I’ve been receiving U.S. revenue stamp circuits from both the APS and the ARA (American Revenue Association) for years now. The pickings are few and are between though, and in most cases the amount I spend on shipping the circuit on usually exceeds the amount I purchase by a fair amount, which kinda kills the bargain aspect of the circuits. I’ve been toying with the idea of stopping them, but as infrequent as the finds are, over the years I’ve gotten some very nice material from circuits, so I just… can’t… quite… stop… them.

Well, I received an ARA circuit today that has restored my faith in circuits. Only 4 books of material, but man some nice stuff. Cancels, plate varieties, silk papers, you name it. All correctly identified, so no cherrypicks per se, but all eminently reasonably priced.

The thing that really made it worthwhile are a couple of plate varieties that not only have I not seen before, but amongst the collaborators who have helped me compile information for my plate variety reference page, a couple of these haven’t been reported at all.

Photographer cancel, D.O. Furnald. Manchester, NH.

An American Express cancel type I hadn’t seen before. Unusual paper color, perhaps a chemical changeling?

A bit munged S.R. Van Duzer typeset (printed cancel), however I don’t recall seeing a date this late before on this cancel.

Diminuitive oval cancel, likely photographer or proprietary. Looks very similar to this Johnston, Holloway & Cowden cancel: https://revenue-collector.com/pages/4079.html

Great steel die handstamp cancel.

Another photographer handstamp cancel.

Great margins with a nice insurance cancel strike.

Great doodle cancel.

Very scarce Canadian cancel: Lamplough & Campbell, Montreal.

Bold dark color and sharp impression. The color is more similar to that of R87a and R97a than the usual blue of R13c. Definitely precanceled as all four stamps are full original gum.

Ornate photographer/portrait gallery cancel. Also the stamp is a double transfer (see U.S. at top).

This one has a lot going on. Extensive doubling in several places: “U.S.” and oval at top center, INTER. REVENUE in top scroll, and left and right scrolls and lettering. Unlisted.

Long vertical plate scratch at left. Also unlisted.

Very scarce double transfer, in U.S. and oval at top as well as parts of the top scroll border.

Block of 4 with embossed bank cancel. Top right stamp with a long plate crack or inking anomaly.

This was listed as a T15 double transfer, but it is neither T15 nor T15A. Rather, it is a much more dramatic DT, one that I first saw at CHICAGOPEX 2 years ago. Very scarce.

This one was a nice find. Previously unreported double transfer with doubling at both top and bottom.

And lastly, a multiple I was happy to find. When I checked my collection, I was surprised to find that I didn’t have an attractive example of R60d. It’s not an expensive stamp at $7.50 CV, but goes up rapidly in multiple form, with a block of 4 cataloging $150. As an added bonus, per the Curtis Census, this block of 5 stands alone as the 2nd largest reported multiple.