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Month: February 2019

Sometimes It’s Worth Taking a Closer Look…

Sometimes It’s Worth Taking a Closer Look…

Wading through a stockbook of 1st issue revenue stamps this morning, and I stumbled across this 10-cent Bill of Lading (R32c) with a muddy indeterminate red cancel. I nearly just passed it by, but the ink voids in the cancel looked unusual, so I thought I’d run it through retroreveal. Lo and behold, it revealed a very interesting cancel, one I’ve not seen before, from the firm of Tong Soong & Co., San Francisco. The interesting voids that had caught…

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An Obviously Backdated 1st Issue Revenue Usage

An Obviously Backdated 1st Issue Revenue Usage

We’ve discussed in the past cases where a revenue stamp was presumably affixed after the fact and backdated to the original transaction date. Frequently these cases are speculative. Here is one that is definitive. The promissory note shown below, dated October 8, 1862, is an incredibly early usage, and is arguably the earliest known use of R64a… but there’s a problem. The 60-cent Inland Exchange wasn’t delivered until December of 1862, so it could not possibly have been affixed at…

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Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket!

Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket!

Well… not exactly, but a ticket nonetheless. This is one of the most unusual items I’ve seen several years. I know I ended up overpaying for it, but it falls under that category of “when will you ever see another one?” I’ve certainly never seen one before… and may not again. It is a Civil War-era photo (Carte de Visite or CDV) depicting the grand prize in a raffle, with the CDV also acting as a raffle ticket. So what…

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