900
NEWARK, N. J.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Cancel for April 26: Milmine, Bodman & Company

Milmine, Bodman & Co.
APR    26   1899
C H I C A G O

Milmine, Bodman was a large grain firm with offices in Chicago and New York.


50 cent documentary with M&B cancel fragment

Cancel for April 26: Mayer & Whitehouse

R187 $5 Gray Documentary

MAYER & WHITEHOUSE,
APR
26
1901
N.Y.

So far no information that I can find is available on the web about this firm.
Most likely a securities company

Saturday, April 24, 2010

G. H. Mumm Printed Cancels: Joyce Type 3, 1 Cent 1901s

By 1902, Mumm was the largest Champagne house in the world, and sold 3 million bottles each year.  One million of those bottles were exported to the United States.  So for the 1898 tax period which lasted from mid 1898 to mid 1902, there were close to 4 million bottles exported to the US.  Each one of these bottles required a tax stamp of one or two cents depending on the bottle's size.  There are not even close to this number of stamps with a GHM printed cancel still out there.  But the numbers illustrate why a foreign firm, required to use revenue stamps due to the tax on sparkling wines, would create printed cancels for its use.  With the need of one million stamps per year, mechanically printing cancels was a very efficient proposition for the French firm. 

Below is the list of available 1901 printed cancels on the 1 cent proprietary battleship.  Below the list you will find the stamps canceled in 1901 in my collection.



G. H. M. & Co.
FRANCE
1/1  1901

G. H. M. & Co.
FRANCE
1/3  1901



G. H. M. & Co.
FRANCE
1/6  1901



G. H. M. & Co.
FRANCE
1/7  1901



G. H. M. & Co.
FRANCE
1/8  1901



G. H. M. & Co.
FRANCE
1/9  1901



G. H. M. & Co.
FRANCE
1/10  1901

G. H. M. & Co.
FRANCE
1/11  1901




G. H. M. & Co.
FRANCE
1/12  1901

Friday, April 23, 2010

Cancel for April 24: Brockton, Bridgewater & Taunton Street Railway Company

R164 2 cent documentary
cancelled by circular date stamp with treasurers initials of railway company
on April 24, 1899
See signature of the treasurer on the check below:

Check from the Brockton, Bridgewater & Tauntan Street Railway Company.
Check dated May 4, 1899, 10 days after cancellation of stamp. 
I can't decipher the name of the treasurer from his signature. 
Probably George A. something.

Reverse side of check with backstamps

The Brockton, Bridgewater & Taunton Street Railway served three closely located towns in Massachussetts.

Cancel for April 24: Northern Ohio Railway


AUDITOR'S OFFICE
APR24  19000
NORTHERN OHIO RY

The Northern Ohio Railway ran from Akron, Ohio to Delphos, Ohio.  The line was under long term lease to the Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company which controlled its operations through ownership of its common stock.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

G. H. Mumm Printed Cancels: Joyce Type 3, 1 Cent 1900s

Below are the Joyce listings for the G.H. Mumm printed cancels from 1900 on the 1 cent proprietary stamp, RB24.  The lists include a cancel for each month of 1900, with January thru May having roulettes and June thru December having hyphen-hole perforation.  All twelve cancels from 1900 for the 1 cent stamp are available according to Joyce:


Below are images of the 1 cent 1900s in my collection or sent in by others.  9 months from the list above are included in the images below.  I am looking for images for February, April, and August.


G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/1  1900

Yikes.  Some of these stamps look like whoever removed them from the bottle must have consumed the bottle beforehand.  The stamp above is kinda ragged.  If it is true that the champagne led to damaged stamps, then the 2 cent stamps, which would have been removed from larger bottles, should look even worse!


G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/3  1900


G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/5  1900

G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/6  1900


 
G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/7  1900

G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/8  1900

G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/ 10  1900

G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/11  1900

G. H. M. & Co
FRANCE
1/12  1900


During World War I the French government confiscated the Mumm property from the family.  The Mumms were Germans, but had lived in France for nearly 100 years.  During that entire time they never changed their citizenship and remained German.  By WWI that seemed unacceptable to the French.  Today Mumm is owned by Allied Domecq, one of the largest wine and spirits businesses in the world. 

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Battleship Cancels by State: Nebraska

B. & M. R. R. R.
JAN  14  1899
IN NEB.


THE C. P. CO.
JUL
2
1900
SO. OMAHA


E. C. ROGGY
APR     4     1900
Bradshaw, Neb.


SUTTON NAT. BANK
OCT
4
1899
Sutton, Neb.


FARMERS STATE BANK.
NOV
29
1898
Emerson, Neb.


M.  P.  &  N.,
SEP
18
189X
OMAHA.